User guide

Facts on the nutrition labels on packaged food will help you to figure how much carbohydrate is in a certain
food. There are a number of paperback books that list the grams of carbohydrates in many foods. These
books are very helpful when you are eating foods without labels or are eating out. Also, if you know the
exchange system, you can count carbohydrate exchanges.
Your healthcare professional will give you an insulin to carbohydrate ratio at the start. This will be a place
to begin. It may need to be changed based on the results of your blood glucose readings after you eat.
Determining your meal bolus based on carbohydrate counting is not an exact science. Sometimes it takes
trial and error to come up with the correct meal bolus for certain foods. If you are not sure how some foods
affect your blood glucose, test your blood glucose two hours after eating. If your reading is too high or too
low, adjust your meal bolus the next time you make that food choice.
As you start to learn carbohydrate counting, try to assess the carbohydrates in the food you are eating. Then
look at the food labels to see how close you are.
Reading a food label
Use the Serving Size and Total Carbohydrates information on the food label to determine how many total
grams of carbohydrate you will be eating. Then, use the insulin to carbohydrate ratio prescribed by your
healthcare professional. This allows you to figure out how much insulin to take for the foods you eat.
The following food label shows 12 grams of carbohydrates for each 1 piece serving. If your carbohydrate ratio
is 1 unit of insulin for every 12 grams of carbohydrate, you would need 1 unit of insulin for each 1 piece
serving of this food.
Nutrition Facts
Serving Size 1 piece (20g)
Serving per Container 22
Amount Per Serving:
Calories: 50
Fat Calories: 0
Total Fat 0g
Sodium 0g
Total Carbohydrates 12g
Sugars 11g
Protein 0g
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