by Grace Rivers, RDN, CDCES
Counting carbohydrates or carbs can help manage blood sugar levels. It can also help make you aware of portion sizes. At first, it can be daunting to learn how to do this, but it gets easier and can become second nature. Here are some tips.
What is a carbohydrate?
Carbohydrates are one of six components of food; the others are protein, fats, minerals, vitamins, and water. The ones that give us energy (calories) are carbs, protein, and fats. The component that directly impacts your blood sugar is carbs.
Nutritious foods that have carbs
Most foods have a mixture of nutrients, but many contain one major nutrient. Those consisting mostly of carbs are fruit, veggies, grains, beans, peas, lentils, and most dairy milk. Some plant-based kinds of milk, such as soy and pea, will also have carbs.
Other foods that contain carbs
These foods have carbs but are not necessarily nutritious. Syrups, table sugar, jelly, and honey are carb-dense and usually have around 15 grams of carb for one tablespoon. If you choose to eat these, aim for a teaspoon that will only contain four to five grams. Some others are cakes, pies, cookies, ice cream, chips, candy, donuts, fruit juice, and sugar-sweetened beverages. Be aware that consuming any of these can quickly provide a surplus of carbs.
How to know how many carbs are in a food
When you don’t have a label to go by, you can try an app on your mobile device. One is MyFitnessPal | MyFitnessPal.com. You can enter the amount of a food or beverage, and it will give you the nutrition information, including carbs. Entering the correct amount is important so that you see the correct information. The best way, especially when learning how to count carbs, is to measure foods and beverages using a measuring cup and measuring spoons.
Read the nutrition facts panel. First, look at the “Serving size,” then go to the “Total carbohydrate.” You will see a number followed by a “g.” This shows the number of grams of carbs in one serving of that food. If you double the serving size, then you will need to double the number of carbs.
While the number of added sugars is helpful information, it is only necessary to count the total carb for carb counting. The added sugars, total sugars, and dietary fiber are all components of the total carbohydrate.
Is there a set amount of carbs to eat?
The current consensus from the American Diabetes Association (ADA) is that there is not a set amount of carbohydrates to eat. It is based on several factors such as your height, age, activity, weight, and the foods you prefer, making it individualized. A suggested place to start is with half of your calories from carbs.
This chart shows you the number of grams of carbs in a day using a few different percentages. To manage your blood sugar, you will want to spread this throughout the day in all your meals and snacks.
Using 1800 calories with 50% of calories from carbs, you could distribute the total by eating three meals at 75 grams each. Another way would be to eat three meals at 60 grams of carb each with two snacks around 20 grams. This would give you a total of 220-225 grams for the day.
Trial and error can help you to know when you have reached an ideal amount for yourself.
- Consider how well your blood sugar is staying within a healthy range.
- Do you have the energy to go about daily tasks without getting low blood sugar?
- Are you satisfied after eating, or are you getting hungry too soon?
- Be sure that your cholesterol and blood pressure and weight are within healthy ranges.
If you are having trouble reaching your goal, or you want to use a different percentage of carbs, your diabetes educator (CDCES) can help.
Many eating patterns are acceptable for managing your blood sugar. Be sure that the one you choose is believable for you and that you get positive results with all diabetes parameters.
