Today ends week 1 on carbohydrate counting and I gotta tell ya, this is my favorite “diet” by far. It doesn’t even really feel like a diet. I mean, check out some of the awesome meals I got to eat!

I think part of the reason it feels easy is that I have taught the principles so many times that I didn’t have much of a learning curve as far as learning how to carb count. I could recite carbohydrate portion sizes in my sleep…as a matter of fact, I probably do. You’d have to ask my husband.

The greatest part about carb counting is that it is not very restrictive IF you are intentional about balancing your plate with non-carbohydrate foods. You can eat pretty much anything, the most important keys are how much and when. There have only been one or two times throughout the week when there was something I wanted more of but I had already run out of carbohydrates. 

Carb counting feels more like a guardrail than a diet – there to guide me in the right direction and keep me from flying off a cliff on a carb binge.

The most difficult part has been boring beverages. Most of the time I would rather spend my carbohydrates on food than on beverages, which leaves me with tea only rather than tea and juice with breakfast and water instead of milk or a glass of wine with dinner. Overall, not that big of a deal but I have to admit I do miss drinking a glass of milk in the evening.

Here are the details for my first week on carb counting:

Though this particular meal plan has been very flexible, I’m looking forward to carb counting on my own and seeing how well I can do flying solo!

For a little practice, here is the carbohydrate breakdown for the four meals and two snacks I’ve had so far. Remember that my goal is 45-60 grams carb (3-4 carb portions) per meal and 15 grams carb (1 carb portion) per snack:

Monday Dinner

3 oz meatloaf = 15 g carb (1 carb portion)

1 small dinner roll = 15 g carb (1 carb choice)

1/2 c. mashed potatoes = 15 g carb (1 carb choice)

1/3 c. cooked carrots = 7 g carb

1 c. green salad = 0 g carb

1 Tbsp light blue cheese dressing = 0 g carb

Total carbs = 52 grams carb  (3.5 carb portions)

Tuesday Breakfast

whole wheat English muffin = 30 g carb (2 carb portions)

1 Tbsp fresh ground peanut butter = 2.5 g carb

1/2 medium banana = 15 g carb (1 carb portion)

green tea (with my awesome Mr. Tea infuser!) with Stevia = 0 g carb

Total carbs = 47.5 grams (3 carb portions)

Tuesday Morning Snack

3/4 oz pretzels = 15 grams carb (1 carb portion)

Tuesday Lunch

                       2 slices whole wheat bread = 30 g carb (2 carb portions) 3 oz. turkey deli meat = 0 g carb

1 slice cheddar cheese = 0 g carb

2 leaves lettuce = 0 g carb

2 slices tomatoes = 0 g carb

1 Tbsp light mayo = 0 g carb

1 tsp Dijon mustard = 0 g carb

1 medium apple = 28 g carb (2 carb portions)

                                                                                         Total carbs = 58 grams (4 carb portions)

Tuesday Afternoon Snack

6 oz. light yogurt = 16 grams carb (1 carb portion)

Tuesday Dinner

1 c. chili w/lean ground beef = 22 g carb (1.5 carb portions)

1 oz. cornbread = 15 g carb (1 carb portion)

1 c. green salad = 0 g carb

1 Tbsp light ranch dressing = 0 g carb

1 Tbsp fat free sour cream = 0 g carb

1 Tbsp Smart Balance spread = 0 g carb

And I had plenty of carbs left so I topped it off with a square of Ghirardelli dark chocolate (7 g carb)!

Total Carbs = 44 grams carb (3 carb portions)

So far, so good! The food has been tasty and filling, and I haven’t felt restricted. I’m loving the flexibility of this meal plan!

Comment if you have any questions about how the carb counting works (or about anything else)!

Check out this haul from my first grocery shopping trip for Carb Counting!

Yes, we drink a LOT of milk at our house.

I think I’m going to like this particular meal plan that I am using because it offers more flexibility than other meal plans I have used in the past. It gives lists of sample breakfasts, lunches/dinners, and snacks and allows me to pick and choose the ones I like, as well as repeat meals to use leftovers, which definitely helps with some of the issues I have with meal plans in general (which I described here).

