Counting carbs keeps blood sugar levels in check

HOLLI SCOTT

July 17, 2008 at 11:41AM AKST

Carbohydrates are nutrients the body uses for energy. After a person eats a food containing carbohydrates, the body breaks it down into sugar called glucose. Foods that have carbohydrates in them raise blood sugar level.

Foods containing carbohydrates include grains, fruits, dairy, vegetables and sugars.

These foods include but are not limited to bread, cereal, pasta, rice, crackers, fruit, fruit juices, milk, yogurt, potatoes, peas, corn, cake, cookies and liquid sugars such as Kool-Aid, Tang and Powerade.

Counting carbohydrates is one way for people who have diabetes to control their blood sugars, by focusing on the foods that raise blood sugar.

The amount of carbohydrates a person needs can differ from one individual to another, because it is based on a person’s height, weight and activity level. In general, a person needs three to five carbohydrate servings per meal, and one to two carbohydrate servings per snack. A registered dietitian can do individual assessments to estimate how many servings are best for each person.

One carbohydrate serving is 15 grams of carbohydrate. This does not pertain to the weight of the food portion, but to the amount of carbohydrate in a portion of food.

Examples of food portions that contain one carbohydrate serving are a one-ounce slice of bread, one-third cup of rice, one-half cup of cooked oatmeal, one cup of milk or one-half cup of orange juice.

For foods that come with a food label, a person can determine how many carbohydrates are in a food by looking at the total carbohydrate section of the food label. One serving size on a food label may contain more than one serving of carbohydrate.

The food label on a frozen pizza box may say the serving size is one-fifth of the pizza, and the total carbohydrate for one serving lists 32 grams. This means one serving of this pizza contains two carbohydrate servings.

Counting carbohydrates allows for flexibility in planning and eating meals. It is like following a budget, knowing how much a person can spend, and can pick from a variety of foods to spend it on.

It is good to include a variety of foods that contain fiber. It takes the body longer to process high-fiber foods into glucose for energy than it does to process low- or no-fiber foods. That means the body is slower to raise blood sugar levels when one eats high-fiber foods.

Foods that contain fiber are fruits, vegetables, beans and whole-grain products. One way to determine if a food is a good source of fiber is to look at the dietary fiber section of the food label. If a food has three or more grams of fiber, it is considered a good source of fiber.

Holli Scott is a registered dietician with the Bristol Bay Area Health Corp.’s Diabetes Prevention Lifestyle Change Program. She can be contacted at (907) 842-9579 or hscott@bbahc.org.

Back