Type 1 & Carbohydrate counting

About carbohydrates

Carbohydrate is found in many foods that we eat every day, including:

• Breads, rolls, flat breads and wraps, crackers
• Breakfast cereals
• Grains, like rice, pasta, barley, couscous and quinoa
• Starchy vegetables like potato, legumes, and corn
• Fruit
• Dairy foods like milk and yoghurt
• Anything with added sugar (e.g. chocolate, confectionary, desserts, ice-cream, jam, syrups, sugary drinks)

Calculating how much carbohydrate is in your meals is called carbohydrate or ‘carb’ counting. Carb counting takes practice, and it can take time to learn these skills.

Carb counting

The key steps to count the carbs in a food or meal 

1. Identify the foods in your meal or snack that contain carbohydrate
2. Weigh, measure, or estimate the amount of the food that you are going to eat (your serve)
3. Work out the amount of carbohydrate in your serve of the food

A simple way of calculating the carbs in your meal is to use carbohydrate exchanges.

1 carbohydrate exchange = 15g of carbohydrate

Many common serves of carbohydrate foods are approximately 1 exchange. For example, the following foods are all 1 carbohydrate exchange, i.e. they contain about 15g carbohydrate:

• 1 slice of bread
• 1 medium apple
• 1 glass of milk

If you are taking the same dose of insulin at each meal every day, eating a similar number of carbohydrate exchanges at each meal will help you to keep your blood glucose levels in target. Talk to your dietitian about how many exchanges you should aim to eat at each meal as everyone’s requirements are different.

In the meal plan below, this person is having 3 carbohydrate exchanges (or 45g carbohydrate) at each meal.

Resources for carbohydrate counting

To work out the amount of carbohydrate in your meals and snacks, you need to look up their carbohydrate values. There are many useful resources to help you find out this information, including the NDSS carbohydrate counting factsheet or you can order carbohydrate counting resources developed by Diabetes Victoria’s dietitians here.

Other resources include:

• carb counting lists
• carb counting books
• food labels
• phone apps and websites

Using a food label to count carbohydrates

The nutrition information panel on a food label can be used to look up the amount of carbohydrate in a food. For more information about using food labels to make healthy food choices, read our understanding food labels factsheet.

When you look at a nutrition information panel to count carbohydrates, you will need to note:

• the number of serves in the packet
• the serving size on the packet
• the total carbohydrate grams per serve of the food

Below is an example nutrition information panel for breakfast cereal.

Useful tips

• use the total carbohydrates value to count the carbohydrates (not the ‘sugars’ value). All carbohydrate breaks down into glucose, so you need to count the total carbohydrates.
• the amount of food that you want to eat may be more or less than the serving size on the label. If your serve is different to the serving size on the label, then you will need to use the information on the label to calculate the grams of carbohydrate in your serve.
• check whether the information on the label refers to the raw or cooked food – this will make a big difference to the carb count.

More information about carbohydrate counting

Read our carbohydrate counting factsheet, order our carbohydrate counting resources, and talk to a dietitian for more information – learn from our expert dietitians in clinic on how to carb count.

Contact our Helpline on 1800 637 700 to speak with a Diabetes Victoria dietitian, or go to the DietitiansAustralia website to find a dietitian near you.

Website for OzDafne – Dose Adjustment For Normal Eating in Australia