What Is A Carb?

• Carbs, or carbohydrate foods, include grains, cereals, sugars (including honey), milk, fruits and vegetables. A balanced diet should include carbs as part of each healthy meal or snack. However, if you eat too many carbs, your glucose levels can spike. To maintain good glucose control, you need to know what foods are considered carbs and how much of these make up a serving. Your doctor or dietitian will tell you how many servings are appropriate for your specific circumstances.
  
  

What Is a Carb Serving?

• For purposes of glucose control, a carbohydrate serving size is 15 grams, and each carb serving has about 60 calories. This may be quite different from the "serving size" listed on a food label.
  
  So-called "non-starchy" vegetables are high in fiber and so low in calories that they count as a "free" food and need not be counted in your overall carb-counting strategy unless you eat large quantities (3 cups uncooked or 1 1/2 cups cooked). These include salad greens, asparagus, celery, cucumber, onions, mushrooms, spinach, peapods and zucchini. Starchy vegetables include potatoes (white and sweet), corn, peas, beans, most squash and pumpkin.
  
  

Estimating Carbs for Foods Without Labels

• Fruits and vegetables don't usually come with labels, so you really need to learn your portion sizes for these foods. A serving of fresh fruit is about 4 oz., while a serving of canned or frozen fruit is ½ cup and a starchy vegetable serving is also ½ cup. Three ounces of baked potato is a serving. A pasta or rice serving is 1/3 cup. A serving of ice cream (the plain kind, without added candies, swirls or nuts) is ½ cup. Three cups of air-popped popcorn is only one carb serving. It's a good idea to actually weigh and measure these until you are familiar with what these serving sizes look like.
  
  

Counting Carbs for Foods With Labels

• When food labels are available, you can easily calculate your carb servings. If the total carbs for the listed serving size is over 15, divide by 15. If the total carbs for the listed serving size is less than 15, multiply to arrive at your 15-gram serving. If you know the number of calories in a serving but not the carbohydrate grams, divide the calories by four to determine the carb grams, then divide or multiply by 15. For example, a 75-calorie slice of whole grain bread is 1 1/4 servings (75/4 = 18.75, divided by 15 = 1.25), while three 20-calorie crackers equals one serving. An occasional treat like real maple syrup is a little trickier to calculate. The listed serving size of ¼ cup has 210 calories and 53 grams of carbohydrate. Since there are 4 tablespoons in ¼ cup, divide the 53 grams by ¼ and you get just a smidge under one 15-gram serving.