How much Carbs should I eat?
How much carbohydrate should I eat?
Breakfast should have only about 15-20 grams carbohydrate as early morning hormones make blood sugar harder to control.
You should eat a small snack with about 15-30 grams carbohydrate every 2-3 hours between meals to help spread the carbohydrate out through the day. All meals and snacks should contain some protein.
Lunch and dinner can have a bit more carbohydrate or~ 45 45 grams. You sometimes can eat a bit more if you are more active as exercise lowers blood sugar!
Reading Nutrition Labels:
Read the grams of "TOTAL CARBOHYDRATE" per serving, not the sugars. (The starch form of carbohydrate in bread, past, tortillas etc. won't show up on label as sugar but our body rapidly breaks it down into sugar).
Sample label from bag of crackers or chips:
The label below shows 14 grams total carbohydrate per 1 ounce serving.
Note there are 4 servings per bag; if you eat the whole bag you would be getting 56 grams of carbs! ~ Every 4 grams carbohydrate eaten is to eating 1 teaspoon of sugar.
If you ate the whole bag of the snack crackers, it would raise your blood sugar up as if you'd eaten 14 teaspoons of sugar.
Examples:
These two Breakfast are around 15-20 grams of carbs (No cold cereals or juices; they raise blood sugar too quickly!):
Breakfast 1: 6 oz. Greek Yogurt with ≤ 15 grams carbohydrate (plain is best) + 1/4 cup chopped nuts + 1⁄2 cup berries or other fruit
Breakfast 2: Grilled cheese sandwich on whole grain bread + Tomato/cucumber/ avocado salad
These two morning Snacks examples are around 15-20 grams of carbs:
Snack 1: 1 slice whole grain bread or a few whole grain crackers ≤ 15 grams carbs + 1 oz. cheese or peanut butter + 6-8 oz. milk or 1 small fruit
Snack 2: 6 oz. Greek style yogurt with ≤ 15 grams carbohydrate + 1⁄2 cup berries + chopped nuts
These two Lunch examples are around 30-45 grams of carbs:
Taco salad made with: mixed greens, tomatoes, onions, avocado, salsa + 1⁄2 cup black beans+ chicken breast strips + cheese + 1 oz. tortilla chips
chicken breast or other protein food + broccoli, carrots, or other non-starchy vegetable + 1 ear corn or 1 small baked sweet potato (~2/3 cup)
These two afternoon Snacks examples are around 15-30 grams of carbs:
Snack Example 1: 1 small piece of fresh fruit 1⁄2 cup cottage cheese or 1/4 cup of nuts
Snack Example 2: 1-2 corn tortillas + cheese & avocado
Dinner examples are around 40-45 grams of carbs:
Large vegetable stir-fry with chicken, broccoli, mushrooms, onions, cabbage etc. 2/3 cup brown rice
Evening Snacks examples are around 20 grams of carbs:
1 carton Greek style yogurt ≤ 15 grams carbohydrate + 1 cup berries or 1 small fruit
Source: Reading Nutrition Labels: by Stanford Lucile Packard, Children's Health Children's Hospital