So I thought I’d start out by describing what carb counting is all about. As described here, eating too many carbohydrates at one time can raise blood sugar too high for someone with diabetes. First thing’s first: which foods have significant amounts of carbohydrates?

• breads and grains like rice, pasta, and oats
• beans and legumes
• starchy vegetables like potatoes, peas, and corn
• milk and yogurt
• fruit and fruit juice
• sweeteners like sugar, brown sugar, agave, syrup, honey and sugary beverages like soda and sports drinks

These are the foods we primarily “count” as we count carbohydrates. The specific goal for carbohydrate intake varies between individuals based on height, weight, gender, activity levels, and blood sugar control goals. If you have diabetes and don’t know how many carbohydrates you should eat, find a Registered Dietitian who can help you find out.

For me, my goal is going to be 45-60 grams of carbohydrate per meal and 15 grams of carbohydrate per snack, as well as meeting the recommended activity goal of 30 minutes of moderate exercise 5 days per week (This can really help blood sugars!)

To help make carb counting easier, something called a “carbohydrate portion” or a “diabetes portion” was introduced. This is basically the amount of any carbohydrate food that contains 15 grams of carbohydrate.

As you can see by my carbohydrate counting goals, they are in multiples of 15 grams. So basically, at meals I can select 3-4 “carbohydrate portions” and at snacks I can choose 1. I can then fill in the gaps with non-carbohydrate foods like meat, eggs, cheese, vegetables, nuts, or seeds.

Carb counting can be tricky, but with some practice, awareness, and strategy, most people with diabetes find that they can live a relatively “normal” food life. I’ll see if I can make it happen in these three weeks and, if so, hopefully I can pass some useful info on to you!

No matter how you say it, it’s serious. Diabetes is common and can wreak havoc on someone’s body, so I’m more than happy to spend some time focusing on this condition and how to manage blood sugars by counting carbohydrates.

For anyone who is looking for a review of what carbohydrates are or what they do in the body, check out this post. Carbs are the numero uno focus when it comes to managing diabetes and reducing risk of complications.

To understand how diabetes works, let’s go back to the house/insulin key/sugar explanation I wrote about here. Check it out because my upcoming explanation will likely not make sense if you’re not in on the metaphor. Let’s also bring my highly sophisticated representative drawing back for a second look:

 In people with diabetes, the sugar people are not able to get into the house, causing a buildup of sugar people in the streets. They get crowded and angry and start flipping cars, breaking windows, and rioting all over the place. It makes for a pretty hostile environment.

This buildup of sugar people in the streets typically happens for one of three reasons:

1. The person has an autoimmune condition that prevents the body from being able to make insulin keys at all. This is called Type 1 diabetes.
2. The person’s locks are all rusty and take a long time to open. While the lock and key are fumbling around, sugar people build up in the street. This happens for a variety of reasons including genetics, obesity, stress, and inflammation, among others. This is called Type 2 diabetes.
3. The person’s locks are temporarily rusty because of the effects of hormones associated with pregnancy. This is called Gestational diabetes and most of the time it goes away after the baby is delivered, though it does increase a woman’s risk of having type 2 diabetes later in life.

In order to keep there from being too many angry sugar people in the blood, nutrition recommendations include portioning total amounts of carbohydrates eaten at one time. In other words, we send sugar people into the street single file all polite-like rather than stampeding en masse. That is why, in support of my patients and anyone with diabetes, I will be counting and moderating intake of carbohydrates at each meal and snack starting on Monday. We’ll also be going over more specifics about what types of foods are carbohydrates.

There are several other things we can do to help keep the sugar people from building up and rioting – look for more info in upcoming posts!

So, which diet did you choose for Dietitian on a Diet to follow next?

