📌 This post is a continuation of our story. Read the previous part here: What Hake Sausage (Medallions) Are Really Made Of and How to Cook Them Properly.
✍ Dietary protein is a fundamental pillar of our daily diabetes management. It provides long-lasting, stable satiety, helps maintain balanced blood glucose levels, and supplies essential building blocks for healthy blood vessels. However, establishing clear guidelines on portion sizes and balancing meat and fish throughout the week was essential for us.
We developed a simple, highly effective meal schedule that supports eye health without overloading the digestive system.
🥩 Our Daily Meat and Fish Guidelines
In managing diabetes and protecting retinal health, protein should be present in every main meal. Striking a healthy balance between meat, fish, and plant-based protein sources is key:
- Portion Size per Meal: About 100–150 grams (3.5–5 oz) of cooked protein, which roughly corresponds to the size of a palm excluding fingers.
- Total Daily Target: Approximately 200–250 grams (7–9 oz) of total protein foods daily, distributed evenly between lunch and dinner.
🗓️ Our Weekly Schedule (The 4 to 3 Balance)
To ensure blood vessels receive maximum protection from Omega-3 fatty acids while keeping digestion light, we follow this weekly ratio:
- Fish Days (4 Days a Week): On these days, we prepare hake medallions, chimaera fish, cod, or serve lightly salted herring. Fish protein digests much faster and more easily than meat, while Omega-3 fatty acids actively protect the retina from microvascular complications.
- Meat Days (3 Days a Week): We choose exclusively lean options: chicken, turkey, rabbit, or lean beef. Saturated fats from meat are needed by the body, but in strictly moderate amounts.
🕐 How We Distribute Protein Throughout the Day
We adapt our protein intake according to the time of day:
- Breakfast: Light protein sources, such as chicken eggs or cottage cheese.
- Lunch: Denser protein options, like boiled meat, steamed chicken patties, or simmered fish, paired with complex carbohydrates (4–5 tablespoons of buckwheat or legumes) and fresh vegetables.
- Dinner: The lightest protein choices, including simmered fish, hake medallions, or a soft lentil soufflé alongside light vegetables (zucchini, cauliflower, fresh cucumber). We avoid heavy meat at dinner because it takes much longer to digest.
💡 Crucial Cooking Rule
All meat and fish are gently simmered, baked in the oven, or cooked using steam. We strictly avoid high-heat searing or heavy frying crusts, which are difficult to chew and contain harmful advanced glycation end-products (AGEs) that damage delicate capillary networks.
This clear schedule allows us to enjoy a varied, light diet while keeping blood sugar under total control 🥩🐟✨
👉 Read the next part: How Many Eggs Can You Eat with Diabetes? Eye Benefits, Limits, and Cooking Tips