Diabetes & Carb Counting For Dummies

by Sherri Shafer

Overview

Count your carbs — and count on managing your diabetes

Living with diabetes doesn't have to mean giving up all of your favorite foods. Carbs from healthy foods boost nutrition and supply essential fuel for your brain and body. Counting carbs is integral to managing diabetes because your carb choices, portion sizes, and meal timing directly impact blood glucose levels. Diabetes & Carb Counting For Dummies provides essential information on how to strike a balance between carb intake, exercise, and diabetes medications while making healthy food choices. — Covering the latest information on why carb counting is important for Type 1 diabetes, Type 2 diabetes, and gestational diabetes, this book provides the tools you need to best manage your diet and your diabetes.

Nearly one in 11 people in the United States have diabetes and one out of every 3 adults have prediabetes (blood glucose levels above normal ranges). Diabetes rates are skyrocketing worldwide. If you or a loved one has been diagnosed — or is teetering on the edge of diagnosis — you'll find all the safe, trusted guidance you need to better manage your health through improving your nutrition and managing your carb intake.

• Discover how what you eat affects diabetes
• Explore the importance of carbs in nutrition and health
• Get the facts when it comes to fiber, fats, sweeteners, and alcohol.
• Decipher food labels and discover how to count carbs in bulk, fresh, and restaurant foods
• Manage your diabetes and reduce other diet-related health risks
• Improve blood glucose levels
• Sample meal plans in controlled carb count ranges
• Food composition lists for counting carbs and identifying best bet proteins and fats

If you're one of the millions of people with diabetes or prediabetes in search of an accessible resource to help you portion and count carbs to better manage this disease, this is the go-to guide you'll turn to again and again because when it comes to diabetes — carbohydrates count.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781119315643
Publisher:	Wiley
Publication date:	04/03/2017
Series:	For Dummies Books
Pages:	416
Sales rank:	192,653
Product dimensions:	7.30(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Sherri Shafer, RD, CDE, is a senior registered dietitian and a certified diabetes educator at the University of California San Francisco Medical Center. She teaches diabetes self-management workshops and provides nutrition counseling for individuals with type 1 diabetes, type 2 diabetes, prediabetes, and gestational dia-betes. She is also the author of Diabetes Type 2: Complete Food Management Program.

Table of Contents

Introduction 1

Part 1: Getting Started with Carb Counting and Diabetes Management 5

Chapter 1: Delving into Diabetes and Carb Counting 7

Chapter 2: Exploring the Diabetes-Carb Connection 25

Chapter 3: Calling All Carbs: Recognizing Carbs in the Foods You Eat 39

Chapter 4: Tracking Carbs through the Body 53

Chapter 5: Finding Your Sweet Spot: The Right Amount of Carbs for You 67

Chapter 6: Timing Your Carb Consumption 79

Part 2: Carb Counting: From Basic to Advanced 95

Chapter 7: First Things First: Reading and Deciphering Food Labels 97

Chapter 8: Mastering Carb Counting and Portioning Fundamentals 117

Chapter 9: Adding Tools for Carb-Counting Ease and Accuracy 137

Part 3: Going Beyond Counting Carbs 143

Chapter 10: Accounting for Variations in Digestion and Absorption Rates 145

Chapter 11: Rethink That Drink 159

Chapter 12: Let Me Call You Sweetie: Sugars and Substitutes 175

Part 4: Embracing Whole Health and Happiness 189

Chapter 13: Eating for Health and Happiness 191

Chapter 14: Reaping the Rewards of Fitness 207

Chapter 15: Getting a Handle on Hypoglycemia 227

Chapter 16: Keeping the Beat with a Healthy Heart 251

Chapter 17: Living with Diabetes throughout the Life Cycle 267

Chapter 18: Going Gluten-Free (Or Not): Does the Batter Matter? 283

Part 5: Sampling Menus Complete with Carb Counts 297

Chapter 19: Beginning with Breakfast Menus 299

Chapter 20: Looking for Lunch Menus 305

Chapter 21: Delving into Dinner Menus 313

Chapter 22: Surveying Snack Ideas 319

Part 6: The Part of Tens 327

Chapter 23: Ten Tips for Monitoring Your Blood Glucose 329

Chapter 24: Ten Tips for Controlling Carbs 337

Chapter 25: Ten Worthwhile Websites to Help You Manage Diabetes 343

Part 7: Appendixes 349

Appendix A: Diabetes Exchange Lists 351

Appendix B: Conversion Guide 365

Index 367