Carb counting for diabetes! That means I’ll be keeping on eye on the types of foods that break down into…*gasp*…SUGAR!!! I’m looking forward to this one for a few reasons:

1. Diabetes is really common. Scary common. According to the American Diabetes Association, as of 2012 9.3% of the population had diabetes, and about 8.1 million of those were undiagnosed. With nearly 1 in 10 Americans having diabetes, chances are very high you know several people with diabetes.
2. There are a lot of misconceptions about eating for diabetes. For some reason, the message has come across that eating for diabetes is very restrictive and the portions are teensy. The truth is, it doesn’t have to be that hard. It takes intention and awareness, but it’s not a death sentence for your tastebuds. Promise.
3. Sugar is the root of all evil. Or so a lot of people say. Therefore, foods that break down into sugar must be evil. Or so a lot of people say. We’ll definitely address that while I’m on this diet.

I’ll be delving into this diet starting Monday – stay tuned if you’re interested in learning how to live with (or support someone who lives with) diabetes!

As I’ve been focusing on carbohydrates in my research thus far, I wanted to build a “foundation of physiology”, if you will, to build all the dietary recommendations on. If you’re a science geek, I hope you’ll enjoy this with me. If you’re not a science geek and you’d rather mow grass with fingernail clippers than read about the way your body works, stop reading and come back tomorrow. I promise to post a delicious new recipe for you then. Now, on to the nitty-gritty.

Carbohydrates are the primary source of energy in grains, fruits, dairy, starchy veggies (potatoes, beans, etc.), and sugar. Depending on the type of food, the carbohydrates are either long chains of molecules (complex carbohydrates), or short chains or single molecules (simple carbohydrates). Once you put these in your mouth, your body gets right to work. An enzyme in your saliva starts breaking the bonds between the molecules. It usually doesn’t get very far, because most of us swallow before it has a chance to break all of the chains apart. My sixth grade science teacher used a neat trick to demonstrate this breakdown by giving us each a saltine cracker and told us to chew on it for at least a minute. Eventually, it started to taste sweet because the carbohydrates were being broken down into their individual sugar bits…pretty neat, huh?

Anyway, then you swallow and the food goes into your stomach. Not much happens here in the way of breaking apart the carb chains, because your stomach contents are too acidic for the enzymes to work. After your stomach has done its thing, the food passes into your small intestine where most of the magic happens. Another enzyme (dispatched from your pancreas) goes to work breaking the rest of the bonds in the chains of carbohydrates. You are basically left with single molecules known as monosaccharides. You may be familiar with their individual names: glucose, fructose, and galactose. I’m only going to talk about glucose for now, because that’s the most prominent player in your energy pathways. Glucose molecules are transported into your intestinal cells and then pass from there into your blood through a variety of methods. If you have ever heard of someone testing their blood glucose or their blood sugars, they are essentially measuring how many of these glucose molecules are floating around in their blood at any given time. Some of the glucose then goes to the liver for storage, and some of it needs to get into your body’s cells to provide you with energy. To get out of the blood and into most of those cells, glucose needs help from a hormone called insulin.

Think of the glucose molecules in your blood as people walking on the street, and the cells of your body as locked houses. The glucose can’t get into the houses without a key – in this case, insulin (as you can see in my highly sophisticated diagram above). Once it’s in your cells, it can either be used to make energy right away, or stored away in long chains called glycogen until your body needs energy later.

If there is more glucose left over when all of your body’s glycogen stores are full, then your body converts the glucose into fatty acids and stores it away as body fat. Furthermore, that extra glucose actually tells your body to use less of your body’s stored fat for energy. Now before you go scolding your body for this process, remember that it came from the survival instincts of our ancestors who often lived in times of either feast or famine. While there was plenty to eat, their bodies stored fat to sustain them in times of hunger. The problem for many modern-day people is that they constantly live in times of plenty. When people go on low-calorie weight-loss diets, their bodies will start to use that fat (and unfortunately, muscle) to fuel them. Now I’m definitely not advocating that we all just run off and haphazardly quit eating carbohydrates to lose weight. There are definitely pros and cons to be weighed, and for now I’m an advocate of age-old moderation. In agreement with the information I referenced in previous posts, my textbook on metabolism states that (as of 2009) researchers have yet to determine the ideal balance between carbohydrate, fat, and protein intakes for fat loss. Clearly, there is a balance to be achieved.

So there you have it – a snippet of your body’s complex innerworkings. Maybe now you and your body will have more to talk about!