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Diabetes & Carb Counting For Dummies
Author:
Published:
April 3, 2017
Overview
Count on this book to help you count carbs and live a healthy lifestyle with diabetes
The person with diabetes is at the center of their own care. They make the day-to-day decisions about what to eat, when to exercise, and how to use the data they get from blood glucose monitoring devices. In order to be successful, it is critically important to make those decisions based on sound advice from their healthcare team, diabetes experts, and reputable resources. Carbs and glucose levels go hand in hand when managing all forms of diabetes. Diabetes & Carb Counting For Dummies teaches you all about carbs and overall healthy nutrition so that you can make informed decisions about what to eat and how much. Get up-to-date guidance to improve your health and live the life you want. This updated edition covers the latest dietary guidelines and standards, so you'll be on track with the best that science has to offer in diabetes management. You'll also get tips on exercise, interpreting blood glucose and A1C results, and continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) technology. Living your best carb-counting life starts with this Dummies guide.
- Demystify the connection between carbs, blood glucose levels, insulin, and exercise
- Find easy-to-follow instructions on how to read labels, portion your plate, and count carbs while still enjoying your favorite foods and traditions
- Exercise safely while learning how to prevent and treat hypoglycemia
- Get the latest information on fiber, sweeteners, gluten, and alcohol
- Explore sample meal plans in carb controlled ranges
- Learn about new technologies, research findings, and resources to help you manage diabetes more effectively
- Discover dietary strategies, lifestyle adjustments, and tips for controlling carb consumption without limiting your enjoyment of life
Whether newly diagnosed or someone who has been living with diabetes for many years, this book is an essential guide for people with type 1 diabetes, type 2 diabetes, prediabetes, or gestational diabetes, as well as their loved ones. This is an accessible resource to help empower you with the tools you need to count carbs and plan meals that support diabetes management, weight control, and heart health.
Diabetes is a condition that is largely self-managed. Successful management hinges on discovering how what you eat affects your blood-glucose levels and your overall health and well-being.Carbohydrate foods are digested into glucose, which is the primary fuel used by your brain, muscles, and other tissues and organs.
About The Author
Sherri Shafer, RD, CDCES, enjoyed a 30-year career at the University of California San Francisco Medical Center. As a registered dietitian and certified diabetes care and education specialist, her passion is teaching people with diabetes how to successfully self-manage their condition. She has extensive experience in the field of diabetes and has contributed to numerous healthcare websites, diabetes educational programs, journals, and professional publications.
Articles From The Book
3 results
Diabetes Recipes
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Controlling blood-glucose levels, a necessity if you have diabetes, requires having a handle on carb intake. It helps to problem-solve situations in advance and go into the day with a plan for how to best manage meals and snacks. These tips may help you strategize.
Use measuring cups to control portion sizes
Measuring cups can be used to dish up a serving from the stovetop to your plate.
Diabetes Recipes
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One of the most important advances in diabetes management came in the early 1980s: home blood-glucose monitors. These amazing devices provide critical information that can be used to drive management decisions, improve blood-glucose control, and reduce risks. Monitoring blood glucose reveals how diet, exercise, and medications influence glucose levels, enabling you to take action to avert dangerously high or low levels.
Diabetes Recipes
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Sifting through the vast amount of information about diabetes available on the Internet can be hard. The first step is finding reputable resources. These ten websites are especially relevant to managing diabetes and related health conditions.
American Diabetes Association
The mission of the American Diabetes Association (ADA) is to prevent and cure diabetes and to improve the lives of all people affected by diabetes.
Diabetes Recipes
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Fiber is unique because it is a form of carbohydrate that doesn't digest. Fiber comes from plant foods such as whole grains, legumes, fruits, and vegetables. (Meats, dairy products, fats, and oils don't have any dietary fiber.)
Bottom line: When counting carbs, you don't need to count fiber since it doesn't end up raising your blood-glucose levels.
