Carbohydrates, or carbs, are naturally found in certain foods. For example, grains, sweets, starches, legumes and dairy all contain different amounts of carbs. When foods and drinks with carbs are digested, the carbs break down into glucose to fuel our cells, and the body's blood glucose, or blood sugar, level rises. In people without diabetes, blood sugar levels rise after eating but the body's insulin response keeps levels from rising too high.
Carb counting at its most basic level involves counting the number of grams of carbohydrate in a meal and matching that to your dose of insulin.
You can find how many carbs foods have by reading food labels. If a product doesn’t have a food label, such as a whole piece of fruit or a vegetable, there are apps and other tools available to help you calculate. There are two items on the nutrition facts label that you’ll want to pay attention to when carb counting:
1. Serving size.
The serving size refers to how much a person usually eats or drinks, and all the information on the label is about this specific amount of food. If you eat more, you will need to account for the additional nutrients. For example, eating two or three servings of something, means you will need to double or triple the amount of grams of carbs (and all other nutrients) on the label in your calculations.
2. Grams of total carbohydrate.
This number includes all carbs: sugar, starch, and fiber. They are included to provide more information about what’s in the food that you are eating. And while you don’t need to worry about adding added sugars when it comes to counting carbs, you should still aim to minimize the amount of added sugar in the foods you eat.
Comments