Diabetes, though a chronic condition, is one you can control and manage. You can live a happy, high-quality life if you take the proper steps to control your blood sugar levels on a daily basis. This does not begin and end with medication or insulin, but with your diet as well -- a diet that revolves mainly around the amount of carbohydrates you consume.
Significance
Carbohydrates play a key role in managing your glucose levels. Consuming too many increases your blood sugar, while eating too few causes lower than healthy levels. It is imperative to find the right balance. This helps prevent future diabetes complications, such as kidney damage and failure, nerve damage and eye damage or blindness.
Function
Carbohydrates break down into sugar once you eat them. Some break down faster than others, resulting in a quicker absorption by your blood. The quicker your blood absorbs these sugars, the faster your levels of blood sugars rise. Keeping track of the number of carbs you eat, and setting a maximum limit, helps you keep your glucose levels in a healthy range. The American Diabetes Association recommends consuming 45 to 60 g of carbs at each meal, however, your doctor may adjust this according to your personal needs.
Types
You must concentrate on two basic types of carbohydrates -- simple and complex. Simple carbs contain refined sugar and break down quickly, while complex break down slowly. Examples of simple carbohydrates include soda, white bread and rice, high-sugar cereal, pasta, candy, juice, whole-fat dairy products, deli meat, alcoholic beverages, cookies, cakes and pastries.
Complex carbs contain are high-fiber foods -- foods your body cannot easily digest. They are longer chains of sugars, and take longer to break down in your blood, having little impact on you blood sugar levels. Whole wheat bread and pasta, brown rice, fruit, raw or cooked vegetables, couscous and legumes, such as kidney or black eyed peas, are healthy alternatives. Diabetic candy or diet soda are also allowed.
Identification
Using the glycemic index is perhaps the easiest way for you to identify the amount of carbohydrates each food contains. The foods on the index all contain carbs, however, they rank the foods from one to 100, one containing the lowest amount of carbs. Diabetics should choose foods from the low category as much as possible, although foods from the moderate group is acceptable too. Try to avoid the high group as much as possible. Anything rating 55 and under is low, 56 to 69 is moderate and 70 or more is high.
Misconceptions
You might believe that you can never enjoy a piece of of decadent dessert again, a bowl of creamy ice cream or a slice of fresh Italian bread with your pasta -- this is not so. You simply need to compensate for these choices. The glycemic index works for this as well -- when you choose to eat a high carb item, balance it with a low carb item in the same meal to retain blood sugar balance.
