Canadian Diabetes Association needs to learn to count calories

Friend, and occasional friendly debating opponent, Helene Charlebois, a registered dietitian here in Ottawa forwarded this to me.

It's a form called, "Just the Basics", and presumably it's given to newly diagnosed Canadian diabetics by the Canadian Diabetes Association (CDA) to help them begin to understand and manage their disease.

While I already covered the CDA's carbohydrate recommendations a little while back, Helene noticed something I didn't. The calories.

They break down their suggested meal plans into, "For Smaller Appetites", and "For Bigger Appetites".

And they do mean bigger.

Let's take a look at the bigger calories (though the "smaller" ain't so small):

Breakfast

600-700 calories

Lunch

800-900 calories

Afternoon snack

100 calories

Dinner

800-900 calories

Evening snack

600 calories

Total

2900-3200 calories

Thatsa lotta calories!

Furthermore, looking at their suggestions, it's boatloads of carbohydrates/sugars as well.

While calories certainly aren't the only nutritional determinant of health, given the impact of weight loss on glycemic control, and the impact of obesity on insulin resistance, I would suggest that the CDA ought to at the very least, provide, "just the basics", on calories as well.