Counting Carbohydrates
People with Type 1 Diabetes use rapid-acting insulin (also called a bolus) to process carbohydrates from food. So, it’s important to measure the number of grams of carbohydrates that you are eating to make sure you aren’t taking too little or too much insulin. We don’t want dramatic blood sugar spikes or drops because of food!
Insulin-to-carb Ratio
To start the carb-counting process, you first need to talk to your doctor about your insulin-to-carb ratio. This will tell you how many grams of carbs will be taken care of by 1 unit of insulin. For example, my current ratio is 1 unit of insulin to 7 grams of carbs, so if I eat something with 35 grams of carbohydrates, I will dose 5 units of insulin. This ratio will be different for each person based on lifestyle, diet, etc. Even your personal ratio may change over time, so make sure to discuss with your doctor if you need to adjust your routines.
An extra note: your doctor or dietitian may refer to carbohydrate exchanges when discussing diet or insulin dosing. One carb exchange equals 15 grams of carbohydrates.
How many carbs should I eat?
Unfortunately, the number of carbs to eat is not one-size-fits-all. Your diet will depend on a lot of lifestyle factors like activity level and appetite. For my newly diagnosed T1 buddies, I recommend visiting a dietitian at least once to create an eating plan or to get an estimate of how many carbs to eat per day.
Carbs in Food
You will be able to find carb counts on the packaging of most foods by reading the nutrition labels. However, for foods without easy-to-read labels, or when eating out, it is much harder to accurately measure the number of carbohydrates. So, here is a guide to the carbs of common foods/dishes of various cuisines. NOTE: these are general guidelines, so please check nutrition labels or restaurant websites if they are available.
Is there a useful food/dish that is missing? Leave a comment down below and it will be added to the lists ASAP.
- Bagel = 60 g
- Bread (2 slices) = 30 g
- Pancake (4 inch across) = 15 g
- Flour tortilla (medium) = 30 g
- Waffle = 15 g
- 1 cup pasta or rice = 45 g
- 3 cups popcorn (without toppings) = 15 g
- 2 rice cakes = 15 g
- 1 cup beans or lentils = 30 g
- 1 cup milk = 12 g
Note: most non-starchy vegetables have very few carbs — they are considered free foods.
- ½ cup corn = 15 g
- ½ baked potato = 30 g
- ½ cup yam or sweet potato = 15 g
- 1 cup edamame = 20 g
- Medium banana (7 in/18 cm) = 27 g
- 1 cup blueberries = 20 g
- Small apple = 15 g
- 10 grapes = 9 g
- 1 cup whole strawberries = 12 g
- 5 lychee pieces = 20 g
- ¼ cup durian = 15 g
- ½ cup congee = 15 g
- 1 cup egg noodles = 30 g
- 1 cup cellophane noodles = 30 g
- 1 cup chow mein noodles = 50 g
- 1 large mantou = 45 g
- 3 dumplings or 5 wontons = 15 g
- 1 large egg roll = 20 g
- 1 cup boba/Bubble Milk tea = 40 – 70 g (depending on toppings and sugar level)
- 1 piece maki or nigiri sushi = 7 g
- 1 mochi = 19 g
- ½ cup soba noodles = 25 g
- 1 cup miso soup = 5 g
- 1 cup sukiyaki = 32 g
- 1 tbsp teriyaki sauce = 3 g
- 1 tbsp mirin = 7 g
- 6 inch roti = 15 g
- 6 inch paratha = 25 g
- 5 inch puri = 8 g
- 8 inch naan = 45 g
- 1 gulab jamun = 30 g
- 8 inch dosa or 2.5 inch idli = 15 g
- 1 cup raita = 16 g
- 1 cup lassi = 25 g
- ½ cup sambar = 15 g
- 1 vegetable samosa = 27 g
- 6 small pani puri = 15 g
- 1 cup bibimbap = 50 g
- 3 oz bulgogi = 8 g
- 1 cup jajangmyeon = 70 g
- 1 kimbap roll = 35 g
- 1 tteok rice cake = 50 g
- 1 tbsp gochujang = 9 g
References
Stanford Children’s Health – Carb Count of Common Asian Foods