A properly composed diet is a key part of good management of a disease such as diabetes. As it turns out, this is one of the most difficult lifestyle changes diabetics face. Research conducted by the Coalition confirms that for people with diabetes, adherence to diet is a significant problem. Diabetics are reluctant to accept the need for dietary restrictions and, as a result, know little about what a well-balanced diet should look like.

The social action "Menu for diabetics" was launched by us in November 2014 to help people with diabetes prepare tasty and simple dishes according to the diabetic diet guidelines! Together with partners including well-known culinary personalities, nutritionists, diabetes educators, as well as the media and the food blogging community, we are working to create tools that will make it easier for diabetics to cope with their diabetic diet.

As part of the campaign this year, a number of meetings were held with diabetics, people interested in healthy eating and restaurateurs and chefs in the form of cooking workshops with a dietician, diabetes educator and chefs.

"Menu for a diabetic" also involves cooperation with food producers and restaurateurs. We are working to ensure that selected restaurants and cafés introduce dishes dedicated to diabetics into their menus, and we are also conducting special training for the staff of catering establishments, during which participants learn how to compose healthy meals for diabetics, what rules to follow and how to calculate the carbohydrate and carbohydrate-protein exchanges of dishes.

To mark World Diabetes Day, a unique diabetes cookbook was also published, with recipes contributed by campaign partners: chefs and food bloggers. The website www.menudiabetyka.pl was also created, which is an ever-expanding database of recipes and diabetes diet advice.

The campaign is organised by the Institute for Patient Rights and Health Education and the Diabetes Coalition.
Task co-financed by the Minister of Health.