Whether you are diabetic or interested in losing weight, counting carbs is a good way to control what you eat and monitor the number of calories you consume per day. Counting carbs seems like it's difficult at first, but like any new skill after a few weeks, it will become second nature. Start with foods you enjoy and build from there.
Step 1
Choose foods you enjoy from a wide variety of nutritious offerings. Refer to the USDA Food Pyramid. The Food Pyramid divides foods into six groups: grains, vegetables, fruits, milk, meat, and beans and oils. Use the Food Pyramid to make healthy selections. There are carbohydrates in nearly all of the groups.
Step 2
Choose carbs from nutrient-dense foods like grains, fruits, vegetables and potatoes instead of empty-nutrient foods like soda, candy and cookies. Emphasize carbs that are high in fiber. Fiber helps your digestion, lowers cholesterol, reduces your risk for cancer, and fills you up faster than foods without fiber. Carbs with fiber will also help to prevent your blood glucose from spiking--a problem if you're diabetic.
Step 3
Become comfortable with measuring tools like a gram scale, and measuring cups and spoons. One ounce contains 28g--a very common way of describing how many carbs are in a particular food. Measure single servings of the foods you typically eat and see how accurately you can estimate the grams of carbohydrate. Record the results in your food log.
Step 4
Identify foods that you'd like to include in your diet. Weigh the foods on your gram scale. Remember that what the food weighs does not necessarily equal how many grams of carbohydrate are in the food. Except for pure sugar or candy, few foods are 100 percent carbohydrate. For instance, 1 cup of milk weighs 224g, but only contains 12g of carbohydrate because the majority of milk is water. The easiest way to determine how many carbs are in a single serving of carbohydrate is to look at the packaging label. All packaged foods are required to display how many servings are in the container, how many calories are in a single serving, and how many grams of carbohydrates are in a serving.
Step 5
Look for good resources to determine how many carbs are in the foods that are difficult to qualify, like fruits and vegetables. There are many handy pocket guides and indexes that you can use until you become comfortable estimating carbs on your own. Jot down the grams of carbohydrates in your favorite food in a notebook or food log. After a few weeks, you'll be able to judge the carb content of foods without checking.
Step 6
Limit your carbs to 40 to 60g per meal while you become comfortable with counting carbs. This is a good starting range. If you feel that you can reduce the grams of carbs, proceed slowly until you arrive at a comfortable level. If you're constantly hungry, try adding a few grams of high-quality carbohydrate.
Tips and Warnings
- Determine the number of carbs in your favorite foods, then add others. Start with a comfortable number and reduce them according to your success. Jot down the grams of carbs in a food log and carry it with you at all times.
- Avoid fad diets. Choose a balanced diet that contains carbohydrates, proteins and fats.
Things You'll Need
- Small notebook or food log
- Diet books and charts
- Gram scale
- Measuring cups and spoons
- Calculator
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