Meal plan · Type 2 diabetes and prediabetes
Mediterranean plan, with Pakistani food
The eating pattern with the strongest trial evidence in diabetes, rebuilt around daal, sabzi, chana, dahi and roti from a Lahore kitchen.
Your calorie level
Most men who want to lose weight, or taller, more active women
The dishes are the same at every level; only the portions change, so one family pot feeds everyone.
Mediterranean plan · 1,500 kcal
Breakfast
about 230 kcal · 19 g carbs
- 1 roti
- 1-egg omelette
- 1 cup chai, no sugar
Mid-morning
about 100 kcal · 15 g carbs
- 1 guava
Lunch
about 390 kcal · 48 g carbs
- 1 katori daal
- 1 roti
- 1 plate salad (cucumber, tomato, onion)
- 1 katori dahi
Evening chai
about 210 kcal · 6 g carbs
- 1 cup chai, no sugar
- 2 small handfuls nuts (almonds, walnuts or unsalted peanuts, 15 g each)
Dinner
about 520 kcal · 49 g carbs
- 1 katori chicken salan
- 1 katori lauki (bottle gourd)
- 2 rotis
- 1 plate salad (cucumber, tomato, onion)
Whole day
about 1,460 kcal · 136 g carbs
Breakfast
about 210 kcal · 27 g carbs
- 1 bowl oats, cooked in low-fat milk, no sugar
- 1 cup chai, no sugar
Mid-morning
about 70 kcal · 15 g carbs
- 1 kinnow or orange
Lunch
about 370 kcal · 44 g carbs
- 1 katori chana
- 1 roti
- 1 plate salad (cucumber, tomato, onion)
- ½ katori dahi
Evening chai
about 210 kcal · 6 g carbs
- 1 cup chai, no sugar
- 2 small handfuls nuts (almonds, walnuts or unsalted peanuts, 15 g each)
Dinner
about 530 kcal · 39 g carbs
- 1 piece fish (100 g), tawa or oven
- 1 katori palak
- 2 rotis
- 1 plate salad (cucumber, tomato, onion)
Bedtime
about 110 kcal · 12 g carbs
- 1 glass low-fat milk
Whole day
about 1,500 kcal · 143 g carbs
Breakfast
about 290 kcal · 19 g carbs
- 1 roti
- 2 boiled eggs
- 1 cup chai, no sugar
Mid-morning
about 70 kcal · 15 g carbs
- 1 small apple
Lunch
about 440 kcal · 66 g carbs
- 1 katori rajma (red kidney beans)
- ½ plate boiled rice
- 1 plate salad (cucumber, tomato, onion)
- 1 katori dahi
Evening chai
about 240 kcal · 19 g carbs
- 1 cup chai, no sugar
- 1 small handful nuts (almonds, walnuts or unsalted peanuts, 15 g)
- 1 handful roasted chana (30 g)
Dinner
about 440 kcal · 26 g carbs
- 1 portion chicken tikka (100 g, grilled)
- 1 katori mixed sabzi
- 1 roti
- 1 plate salad (cucumber, tomato, onion)
Whole day
about 1,470 kcal · 145 g carbs
Swap within a group and the totals stay close: any fruit portion for another, fish for chicken, one sabzi for another.
Who it's for
Type 2 diabetes, prediabetes, or a raised risk of heart disease — which, alongside diabetes, means most adults. It's also the plan to stay on once you've lost weight, because nothing in it has to stop.
It isn't a low-carbohydrate diet. Roti and rice stay, in measured amounts, next to more daal, vegetables, nuts and fish than most Pakistani kitchens use.
What the trials showed
In PREDIMED, a Spanish trial of 7,447 adults at high risk of heart disease, a Mediterranean diet with extra-virgin olive oil or with nuts cut heart attacks, strokes and cardiovascular deaths by about 30% compared with a low-fat diet.
Among the 3,541 participants who didn't have diabetes at the start, the olive-oil group developed it 40% less often than the low-fat group — without being asked to cut calories. The ADA's 2026 Standards of Care count the Mediterranean pattern among those shown to improve glucose and cholesterol in type 2 diabetes.
What makes it Mediterranean isn't Italian food; it's the pattern. Most fat comes from oil and nuts, pulses appear most days, fish twice a week, with plenty of vegetables and whole grains, little red meat and few sweets. All of it is sold in any Lahore market.
Cheaper swaps
- Olive oil costs a lot here. Canola oil is a good everyday alternative.
- Peanuts or roasted chana cost a fraction of almonds and walnuts and fill the same place in the plan.
- When fish is out of season or out of budget, eggs or an extra katori of daal take its place.
- Any fruit portion can replace another: an apple, a guava, a kinnow, half a mango or a slice of watermelon.
Common questions
- Can I eat rice on the Mediterranean plan?
- Yes — half a plate at a meal, in place of two rotis. What matters is the amount, and filling the rest of the plate with daal, salad and sabzi.
- Do I have to use olive oil?
- No. PREDIMED supplied olive oil or nuts, but the benefit came from the whole pattern. Canola oil has a similar balance of healthy fats for much less money. The fat to cut back on is banaspati ghee.
- Will I lose weight?
- At 1200 or 1500 kcal most people will. PREDIMED itself didn't restrict calories, so its benefits didn't depend on weight loss — but with diabetes and extra weight, losing at least 5% of your body weight brings benefits of its own.
- I take insulin or gliclazide. Can I start today?
- Show this plan to your doctor first. Eating less while on insulin or a sulphonylurea such as gliclazide can cause hypoglycaemia, and the dose often needs lowering before you begin.
Sources
- Estruch R, et al. Primary prevention of cardiovascular disease with a Mediterranean diet supplemented with extra-virgin olive oil or nuts. N Engl J Med 2018;378:e34. doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa1800389
- Salas-Salvadó J, et al. Prevention of diabetes with Mediterranean diets: a subgroup analysis of a randomized trial. Ann Intern Med 2014;160:1–10. doi.org/10.7326/M13-1725
- American Diabetes Association Professional Practice Committee. 5. Facilitating positive health behaviors and well-being to improve health outcomes: Standards of Care in Diabetes—2026. Diabetes Care 2026;49(Suppl 1):S89–S131. doi.org/10.2337/dc26-S005
- Evert AB, et al. Nutrition therapy for adults with diabetes or prediabetes: a consensus report. Diabetes Care 2019;42:731–754. doi.org/10.2337/dci19-0014
- Jensen MD, et al. 2013 AHA/ACC/TOS guideline for the management of overweight and obesity in adults. Circulation 2014;129(25 Suppl 2):S102–S138. doi.org/10.1161/01.cir.0000437739.71477.ee
- US Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, SR Legacy. fdc.nal.usda.gov/