If your child has been diagnosed with diabetes, her endocrinologist may recommend a method known as carbohydrate counting. This method ensures a child eats the foods that help her maintain proper blood glucose levels. Knowing how to count carbohydrates properly ensures you and your child have an easy method to plan meals.
Significance
Diabetes is a condition that affects how your child is able to use insulin to break down glucose in foods. A child diagnosed with diabetes should work to keep blood sugar levels in check in order to prevent adverse symptoms, according to the American Dietetic Association. Carbohydrate counting is a means to keep your child's blood sugar in a consistent range, according to Kaiser Permanente, a health-care organization that promotes research and education.
Function
To count carbohydrates, a child or parent must carefully learn to read food labels to understand food exchanges. Foods that are starch, fruit or milk are counted as 15 g of carbohydrates per serving, according to Roberta Laredo, a registered dietitian and certified diabetes educator writing on "Diabetes Spectrum." Once a dietitian or physician works with a child to determine the proper amount of carbohydrates that can be eaten at a meal or snack, a carbohydrate-to-insulin ratio is used to determine how much insulin should be given for every carbohydrate consumed.
Measurement
Sometimes, food labels are not available as a means to count carbohydrates, according to Salisbury Health Care. In these instances, you and your child can use alternate methods to estimate, including measuring foods or carrying a carbohydrate counter booklet that helps you determine carbohydrate-insulin exchanges. If you are cooking a meal from scratch, cookbooks are available that give carbohydrate counts with each recipe.
School Lunch Considerations
While you can monitor your child's carbohydrate counts at home, this can be difficult when he goes to school, according to Diabetes Spectrum. You may wish to speak with your child's teacher or school cafeteria manager to discuss dietary needs and healthy choices. Practice by having your child report on all of the foods that are eaten at lunch.
Benefits
When a child or parents learns to count carbohydrates, several benefits are experienced, according to Salisbury Health Care. These include improved diabetes control because blood sugar stays stable. Children also have a better understanding of how eating a certain food will affect their bodies. Because other diabetes diets may require eating specific foods at specific times, carbohydrate counting also gives your child more freedom to choose foods she loves.
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