**Many people with diabetes count carbohydrates to make managing blood sugar
easier.** For one group it is not optional:
**If you take mealtime insulin, you'll count carbs to match your insulin
dose to the carbs in your foods and drinks.**
That is the distinction worth making first. For some people carb counting is a
useful discipline; for anyone dosing insulin at meals it is arithmetic with
consequences.
The three kinds
| Sugars | The natural sugar in fruit and milk, and the added sugar in fizzy drinks and many packaged foods |
| Starches | Wheat, oats and other grains; starchy vegetables such as corn and potatoes; dried beans, lentils and peas |
| Fibre | The part of plant foods that is not digested, but helps keep you healthy |
Why fibre is the interesting one
Fibre is a carbohydrate that your body does not digest. It appears on the
label under total carbohydrate, and it does not behave like the rest of that
number — which is why carb counting is not simply reading one figure off a
packet.
The starches list contains a second surprise: beans, lentils and peas sit
there alongside bread and potatoes. People eating them as a protein source are
also eating a substantial carbohydrate, and that is exactly the kind of thing
a counted meal has to account for.
Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
许可协议： CC0 1.0（公有领域） · 改编自 www.cdc.gov
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