Carb Counting

Carb counting is very important if you are trying to control your blood sugar or your body weight.

It used to be a lot harder than it is, today. In the pre-digital technological age (just a few years ago), if you wanted to count carbs, you bought a carbohydrate book or found a list of how many carbohydrates were in, say, 6 ounces of pasta.

Then, you bought a little kitchen scale and weighed your pasta.

Then, you got out your calculator and multiplied the number of ounces by the number of carbs per ounce that the list or the book said that pasta has in it.

Times have changed, scales have changed...and so has the ease of counting carbohydrates.

Why are carbs so important that people count them?

Our bodies actually "run" on carbohydrates, proteins and fats.

Starchy food such as bread, potatoes, pasta and rice are high in carbohydrate content. The body then changes these carbs to sugar. This sugar is called glucose.

Glucose is used by the body in 3 ways:

1. It is burned as fuel, immediately and used for energy.

2. It can be stored as glycogen (in the liver) and burned as fuel, later.

3. It can be stored as fat and burned as fuel, later.

So, as you can see, if you eat too much sugar (like jelly beans or chocolate), the only way the body can use up this sugar is by increased exercise.

In the case of people with diabetes, their bodies lack the ability to transport glucose into their cells. Therefore, glucose remains outside the cells, which deprives the cells of fuel. Since carbohydrates are turned into glucose (sugar) by the body, this is why carb counting is imperative for diabetics.

Depending on their type of insulin dependence, some diabetics require insulin injections and others are able to control their diabetes with a pill and a special diet.

People with severe diabetes produce no insulin and must receive insulin injections.

Insulin helps control carbohydrate, protein and fat metabolism in the body's cells. It stimulates the breakdown of glucose for energy.

In non-diabetics, eating too many carbohydrates causes the sugar content in the blood to increase and not only may make you feel jittery, but when you eat too many carbs, in its attempt to metabolize and normalize your blood sugar level, the body uses some of the glucose for energy and sends the rest to the liver to be stored as glycogen.

But, the liver can't hold all of them,...and so, when your body is carb-overloaded, the enzymes that synthesize fat are stimulated, and the body begins storing this excess glucose in the fatty (adipose) tissue throughout the body.

Diabetics, however, do not have the ability to transport glucose into their body's cells and must take insulin to lower their blood glucose.

If too much insulin is taken, their blood glucose becomes too low (hypo-glycemia.) This sets off the stimulation of glucose-elevating hormones such as glucagon and cortisol, which causes hyper-glycemia.

Consequently, the hyperglycemic once again requires additional insulin to lower their blood glucose.

This can become a vicious cycle and is why diabetics must count their carbohydrate intake levels.

Carb Counting: Checking a food's carb gram count should be part of most people's realistic attempts at losing weight.

Diabetics, especially, must be very carb-conscious and read all labels of any food purchased.

That begins with reading package labels as to the number of grams of carbohydrates in each food.

Pasta and bakery items contain large numbers of carbohydrates and must be eaten very sparingly, both if you are on a diabetic diet and need to lower blood sugar or if you are not diabetic and simply want to lose some weight.

Even if you are not diabetic, carb counting is still a good idea.

Unless you are a strict vegan (vegetables only and no dairy products), most people do not have to worry about getting enough protein or fat in their diets,...one hamburger at McDonalds will solve the protein and fat intake necessity pretty quickly.

But, to truly eat a balanced diet, you should include proteins such as from chicken, fish, beef and pork, several fruits and vegetables each day and very little soda, ice cream, bread, candy bars or pastry.

People who count carbs are not only healthier, but they understand that by reducing carbs, they will help their body stop putting on unnecessary weight. Once carb intake is reduced, it is much easier to lose weight.

While you're reducing your carbs, remember, too, that fiber is the roughage the body needs "sweep out" the waste created by all the foods we digest.

So, don't forget to eat plenty of fiber. By cleaning out the intestine, the body can reduce the reintroduction of waste toxins back into our bloodstream.

This keeps us healthier because our immune system doesn't have to work as hard.

Last, but not least, if you're carb counting, don't forget to drink your 6 - 8 glasses of water a day. Water is what pushes the fiber through our system, keeps us "regular" and cleanses the system.

The easiest way to count carbs in the "Digital Age" is to purchase a digital multifunction total nutrition food scale.

Digital Food Scale: The new digital nutrition scales make carb counting much easier because they have a built-in food database that holds the values for calculating calories, carbohydrates, fiber, sodium, potassium, magnesium, total fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, calcium, protein and even Vitamin K for people who take heparin or Coumadin.

No more books, lists and hand calculators. You simply place your food on the digital kitchen food scale, press the buttons to tell the scale which food it is, (donuts, rice, etc.) and the digital kitchen food scale weighs it and tells you how many calories, carbs, etc. that your portion of food contains.

Alternatively, you can enter the nutritional information into the scale's database from the nutrition information found on the package label.

For anyone in the family who is on a special diet, an EatSmart Digital Nutrition Scale - Professional Food and Nutrient Calculator with carb counting and other functions is a real time saver.

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