What meal plan is working best for you with diabetes meds?

You're welcome to friend me - I've lost about 85 lbs and brought my A1C into the normal range with dietary change and semaglutide. I like to describe my diet as "low calorie, lower carb". For me, that's about 1200 kcal/day and less than 100g/day of net carbohydrates. I anticipate that the calories will go up when I finally hit maintenance, but keep the carbohydrates.

Prong #1 was data collection. I spent a lot of time after my diagnosis with my glucose meter figuring out which foods were going to be blood sugar spikers. I know that these things need to be either eliminated, substituted, or kept to a minimum. For example, I white rice spikes me like crazy. So I either just don't eat it, or I substitute with cauliflower rice or hearts of palm rice. Sweet potatoes spike me, but butternut squash doesn't. I can go up to about 120 grams of net carb per day before I see it in the next day's fasting glucose, but god help me if I eat anything even marginally sweet after 9pm. Your body will be different than mine.

Prong #2 was being realistic about what I need in my diet to be happy. I'd never be happy on a diet without cheese, without fruit, without the occasional noodle. I'll literally die before giving up tacos or enchiladas. I like shrimp and pork. I can largely give up cake and pie, but I want cookies in my life. So I know that true keto, paleo, vegan, plant-based, Whole 30 would never be good fits for me. My irregular schedule means that Intermittent Fasting and One Meal A Day probably aren't a good fit either.

So knowing that standard calorie and carb counting was my best fit, I started with the American Diabetes Association guidelines, and build meals that will give me a good hit of protein, and then pile on as much non-spiking vegetable as I want. I can then add some spiking veggies, dairy, or carbohydrates if I want to round out the meal.

Prong #3 was just making simple (but often expensive) grocery swaps. The expensive low-carb greek yogurt. The 35 calorie, 10g carb/slice bread. 93% lean beef. The riced cauliflower Healthy Choice frozen steamer meals. Toasted chickpeas instead of potato chips. I'm also open to better living through chemistry if it helps me save calories or carbohydrates. Cake made of xanthan gum, indigestible oat fiber, and cocoa powder held together with Egg Beaters and Coke Zero? I'd eat it every day if it didn't cause Distressing Digestion. But depending on your tastes, income, and location, this one may not be accessible or easy.

Prong #4 has been setting aside time each week to meal plan. If I know exactly what I'm going to eat, if I make sure that the recipes are pulled out, and if I pick up all the ingredients at the store, I stay on track. Eating out, eating fast, eating pre-packaged all tend to leave me hungry and over-calories. Meal planning also helps me make sure that what I do eat, I enjoy. I also signed up for a farm share during the summer, so I get a box of local veggies every week. Meal planning makes sure they get eaten.