Your physician has probably overwhelmed you with a lot of new information--most of it having to do with your diet--if you've recently been diagnosed with diabetes. There are a number of approaches to managing your blood glucose levels. One of the most popular methods is called carbohydrate counting. Carbohydrate counting involves calculating and totaling the number of carbohydrates you eat in a single day. While carbs can range from the very high to relatively low, there are actually a few carbohydrates that are considered "free" or so low in carbohydrate count that you don't need to include them in your daily total.
Below are a few lists of carbohydrates that are considered low in carbohydrates or carbohydrate-free, according to medical writer David Mendosa of Mendosa.com. Within reason, you can eat as much or as many of them as you wish without affecting your blood sugar levels. Unless otherwise indicated, all of the foods in the lists below are considered uncooked and are followed by their grams of carbohydrates per 100 grams of food.
Vegetables
Most of the selections in this list are staples in the American diet. They include cooked green beans (4.69), cooked broccoli (2.16), iceberg lettuce (0.69), raw mushrooms (2.94 to 3.57), radishes (1.99), cooked spinach (1.35), cooked summer squash (2.91) and tomato juice (3.83).
Fruits
Many fruits are relatively high in glucose and should be carefully balanced with other foods. A few like avocados (2.39), raspberries (4.77) and strawberries (4.72) rate relatively low, especially if you add them to other foods like whole grain cereals to offset their blood glucose responses.
Meat and Fish
Meat and fish are not generally known for their carbohydrate content but a few are. All meat and fin fish have no carbohydrates, crab has 0.95, lobster has 1.28 and shrimp is another carbohydrate-free food.
Eggs and Dairy
While you may need to watch your intake of eggs and dairy foods for other reasons, they tend to have very little in carbohydrates, so they're considered carbohydrate-free foods. Examples are butter (0.06), cheddar cheese (1.28), 2-percent cottage cheese (3.63), eggs (1.22), half and half (4.30), mayonnaise (2.70) and plain yogurt (4.66).
Beverages
Many of your favorite beverages are carbohydrate free, as too are their artificial sweeteners. They include coffee (without cream and sugar), diet sodas, tea (without milk and sugar) and water. Artificial sweeteners such as Aspartame, Saccharin, Stevia and Sucralose are all carbohydrate-free sweeteners.
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