When your body digests carbohydrate-containing foods, it metabolizes the carbohydrate into glucose to serve as a source of fuel for your cells. If you have diabetes, you may have difficulty managing the glucose produced by carbohydrates in food because of your lack of or poor functioning insulin. Controlling the amount of carbohydrates, or carbs, in your diet can help you control your diabetes.
Carbohydrate Counting Diet
Carbohydrate-containing foods include starches, fruits, milk and yogurt. On the carbohydrate counting diet, you can eat a certain amount, usually in grams, of these foods at each meal. The amount you need depends on your calorie needs and blood sugar goals. You can start with 45 to 60 g of carbohydrate at each meal, says the American Diabetes Association. When following the carbohydrate counting diet, it helps if you have a good understanding of standard diabetic serving sizes and carbohydrate content. For example, one slice of bread, 1 cup of milk and a small orange all have about 15 g of carbohydrate. Reading food labels also helps you track your carbohydrates. Meats and fats are not controlled on the carbohydrate diet. The American Diabetes Association recommends you include some meat and fat with each meal for balance.
Diabetes Exchange Diet
The diabetes exchange diet is a low-fat, calorie-controlled diet that not only helps you control your carbohydrate intake, but also helps you balance protein and fat intake as well. The exchange diet divides foods up into familiar groups -- starches, fruits, milk, meats, nonstarchy vegetables and fats -- based on similarities in calorie, carbohydrate, protein and fat content. Your plan consists of a specific number of servings from each food group based on your calorie needs. When creating meals, you can exchange foods within each group. For example, at dinner you can exchange a 3 oz. baked potato for a 1/3-cup serving of brown rice. The exchange diet not only helps you manage your blood sugars, but can also help you lose weight.
Low-Carbohydrate Diet
The American Diabetes Association says a low-carbohydrate diet can be used in the short-term to help promote weight loss in people with diabetes. On a low-carbohydrate diet, you limit your intake of foods from the starch, fruit and milk groups and eat primarily meats, nonstarchy vegetables and fats. A commercial low-carbohydrate diet that restricts total carbohydrate intake to less than 20 g per day is not appropriate for people with diabetes, according to the authors of a 2005 review article in "Nutrition and Metabolism." Instead, a low-carbohydrate diet for diabetes should provide 20 percent of its calories from carbohydrate, 30 percent of its calories from protein and 50 percent of its calories from fat. Most of your fat on a low-carbohydrate diet should come from the heart-healthy fats -- monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats. A doctor or dietitian can help you create your low-carbohydrate meal plan.
References
- American Diabetes Association: Carbohydrates Counting
- MayoClinic.com: Your Diabetes Eating Plan: Exchange List
- "Diabetes Care"; Standards of Medical Care Diabetes
- "Nutrition and Metabolism"; The Case for Low Carbohydrate Diets in Diabetes Management; Surender K. Arora and Samy I. McFarlane; July 14, 2005
