Counting Carbohydrates

Tutorial Videos

Counting carbohydrates can be one of the hardest parts of managing your diabetes. There are many different numbers to take into consideration as well as hidden factors that can adjust how many carbs are in the food you are planning to eat. Watch both of our video tutorials that walk you through each step, all the way from the basics to more complicated counts. 

Practice Problems

The following worksheets provide several practice scenarios for counting carbohydrates with answers and explanations on how to solve each individual problem. 

Carbohydrate Counting Practice #1 - Type 1 Diabetes Explained

Carb Counting Practice #1

This worksheet asks questions about basic carb counting skills such as how to count fiber and sugar alcohols as wells as some basic carbohydrate counts. 

Carbohydrate Counting Practice #2 - Type 1 Diabetes Explained

Carb Counting Practice #2

This worksheet provides an expansion on Carbohydrate Counting Practice #1, including more difficult carbohydrate counts. 

Carbohydrate Counting Practice #3 - Type 1 Diabetes Explained

Carb Counting Practice #3

This worksheet provides  an expansion on Carbohydrate Counting Practice #1 and #2, including some of the most difficult situations such as counting the carbohydrates for an entire meal. 

Online Resources

Many foods don't come with nutrition labels, such as produce and homemade recipes. To determine how many carbohydrates are in food without nutrition labels, check out some of these resources listed below. 

USDA Food Composition Database (Nutrition Label Search)

This website allows you to search through all foods registered with the USDA as well as obtain nutrition information about produce and unlabeled foods. 

SELF Nutrition Data

This resource contains plenty of useful information including a thorough search through many food labels as well as a recipe calculator, analysis of nutrition labels and caloric ratios, and more resources geared specifically towards diabetes. 

Web MD Food Calculator

This resource is extremely useful as it allows you to search for nutrition information on both unlabeled foods and restaurant chains.

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