Carbs Counting in every Meal

Carbohydrates Part 2 – Know your meal plan

Posted on August 30, 2016 with 0 comments

After having understood the importance of carbohydrate counting, now we shall discuss how exactly one can use this method in practice. To simplify it, let us discuss it stepwise.

Step 1: Meal plan

The first step is to get a customized meal plan from an expert dietitian. With the meal plan you can know the exact amounts of carbohydrates, fats & proteins you can consume in a day. This is your dietary prescription.

Once the total carbohydrate allowance is known, it has to be distributed throughout the day according to your insulin regimen, blood sugar goals and your lifestyle. You need to count the carbohydrates in each meal in order to keep your blood sugars in the target range. But if we exclusively focus on carbohydrates & neglect the fats & proteins, there is a possibility of overeating these nutrients leading to weight gain & increased cholesterol & triglycerides levels. Therefore a customized meal plan from an expert dietitian is mandatory to prevent these undesirable complications.

Step 2: Focus on Carbohydrates

Once the carbohydrates exchange per meal is decided, one can choose a variety of foods from different food groups. However, the carbohydrates intake of the meal should remain within the estimated carbs exchange. You have the freedom to choose the food while keeping your blood sugars in check. To count the carbs, one must know the sources of carbohydrates & their content.

Broadly, carbohydrates are found in cereals, pulses, starchy vegetables, fruits, milk & milk products. The packaged food will also contain carbohydrates.

The expert dietitian will educate you regarding the sources & amount of carbohydrates present in these foods as well as the hidden carbs sources. At Advanced Diabetes Centre, we have various specialized tools that enable the patient to count the carbohydrates with ease. For accurately matching your carbs exchange with your insulin dose, we calculate the insulin to carbohydrates ratio (ICR). It enables you to take carbohydrates exchanges/carbohydrate serving according to your insulin dose.

At Advanced Diabetes Centre, a team of registered dietitians, nutritionists & diabetes educators work with the patients to make the patient comfortable with carbs counting method.

If you want to know more about carbohydrate counting and customized meal planning, give a missed call on 7227000100 or call Advanced Diabetes Centre on 0261 2600100.

Tags: carbohydrates, cereals, Diabetes, Fats, Food, fruits, Health, insulin, Meal plan, milk, pulses, starchy vegetables

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