Carb counting tips for diabetics because carbs, carbs and more carbs – We’re always counting them. 6 for protein coffee, 14 for a slice of bread (depending on the bread), 20 for a medium sized banana, 40 for a portion of pasta etc. I now know my carbs extremely well and it is down to 3 things. My Fitness Pal, Carbs and Cals App and knowing my carb / insulin ratio. These 3 things take the guess work out of carb counting whilst offering me a fairly accurate estimate of the carbs in my food. How many carbs you eat is up to you. Here are my 3 tips for maximum carb counting accuracy.
My Fitness Pal
I’m always raving about this app and I will continue to do so because it is free and it takes the guess work out of carb counting. Download it now. Type in what you’re about to eat if you prepared the food yourself, or scan the label of the food you’re going to eat and you will get an accurate reading of the carbs in your meal. You can add as many foods as you like to one meal and it will tally up the total of each macronutrient for you. In this case you would be looking at the carbs only.
Carbs and Cals App / Book
I find this most useful when I eat out at restaurants because if I were to order something with rice I don’t know how many grams of is on the plate. You just type in the name of the food you’re eating and it gives you about 4 pictures with 4 different sized portions of the food you want to know the carbs of. This is very useful as they also have a book.
Know your Carb / Insulin Ratio
It might sound obvious but you should know your ratio. How many units of insulin you need per gram of carbohydrate. This can change throughout the day – mine is now 1 unit per 7 grams in the morning and 1 unit per 15 grams in the evening. Knowing this information will help decrease the amount of hypers / hypos you have throughout the day. To test this you should eat 15 carbs and take your current amount of insulin per gram of carbs and if your blood sugar rises more than 2mmols either way it is time increase your insulin. Your diabetes team can help with this if it is confusing. Also, during the test you will not want to eat carbs that contain a lot of fat because this could lead to an inaccurate result.
I hope these 3 carb counting tip will be useful for you and your diabetes management. All of the above really help me when it comes to carb counting. When you get it right you will feel like a carb counting master.
Rowena x
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