Type 1 diabetes – self-care: MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia

To help keep your blood sugar level in your target range, you will need to follow a meal plan. Meal planning helps you maintain a balance between your food and insulin intake. Testing your blood sugar helps you see how food can raise or lower your blood sugar.

Your meal plan should include:

Eating your meals and snacks at the same time each day can help you manage your blood sugar.

Everyone has individual needs. Work with your provider to develop a meal plan that works for you.

HOW CARBOHYDRATES AFFECT BLOOD SUGAR

Carbohydrates in food give your body energy. The main kinds of carbohydrates (commonly called “carbs”) are starches, sugars, and fiber. Your body needs all types of carbs to function properly. Your body quickly turns starches and sugars into glucose for energy. This raises your blood sugar level. Fiber does not raise blood sugar. In fact, fiber can help you manage your blood glucose.

Knowing the kind and amount of carbohydrates in your food will help you plan your meals.

Your provider will explain how to calculate how much insulin you should take to manage your blood sugars after eating.

COUNTING YOUR CARBS

You can use a technique called “carb counting” to track how many carbohydrates you should be eating in your meals and snacks in a day to keep your blood sugars within the target range. You need to match your insulin dose to the total amount of carbs you take in through food or drinks.

If you take a fixed dose of insulin, you should take in the same amount of carbs at each meal every day.

Tracking carbs at each meal will help you to manage your blood sugar levels. Packaged foods have nutrition facts labels that tell you the type and amount of different nutrients in the food item. Learn how to read food labels to count the carbs that you eat. The carb count for a food includes sugar and starch plus fiber.

Carbs are measured in grams. When you are carb counting, a serving (sometimes also called “a carb”) equals an amount of food that contains 15 grams of carbohydrates. Check for the “total carbohydrate” count and the serving size on the nutrition facts label of the food item to decide the amount of food you can eat.

Foods such as fresh fruits and vegetables do not have food labels on them. There are several apps and tools available to help you calculate the amount of carbs in them. Your provider can also help.

When you count carbs in foods that you cook, you will have to measure the portion of food after cooking it. The total amount of carbohydrates you eat in a day is the sum of the carbohydrates in everything you eat.