What is carb counting?
| Carb counting is simply counting how many carbs there are in a meal or drink. Typically, you use the food packaging or a web site. |
Carbohydrates (or "carbs") are, more or less, the source of energy contained in food.
We need energy and thus need carbohydrates in our food. If you have diabetes, the more carbohydrates you eat, the more insulin you will need as well (unless you do a lot of exercise).
There are many different websites that have this information. For example, on my favorite food search engine, you can type this:
There are several carb counting apps for phones. Some of these are entirely free. Just try some and see which one you like. I personally like the FatSecret website, because you can on Google type exactly the amount of food and then you can find the FatSecret link with how many carbs it contains.
| Different websites might give slightly different numbers. This is often for ambiguous tems. For example, how big exactly is a small apple? The NHS resources below might be more useful. |
Carbs is not all that matters
Carbs come in different types. For example, 10 grams of carbs in a glass of orange juice will increase your blood glucose much faster than 10 grams of carbs in a small apple.
The "glaecemic index" (GI) tells you how fast the carbs are absorbed in the body.
Here is a list from the UK National Health Service which quickly shows the GI: LINK
How do I learn this?
Just looking up the carbs in an apple is not so difficult. But looking up the carbs for a whole meal with different ingredients can become more work.
| In the UK, all people with type 1 diabetes can do the DAFNE course for free; it is really good and proven to be effective to learn about carb counting and more. Ask your GP or diabetes team to get on the course. Official link |
NHS carb counting Resources with simple lists
In the UK, different NHS teams have their own resources, these might be particularly helpful:
Now what?
Once you know how many carbs there are in your meal, then you can give exactly the needed amount of insulin. The relation between the carbs and your insulin is known as the carb-insulin ratio.
In the DAFNE course, they start with a specific ratio of 1 unit of insulin for every 10 grams of carbs. This, however, is likely to be different from person to person. Part of the DAFNE course is to figure out this ratio, but you can also do this yourself, but it takes some effort.
On top of this, how much insulin you need exactly does not just depend on carbs, but also on what you eat otherwise (e.g., low or high-fiber food).
In restaurants
Some restaurants will tell you how many carbs there are the meals they serve. This is especially true for larger chains and fast food restaurants such as McDonalds. For smaller restaurants, use your own knownledge and common sense as well, because they might give the wrong information.
On campus
Ask your campus restaurants to provide this information. If nobody asks, they will not provided it.