Many popular breakfast foods have a high carbohydrate content, including toasts, most breakfast cereals, oatmeal, pancakes, waffles, fruits and yogurt. It is not uncommon for a breakfast to contain more than 100 g of carbohydrates. With diabetes, a high carbohydrate intake results in high blood sugar levels because of either a lack of insulin, as with type 1 diabetes, or insulin resistance, as with type 2 diabetes. Your diabetes breakfast can include your favorite options, like Cheerios or coffee, but you will need to keep an eye on the serving size to keep your blood sugar levels well-controlled.
Carbohydrates and Diabetes
The amount of carbohydrates you eat is the most important factor for controlling your blood sugar levels. The American Diabetes Association recommends that you start with a carb intake corresponding to 45 g to 60 g per meal, although some people may need to further restrict their carb intake to keep their blood sugar levels within target. Monitor your blood sugar levels before eating and two hours after your breakfast. The target usually is below 130 mg/dL before your meal and below 180 mg/dL two hours after eating, although your doctor may have specified different numbers for you.
Cheerios
Some Cheerios are flavored and contain significant amounts of added sugar. Stick with the plain Cheerios, which provide about 100 calories, 20 g of carbohydrates and 3 g of fiber, which corresponds to 17 g of available carbohydrates. Available carbs represent the amount of carbohydrates that can raise your blood sugar levels and can be calculated by subtracting the fiber from the total carbs. If you eat a big bowl of cereal, you could easily get double to triple that amount of available carbohydrates, or between 34 g and 51 g of available carbs. The milk or yogurt you add to your Cheerios also provide carbohydrates. For example, 1 cup of milk or 1/2 cup of plain yogurt each contains about 12 g of carbs. If you add sugar to your breakfast cereals, each teaspoon of table sugar will add 4 g to 5 g of available carbs.
Coffee
Black coffee does not contain any carbohydrates. Each teaspoon of sugar you add to your coffee will add 4 g to 5 g of available carbs. One tablespoon of milk contains about 1 g of available carbs and 1 tbsp. of cream has less than 1 g of available carbs. If you add two to three packets of sugar to your coffee, it will contain as much as 8 g to 15 g of carbohydrates. Specialty coffees, such as caramel lattes and mochas, contain an average of 40 g of carbohydrates per 16-oz.
Your Breakfast
You can have coffee and Cheerios for breakfast even if you have diabetes as long as you do select the options that do not contain added sugar and have an appropriate serving. For example, if your carbohydrate target for breakfast corresponds to 45 g, you could have 1.5 cup of cheerios with either 1 cup of milk or 1/2 cup of yogurt and a black coffee. Alternatively, you could have 1 cup of cheerios with 1 cup of milk, half of a banana and a black coffee. If you need to keep your carb lower to control your blood sugar levels, you could have either 1/2 cup of cheerios mixed with 1 cup of strawberries and 1/2 cup of yogurt and a black coffee for about 30 g of carbohydrates or 1/2 cup of cheerios with 1/2 cup of milk and a black coffee for 15 g of carbohydrates.
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