Diabetes Recipes
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Fruit digests quickly, which is why it's usually better for blood-glucose control to eat smaller amounts of fruit throughout the day rather than too much at one time. Fruit juice digests even faster than whole fruit. You can measure the effect on your blood glucose about 15 minutes after the time you drink it.
Diabetes Recipes
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Whether you loosely manage your carbs or strictly count them depends on your situation. Carb counting is the gold standard if you have type 1 diabetes, but people with type 2 diabetes also stand to benefit from knowing how to count carbs. Establishing carb budgets and adhering to those budgets is one method of managing blood-glucose levels while simultaneously controlling calories and managing weight.
Diabetes Recipes
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Many foods are naturally low in carbs or have no carbs at all. For example, meat, fish, chicken, cheese, eggs, nuts, tofu, avocado, leafy greens, nonstarchy vegetables, and olives are all examples of foods with few or no carbs, so these foods don't have much effect on blood-glucose levels.
Beware, though; some low-carb foods are high in calories and fat.
Diabetes Recipes
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Coral took one unit of rapid-acting insulin for every 15 grams of carbohydrate. She hadn't been completely satisfied with the results. Sometimes her blood-glucose levels were higher or lower than expected. Upon close inspection several issues were identified:
She was putting in effort but had gaps in her accuracy.
Diabetes Recipes
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A diagnosis of diabetes doesn't mean carbs should be avoided or even over-restricted. Carb-containing foods provide important vitamins and minerals. People with diabetes should be mindful of their carbohydrate intakes and choose healthy foods in appropriate portions. Count carbohydrates to ensure your needs are met.
Diabetes Recipes
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Getting down to the nitty-gritty of carb counting in a restaurant may be a bit tougher because you're not going to whip out your handy-dandy measuring cups. Using measuring cups at home improves your ability to recognize serving sizes when you're out. The hand method of portioning is also useful. An average woman's tightly clenched fist is about 1 cup.
Diabetes Recipes
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To be successful counting carbs, especially if you have diabetes, you need to make use of the many carb-counting resources available to you. The following discussion introduces food labels, food lists, menus, brochures, apps, websites, and more.
Looking at the label lingo
Nutrition details are clearly marked on packaged foods.
Diabetes Recipes
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The best way to hone your ability to "guesstimate" the amount of carbs is to train your eye by measuring precisely. Increase your carb-counting accuracy by using standardized measuring cups, and consider purchasing an inexpensive food scale for the kitchen.The following table is useful because it's designed for you to weigh the fruit with the peel on.
Diabetes Recipes
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Diabetes is a condition that is largely self-managed. Successful management hinges on discovering how what you eat affects your blood-glucose levels and your overall health and well-being.Carbohydrate foods are digested into glucose, which is the primary fuel used by your brain, muscles, and other tissues and organs.
Diabetes Recipes
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The Dietary Reference Intakes (DRI) for Americans minimum for carbohydrate is 130 grams per day, and the suggested carb intake range is calculated at 45–65 percent of caloric targets. Some people with diabetes opt to go somewhat lower, such as 40 percent. Targets should be individualized based on preference and health considerations.
Diabetes Recipes
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Looking at the Total Carbohydrate amount on food labels is important because carbohydrates digest and eventually turn into glucose, which ends up in the bloodstream. Having diabetes means you should be paying attention to how much carbohydrate you're eating. Food labels help you do just that, but you need to look for the grams of carbohydrate, not the %Daily Value.
Diabetes Recipes
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The glycemic index (GI) is a tool to measure how individual foods are expected to impact blood-glucose levels. A food is scored on a scale of 0 to 100 according to how much it raises blood-glucose levels as compared with blood-glucose levels after the consumption of 100 grams of glucose.GI tables separate foods into three categories: low (0–55), medium (56–69), and high (70–100).
