Meals Made Easy for Diabetes

A Meal-Planning Curriculum

Meals Made Easy for Diabetes (MME) is a meal-planning curriculum for people living with diabetes and their support persons, and was developed in 2003 by the Oregon Health Authority's Diabetes Program, in partnership with Oregon State University Extension Service.

The curriculum incorporates participatory nutrition education, food preparation activities, and tasting of foods, and includes a facilitator script, PowerPoint slides, lesson activities, and an evaluation.

A revision of MME was recently completed; the process was initiated in order for the curriculum to accurately reflect the USDA’s 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans.

The goals of Meals Made Easy

• Participants will understand how food choices and serving sizes impact blood glucose.
• Participants will be able to plan meals using the Plate Method and Nutrition Facts food labels.
• Participants will learn how to buy healthy foods for Plate Method meals.
• Participants will be able to evaluate recipes and make healthy recipe alterations for Plate Method meals.

Topics covered in the sessions

1. What You Eat Makes A Difference - this class teaches participants how food choices and portions impact blood glucose (sugar). Additionally, participants will be shown the Plate Method as a simplified method for planning balanced meals.
2. Planning Healthy Meals - provides participants with practice in planning meals and using the Plate Method. Participants are also shown how to use Nutrition Facts labels to assist in meal and snack planning.
3. Shopping Smart - teaches participants how to buy healthy foods using Nutrition Facts labels and to reinforce their knowledge of appropriate food portions.
4. In the Kitchen - illustrates techniques for evaluating recipes and making healthy recipe alterations.