I loved D-psychologist Jessica Bernstein’s assertion that aiming to control your blood glucose levels with diabetes is a lesson in frustration. Rather, the best we can hope for is to influence our BG “by combining enough insulin and exercise to burn the sugar,” she says.
Right on, Jessica! — which is I’ll talk about carb-guessing today, rather than carb-counting (which implies that it’s an exact science). I don’t believe it is. The best we can hope for is to make a reasonable educated guess about the carb contents of the food in front us, especially if it’s restaurant and/or ethnic food containing mysterious sauces and such.
In case you’re wondering, carb skills are my Next Challenge working with legendary diabetes educator Gary Scheiner, who’s doing his best to whip me into shape.
I took his online carb skills test the other day, and was shocked to score under 50 (translation = “you should definitely work to improve your carb counting skills“) Ahem… It is true that I got only 4 questions right out of 15 in the “Applied” section, where you look at food photos and guess the carb count. But that’s because I overestimated in every single case but one! And I do beg to differ with a few of their examples, such as:
Since when is a whole banana only 20g of carb??
Waffles and regular maple syrup just 45g carb? I don't think so...
That’s not to say that this online test wasn’t helpful, because it sure was. I learned, for example, that a cup of rice has more carbohydrate than a cup of pasta, which I did not know. To think that I avoid pasta like the plague, but eat rice several times a week – yipes!
Gary’s team also sent me some very useful lists derived from his book, The Ultimate Guide to Accurate Carb-Counting, which I’m ashamed to say I haven’t read yet (‘splains alot, huh?)
Here are a few tips I feel compelled to share:
Chinese food – Stay away from the Lo Mein (pork or vegetable)! According to Gary’s lists, this stuff packs ca. 85g carb/serving. Sweet-n-sour pork and any kind of rice are also up there in the 70g carb range, for the portion sizes most restaurants dish up.
Thai food – Did you know coconut milk is loaded with saturated fat — 45g per cup measure?! Darn it. Go for the Green Papaya Salad instead.
Italian food – pasta is a much better choice than pizza; both are high-carb, but pizza dough is super-calorie-dense, even without the cheese and toppings, I understand.
Middle Eastern food – lamb is higher in fat and calories than beef, but you probably knew that. Know what else is high-fat? Hummus and Baba Ganoush (eggplant puree). Darn it again.
Mexican – Ceviche (raw marinated fish) might be ‘the perfect food’ as it’s low in both carbs and fat. Everything else in Mexican cuisine is pretty much the opposite. But you knew that too.
This also might not be news to you, but I found this little “Healthy Ordering” chart pretty handy:
|
“RED LIGHT” WORDS
|
“GREEN LIGHT” WORDS
|
Au gratin or in cheese sauce |
Baked or roasted |
Buttered, buttery or in butter sauce |
Broiled or grilled |
Breaded and fried |
Poached or steamed |
Casserole, hash, or pot pie |
Fresh |
Creamed, creamy or in cream sauce |
Garden fresh |
French fried, batter fried or crispy |
Crispy or crunchy greens/vegetables |
Hollandaise, pastry |
Cooked with tomato or lemon juice |
In its own gravy or with gravy |
In its own juices |
Rich |
Lean |
Scalloped or escalloped |
In marinara or wine sauce |
So what tips do you all know about healthy eating / carb guessing that might help the rest of us? Please do tell…
Why all the angst over the saturated fat content?
The debunking of the saturated fat leading to heart disease myth happened a while ago. Here’s a Scientific American article on it.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=carbs-against-cardio
I learned some fun stuff about fiber. It used to be you just subtracted the total from your carb count. New info from nutritionists suggests that – if your intake has more than 5g of fiber in it – you subtract HALF the fiber total. So let’s say you have a meal with 40g of carbs and 10g fiber. Your total carb count for the meal is 35g of carbs.
I love Mexican food, but it wreaks havoc on my BG. At my favorite Mexican restaurant, I order the veggie burrito, but I don’t eat the burrito shell. Then I substitute refried beans for the Mexican rice. I slather it all in sour cream and salsa. Clearly, I am not worried about the fat, but I am minimizing the carbs — this meal comes it at just 15 grams or 1 carb exchange.
Now if I could just keep my hands off the chips and salsa …
I look stuff up I don’t know the carb count for in the Calorie King book and then I see how wrong they are – or my body is. Totally agreed, this is no science. And I do love the idea of changing “carb-counting” to “carb- guessing.” I think we should actually start a campaign for that. riva
I decided many years ago that Diabetes will Never be a science. That implies a formula with a specific result.
Diabetes is a Very individual disease. We all react differently to anything life throws at us: medication, food, stress, emotions etc etc.
So living with and managing Diabetes Is a trial and error life. Symptoms change. How your body deals with food changes. 25 years and it’s all still changing.
Go with the flow. Read a carb count/ask for it, try it, monitor your bg. You’ll know if it works for you or not.
Thanks so much for all the information. I struggle counting my daughters carbs and getting it “right” everyday. As someone else said everyone reacts to food differently so it is trial and error. I have to remember to remind myself of that everyday.
Those carb-counting quiz photos are not a good way of determining one’s ability to count carbs. If I had those samples right in front of me (rather than in a photo) I could more easily gauge their carbohydrate content.
[...] reply to Amy at Diabetes Mine’s post on carb-guessing (a term I totally endorse, btw), someone pointed out that many of the new dietary tips she had been [...]
Well, I use Calorie King for a Guide, but not the final word either
Guessing is more like it
I try to eat Meals that List all the Carbs on them
And When In Doubt? It’s test at 1 AND 2 HRS…
AS a lasr resort if I have to choose btwn eating something I have no idea about and Healthy Choice Meal?
Healthy Choice wins out..
Has helped me keep A1c’s under 6% for many yrs using MDI-NLog and Levemire.. Last Yrs ave was 5.8%
Have had these kinds of A1c’s for yrs and still got Retinopathy- Eye Hemmorages..so there are other issues at play, other than just keeping Good BG’s..
And ? Take Vit D Supplements.. 1,000/day.. Get it tested with your A1c’s and keep it near 50 levels if at all possible .. It will effect your BG’s if you have Low 20′s…