When it comes to diabetes, carbohydrates count. But what do you do when all your favorite foods seem to fall into the high-carb category? Learn how to find lower-carb substitutes for the foods you love.

Have you had trouble getting your blood sugar under control? The culprit could be carbs. Why? Foods that are high in carbohydrate content raise your blood sugar more than foods with lower carbohydrate content. That’s because they are more easily converted to sugar by the body than protein or fat. Eating more carb-rich foods than your body can cope with will raise your blood sugar.

Mixing it up forbetter blood sugar
Unfortunately, some of your very favorite foods may be carb-rich. Bread, tortillas, crackers, cereal, rice, pasta, fruit, juice, milk, yogurt, potatoes, corn, peas, and sweets are all high in carbs. The trick to getting your carbs under control is to substitute lower-carb foods for the high-carb culprits.

You don’t have to cut out all carbs
Carbohydrate foods provide you with energy. And some, like whole-grain breads and certain vegetables, give you other nutrients too. So you don’t want to kick carbs out of your diet entirely.

• You can figure out how much carb foods to eat by picturing your plate:
• Fill half of your plate with nonstarchy vegetables (like spinach, squash, asparagus, or beets).
• Fill one-fourth of your plate with lean meat or fish (like baked chicken or broiled salmon).
• Fill the last one-fourth of your plate with your serving (that’s 1 cup) of carbohydrate food.
• Add a cup of skim or low-fat milk and a small serving of fruit or bread, and you’ve got a balanced meal.

For more information about planning your meals properly, talk to a diabetes educator (find one at www.diabeteseducator.org [2]) or a dietitian (find one at www.eatright.org [3]).