In the health-food section of many major department stores, large quantities of boil-bag diabetic meals have become a familiar sight. Recently the meals have been selling well, but sales are being boosted not by diabetes sufferers, but by healthy women in their 20s and 30s who want to lose weight.
Diabetics have to calculate the food energy of whatever they eat in order to limit their caloric intake to 1,600 calories per day. To make this process easier, several food makers produce ready-made diabetic meals.
Nichirei Corp., for instance, has produced diabetic meal sets packed in boil bags since 1989. Each set contains two or three dishes (no rice or bread included) with a total energy value of 320 calories.