Controlling Blood Sugar By Counting Carbs

Carbohydrate, protein, and fat from our food provide calories for energy, growth, and repair of our body's cells. Vitamins and minerals make this happen.

The body breaks carbohydrate down into glucose (sugar) for energy. When you have diabetes, the more carbohydrate you eat, the higher your blood sugar can go. Protein and fat do not cause blood sugar levels to rise as much."

How much carbohydrate do I need?

About one half of the food you eat each day should come from carbohydrate. 2 Carbohydrate foods are an important source of energy, vitamins, and minerals. Plus fiber, which is important to your health, is found only in carbohydrate-rich foods.'

Which foods contain carbohydrate?

. Starches: breads and crackers, cereals, pasta, rice, beans, and lentils
. Fruits: all types of fruit and fruit juices.
. Dairy products: milk, yogurt, ice cream
. Vegetables: corn, peas, and potatoes; other vegetables contain very small amounts.
. Sugars: cake, cookies, pies, candy, honey, doughnuts.

Estimated daily carbohydrate needs:

Once you have a daily Carbohydrate goal, the next step is to spread the grams of carbohydrate out between meals and snacks:

. You should have 2-3 meals/day; snacks are optional.

. Some people with type 2 diabetes who take a diabetes medication may need snacks, especially at bedtime, to prevent hunger between meals

. Distribute your carbohydrate in a way that gives you the best blood sugar levels throughout the day, then stick to that plan.

What kinds of carbohydrate should I eat?

Most of your carbohydrate should be from whole grains, fruits, and vegetables, using the food pyramid as your guide. You can still have sweets in moderation, since sugars do not raise blood sugar more than starches. 3 The secret to eating sweets is to pay attention to portion size, and substitute a sweet treat for other carbohydrate on a gram-for-gram basis. For example:

You may choose to skip a slice of bread if you want a small scoop of ice cream, but you wouldn't substitute ice cream for all your carbohydrates at a meal! Remember, sweets often contain a lot of fat and calories.

1. Read food labels, paying attention to total carbohydrate, not sugar.

2. Pay attention to portion sizes. If one 2-inch square of brownie equals 15 grams of carbohydrate, then you need to stick to that size. If you have 2 brownies, that counts as 30 grams of carbohydrate.

3. Check your blood sugar level. If your blood sugar level is often too high 2 hours after eating or does not come down to 80-120 mg/dL before meals, talk to your health professional about changing your diet or your diabetes medicine. 4

4. Sugar-free foods and drinks that contain less than 20 calories or less than 5 grams of carbohydrate per serving can be consumed freely. 5

Management of type 2 diabetes should include nutritional counseling, weight reduction as needed, and exercise. With your necessary efforts at diet and exercise, ACTOS® (pioglitazone HCI) may be used alone to improve blood sugar control. ACTOS may also be used with sulfonylureas, metformin, or insulin when the use of diet plus one of these products does not result in adequate blood sugar control. ACTOS should not be used in treatment of type 1 diabetes.

My daily carbohydrate counting plan:

To get started, here is an example of how you might spread out your total carbohydrate throughout the day. Your health professional will help you adjust your diet using your blood sugar test results.