HOW MANY CARBS DO WE NEED PER DAY

Before we can create the ultimate diet for ourselves, I believe we need to know what our daily allowances should be.

A low carb diet can be great, so long as we remember that carbs are a necessary part of our diets, so we want to make sure to get enough to keep our bodies running smoothly. Also if you are diabetic you will especially want to watch your carb intake. When carbohydrates enter our bodies they are turned to sugar. So you can see why a diabetic would want to monitor carbs as well as intake of sugar.

It has been recommended that 45% to 65% of your daily calories come from carbs. Using simple math you can calculate the right amount of carbs for you. Here are some facts to help you.

First, carbs are counted in grams. One gram of a carbohydrate is equal to 4 calories. So let's say that you want to be on a 1600 calorie diet per day. Let's also say you've chosen to limit your carb intake to 50 % of your calorie intake. 50% of 1600 equals 800 calories. Then you need to divide 800 by 4, which will give you in this example an answer of 200. So you are allowed 200 grams of carbs.

Now there are two kinds of carbs, simple and complex. You want to choose mainly the complex carbs, these would include foods like most veggies and high fiber foods. The simple carbs are things like sugary treats, cookies and ice cream for example. Even though both kinds have the same calories, you will feel fuller longer and be healthier with the complex type. I don't want to get too much into this because I will be using the glycemic index to choose my carbs.

One more thing, when you are reading the nutritional label for a food for the amount of carbs, you also need to see how much fiber is in the food. All carbs turn into sugar except for the amount of fiber, so you will subtract the grams of fiber from the carb count to give you an accurate number for the carbs. So, for example if a food had 12 carbs and 2 grams of fiber in it, you would subtract 2 from 12, so the food is actually giving you 10 grams of carbs.

Some people find it easier to use servings and exchanges instead of counting grams of everything. If you find that easier than here is some information about your carb intake. It is recommended that an adult have between six and eleven servings of carbs each day. If you are diabetic or trying to loose weight you want to be on the low side of about six or so servings, men and larger people would be on the high end. A serving would be 1 slice of bread, half a bagel, you get the idea.

I am going to use numbers for my daily diet because it's more accurate and I am a diabetic so it's more important that I be accurate.