Diabetes Recipes
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Diabetes is a condition of abnormal blood-glucose regulation. Lack of insulin (type 1 diabetes) or ineffective insulin (type 2 diabetes) both lead to elevated blood-glucose levels and a diagnosis of diabetes.Diabetes and diet are intimately intertwined. It's impossible to talk about managing diabetes without discussing food in great detail.
Diabetes Recipes
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Glucagon is a hormone that raises blood glucose by stimulating the liver to make and release glucose. Normally the pancreas makes glucagon automatically when blood-glucose levels fall too low, but with long-standing diabetes, glucagon production can become compromised. Glucagon is available by prescription and is administered by injection.
Diabetes Recipes
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For many people with type 2 diabetes, blood-glucose levels can be controlled with simpler portioning guidelines. Certainly carb counting is an option, but it may not be necessary. If you want to keep things simple or if you don't like math, charts, and measuring, then the two options covered in the following sections are great alternatives to carb counting.
Diabetes Recipes
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For decades, people with diabetes were told not to eat sugar. Avoiding sugar won't automatically keep blood-glucose levels in range if there are no controls on the overall carb intake. Skipping the cookie doesn't erase the carbs in the rest of the meal. Managing carbs for diabetes means all carbs in the meal need to be accounted for, not just the dessert.
Diabetes Recipes
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Simply put, alcohol impairs glucose regulation. It is important not to drink alcohol on an empty stomach. A mini physiology review may shed some light on why it's so important to have carbs digesting when you have a drink.Blood-glucose levels are at their highest typically one to two hours after eating a mixed meal.
Diabetes Recipes
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Human bodies need fuel to function. Glucose is the primary fuel source for the brain and red blood cells. It is also the preferred fuel source for muscles. Carbohydrate-containing foods provide glucose through the process of digestion and absorption. Glucose travels throughout the body via the bloodstream to all awaiting organs, tissues, and cells.
Diabetes Recipes
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A common misconception about alcohol is that many people assume alcohol turns to sugar, or alcohol will raise their blood-glucose levels. Actually, hard liquor doesn't have any carb, wine is very low in carb, and beer has about as much carb as a piece of bread:
Hard alcohol (distilled spirits) doesn't have any carbs, except for whatever it's mixed with.
Diabetes Recipes
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Eating for health and happiness and reaping the rewards of fitness should be a lifelong commitment through all ages and stages of life. The following discussion covers these and the other pillars of diabetes management.
Eating a healthy diet
Food should be a positive part of creating and maintaining health, and it should be something to enjoy and savor too!
Diabetes Recipes
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Managing carb intake is important for everyone with diabetes because carb choices and portions directly affect blood-glucose levels. Your food choices influence more than just diabetes management; what you choose to eat affects your weight and overall health. With a few simple modifications, you can improve the quality of your diet and lower your intake of fat, calories, sugar, and salt.
Diabetes Recipes
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Blood glucose is expected to be at its highest level about one to two hours after a meal, as long as it is a fairly balanced meal and not excessively high in fat. The meal should be finished digesting in roughly four hours.Rapid-acting insulin works its hardest (peaks) about an hour after being injected and finishes working in about four hours.
Diabetes Recipes
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Uncontrolled diabetes increases your risk for heart disease. Diabetes has a dietary component to successful management, and the same can be said for heart disease. In terms of diabetes, the focus is on carb quality, portioning, and carb counting. For heart health you'll want to limit artery-clogging saturated fats and trans fats; instead choose healthier fats from vegetable oils and fish.
Diabetes Recipes
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For many people with type 2 diabetes, blood-glucose levels can be adequately controlled with simple carbohydrate portioning guidelines. Rather than counting carbs precisely, the plate method offers a quick visual tool for portioning foods. The plate method not only helps manage carb intake, but it can also help with weight control by setting serving size limits.
Diabetes Recipes
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Food choices matter when you have diabetes. The table highlights key dietary factors that influence blood-glucose results. If you consider these points when planning meals and snacks, you may find it easier to reach your blood-glucose targets.
