How to Count Carbs With Diabetes

For people living with diabetes, counting carbs is a good way to control the blood glucose level. Carbohydrates are what the body uses for fuel. To balance their insulin, diabetics count carbs to plan on how much insulin they will have to inject for their bodies to process the carbs. To begin to count carbs, you must first understand how many carbs are in certain foods and how much insulin it will take to transfer the blood glucose into cells. This practice is not very hard to learn, and once you are used to it, you will be a master at controlling your insulin intake.

Instructions

• 1

  Examine the label on the food product. The Nutrition Facts label provides the information, such as Serving Size and Total Carbohydrates, that you need to effectively count carbs. For example, say you have canned soup that has 35 grams of carbs per serving.

• 2

  Determine how many servings you will eat. Using the example above, you eat two servings of the soup. To calculate the amount of carbohydrates that you consumed in that one meal, you will multiply 35 grams by two. This means that you had 70 grams of carbs.

• 3

  Take note of all of the carbs that you consumed that day. Keep a food journal that you can carry around with you.

• 4

  For eating foods like vegetables and fruits that don't have a Nutrition Facts label, research the food online to see how many carbs are in it. There are books that list all the nutritional facts about every type of food you can purchase in the supermarket. Carry one with you to make sure you are keeping accurate count.

• 5

  While eating out, you can request the nutritional facts of the food you order. Restaurants are required to give it you upon request. If anything, you can tell them you are a diabetic and need the carb count. It is a good idea to ask for this before you order so that you can avoid the meals that are high in carbs.

• 6

  Keep track of carbs while making a recipe. Calculate the carb amount of every item that is placed in the recipe. For instance, you are making a chicken caesar salad. Write down the amount of carbs per serving of every item you are using in the salad. Multiply that number by the amount of servings that is going into the recipe for each item. Then add up all the numbers to get the total amount of carbs in the meal.