How Many Carbs Am I Really Eating?

What are carbohydrates?
Carbohydrates are sugar-based molecules found in many foods, from cookies to cantaloupes.

If you have diabetes, planning your carb intake—and sticking to the plan—is critical to keep blood sugar on an even keel and to cut your risk of diabetes-related problems like heart disease and stroke.

Whether or not you have diabetes, you should aim to get about half your calories from complex carbohydrates (which are high in fiber), 20-25% from protein, and no more than 30% from fat, says Lalita Kaul, PhD, RD, a spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association.

How to read a food label
The Nutrition Facts label lists the total amount of carbohydrates per serving, including carbs from fiber, sugar, and sugar alcohols. (If you're counting carbs in your diet, be aware that 15 grams of carbohydrates count as one serving.)

Sugar alcohols are often used in sugar-free foods, although they still deliver calories and carbs.
Sugar alcohols and fiber don't affect blood sugar as much as other carbs, because they're not completely absorbed.

If food contains sugar alcohol or 5 or more grams of fiber, you can subtract half of the grams of these ingredients from the number of total carbs. (See more details at the American Diabetes Association and University of California, San Francisco.)

How many carbs per day?
If you eat 2,000 calories a day, you should consume about 250 grams of complex carbohydrates per day.

A good starting place for people with diabetes is to have roughly 45 to 60 grams of carbs per meal and 15 to 30 grams for snacks. While snacks are key for people with diabetes who use insulin or pills that increase insulin production (otherwise, they run the risk of low blood sugar), they aren’t essential for non-insulin users.

The goal for anyone with diabetes, whether or not they use insulin, is to keep their blood sugar as steady as possible and to maximize their intake of nutritious carbs and minimize consumption of less healthy ones.

Fine-tune your intake
You may need to work with a nutritionist or diabetes educator to fine-tune your carb requirements, based on your activity level, whether you want to lose weight, and whether or not you use insulin.

Checking your blood sugar before and after meals is also important as you test-drive your carb-counting plan. If certain foods—like fruit juice or pasta—cause your blood sugar to spike, you’ll need to consume these in smaller portions.

Here’s a rough guide to figuring out the amount of carbs that can be found in 10 everyday foods. Get your measuring cup and scale ready!

Bread
1 slice of bread = 15 grams or 1 serving of carbohydrate

Although white and wheat bread have similar carb content (check the food label for details), whole-wheat bread is your best bet; it typically has more than twice as much fiber as white bread, meaning you digest it more slowly and your blood sugar will rise more gradually after you eat it.

People with diabetes should aim to consume 30 grams of fiber daily, even though this can be hard on the digestive system for some people, says Kaul, a professor at Howard University College of Medicine, in Washington, D.C. She also suggests trying extra-thin bread, which can slice your calorie intake in half.

Cooked pasta
One-third cup of pasta = 15 grams or 1 serving

Again, opting for whole-wheat noodles rather than pasta made with white flour is a healthier choice. But it’s important to remember—and easy to forget—portion size.

Just one-third of a cup, which is about half the size of a baseball, contains 15 grams of carbohydrate. If you overload your pasta bowl, you could easily get a day’s worth of carbs in a single meal.

Cereal
3/4 cup of dry cereal = 15 grams or 1 serving

Eating breakfast is important for all of us, but especially so for people with diabetes; a balanced morning meal helps you start the day healthy and energized.

A bowl of cereal with skim milk is a great choice for the first meal of the day, says Kaul, but you should avoid sugary, low-fiber cereals like corn flakes.

Oat bran cereal is a better option, the nutritionist says. Try it, and if you don’t like it, choose something else.

Crackers
4-6 Saltines = 15 grams or 1 serving

When you snack on crackers, checking the label for trans fat and sodium is just as important as looking out for carb content, Kaul notes. Even relatively low-carb crackers may be packing lots of this unhealthy fat and too much salt.

Choose crackers with no more than 200 milligrams of sodium per serving of carbs, and leave the ones that contain trans fat on the supermarket shelf.

Fruit
One small piece = 15 grams or 1 serving

You really can’t go wrong with fruit, says Kaul, as long as you keep an eye on portion size. However, if you have diabetes, fruits like apples, bananas, berries, cantaloupes, strawberries, and peaches are the best choices. Pears and grapes can have too much sugar, she explains.

A medium banana has about 15 grams of carbs, plus it is filling and chock-full of potassium. Berries are rich in fiber and antioxidants. But just remember how much fruit you’re eating.

One serving of berries is just 3/4 of a cup, but it’s easy to eat three times this much—or more—if you’re not careful.

Fruit juice
1/2 cup fruit juice = 15 grams or 1 serving

Kaul tells her clients to choose fruit instead of fruit juice, because fruit contains fiber. And juice—even the unsweetened, natural kind—is high in calories. “Three glasses will give you 300 to 400 calories,” she says.

People who don’t want to give up their OJ should have a small glass with breakfast, she says. And instead of consuming giant-size bottles of sweetened drinks, drink water or unsweetened tea.

Milk
1 cup nonfat skim milk = 15 grams or 1 serving

Dairy foods provide calcium, protein, vitamin D, and other key nutrients, so if you like them, definitely include them in your diet.

But skip full-fat milk for skim, and choose low- or no-fat dairy products.

People with diabetes frequently have high cholesterol and high triglycerides, and weight is often a concern, hence avoiding dairy fats is important, Kaul explains.

Yogurt
1 cup of light or plain yogurt = 15 grams or 1 serving

Yogurt is a great, healthy choice, as long as you go the nonfat route.

Flavored yogurt is frequently full of sugar, so check the carb content. You may want to skip it and make your own by adding chopped-up fruit and nuts to plain, nonfat yogurt (which is also likely to be less expensive if you buy a quart-size tub).

Cookies
2 cookies = 15 grams or 1 serving

Being diabetic used to mean being told to kiss tasty treats—like cookies—good-bye.

But these days, says Kaul, diabetes experts agree that indulging in sweets now and then is okay, as long as you consume them in small portions, and with meals.

Ice cream
1/2 cup of ice cream = 15 grams or 1 serving

Kaul advises her clients to stay away from ice cream—if they can—and try low-fat alternatives like frozen yogurt, sherbet, and even sugar-free popsicles.

Because ice cream contains so much fat, it should only be an occasional treat, enjoyed in small portions, she adds.