Variable
Consideration
Dietary Variables Affecting Glycemia
Portion size
Excess carb intake can sabotage blood-glucose control efforts.
Diabetes Recipes
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If you're looking for flavor, lots of low-carb options provide a little pizzazz and still don't drive the blood-glucose levels up. If you want a soda, you're better off with a diet version than a regular sugary soft drink. If you aren't looking for fizz, try drink mixes in powdered or liquid form that can be mixed up in a minute:
Lemonade: Lemons and limes have very little carbohydrate.
Diabetes Recipes
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Sugar alcohol is a modified form of carbohydrate. Many products that claim to be sugar free are sweetened with a substance known as sugar alcohol (or polyol). Despite the name, sugar alcohol does not have any sugar, and it does not have any alcohol. Hydrogen is added to various forms of carbohydrate and chemical bonds are shifted, and then voilá — you have a new form of carbohydrate known as sugar alcohol.
Diabetes Recipes
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To search for apps to help you manage your diabetes or to count carbs on your smartphone or mobile device, simply locate the app store icon and click on it. Apple devices have an App Store icon; for Android devices, look for the Google Play icon. The search feature, which looks like a magnifying glass, allows you type in keywords to search for desired apps.
Diabetes Recipes
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Carbohydrates, proteins, and fats are macronutrients. People need them in relatively large amounts as compared to micronutrients, such as vitamins and minerals, which are required in smaller amounts. Here's what they do:
Carbohydrates provide glucose, the body's primary fuel.
Proteins contribute amino acids for building and repairing tissues and cells.
Diabetes Recipes
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All carbohydrates have something in common: They are built out of sugar molecules. Sugar molecules can exist separately as single units, or they can join together in pairs to form double sugars. The scientific term for a single sugar is monosaccharide. The double-sugar units are known as disaccharides. Many sugar molecules can join together in long chains, and those are called polysaccharides.
Diabetes Recipes
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Up to 60 percent of an adult's body weight is water, so staying hydrated is critical to good health, especially when you have diabetes. You've probably heard that you should be drinking at least 8 cups of fluid per day. If blood-glucose levels are running above target, you may need more than that.Why? Because when blood-glucose levels are elevated, your kidneys will try to filter out some of the excess glucose, and in doing so they will create more urine.
Diabetes Recipes
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The monosaccharides and disaccharides illustrated here are considered simple carbohydrates (sugars). There are naturally occurring sugars in many foods. Fruits, milk, and yogurt are examples of foods that contain natural sugars. Carbohydrate chemical structure.Take a closer look at the carbohydrate building blocks, the single sugars.
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Carbohydrate requirements can change throughout life. Your carb demands may even change seasonally if your activity levels vary according to the time of year. The following discussion explores situations that may call for making adjustments to your carb intakes.
Changing carb needs throughout the life cycle
Childhood and adolescence are times when dietary needs are constantly changing.
Diabetes Recipes
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Breakfast is an important meal. During sleep the liver releases glucose that was previously stored. By morning, the glucose reserves are low and it is time to "break the fast." You need nutrition to function at your best. The menus here are designed to illustrate how to achieve variety in breakfast food choices, yet consistency in carb intake.
Diabetes Recipes
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This weekly dinner menu is designed to illustrate how to achieve variety in food choices, yet consistency in carb intake, which is very important for diabetics.You find seven themes for dinner with three carb-range options. Carb and calorie counts are noted for each menu. The main carb-containing foods are in bold font, and the grams of fiber have been subtracted from the total carb count.
Diabetes Recipes
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It's not a good idea to skip lunch, especially when you have diabetes, because doing so may lead to overeating at dinner. After you've made a few meals in your desired carb range, it becomes easier to develop similar menus of your own.This weekly menu is designed to illustrate how to achieve variety in food choices, yet consistency in carb intake.