If you have type 2 diabetes and you’re not taking insulin you should be concerned and focused on counting your carbohydrates. It’s a skill and technique that will ultimately help you plan your diet and manage your condition. Being able to determine sugar and carbohydrate levels in the foods you eat allows you to spread them throughout the day. Ultimately this will reduce and hopefully prevent high blood sugar after meals. It will also give you the flexibility to eat what you want while also offering you the sense of control and confidence with managing your type 2 diabetes.
But what is carbohydrate counting? It involves adding the amount of carbohydrates in your food after eating. It’s important because it affects your blood sugar more than any other nutrient. Foods like, fruits and vegetables, milk and yogurt, bread, cereals, potatoes, corn, and candy and cakes all contain carbohydrates. Foods that contain sugar have more total carbohydrates per serving than those with just starch, like potatoes and corn.
One of the better ways to learn how to count carbohydrates is to speak to a registered dietician or your diabetes doctor. He or she can help you plan the amount your body can take in for each meal, and they can also help you with what snacks you can eat. In general though, each standard serving size should have 15 grams of carbohydrates.
Here is an example: A breakfast of two eggs, one cup of milk, one slice of toast, and two teaspoons of margarine contains thirty carbohydrates. Zero in the eggs and margarine, fifteen in the milk and fifteen in the toast.
Type 2 diabetes treatments are one of the research studies we’ve been working on here in the Orlando, Florida area. Some of our investigational treatments have shown promising results, but we need to do additional research studies to test investigational methods that may help us understand your condition. If you are near our diabetes Orlando center, or the area surrounding, please call us at 386.310.1334