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Ridiculous food labeling for type 1 diabetes

frankieblake

Newbie
Messages
1
Location
South Molton
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Pump
Hi I have type 1 diabetes therefore need to count my carbohydrates in food. NONE of these new labels say how much carbohydrate is in each portion. Most have the amount per 100g but very few have it per portion. This is ridiculous. I cannot be the only diabetic on the planet who needs this information. PLEASE DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT ASAP.
 
the amount per 100g is easily multiplied up or down to get your portion size,
portion size varies you see, whereas the amount per 100g remains constant
 
Just work it out yourself using the carbs per 100g by your portion size, for example:

The product contains 48g of carbs per 100g weight and your serving size weighs 54g, so what you do is divide 48 by 100 and times it by 54 (your portion size) which gives you 25.92g of carbs for your serving.

100/48 x 54 = 25.93g of carbs.

Hope that helps!
 
I gave up on there being 'per portion' info on packets a long time ago. And now I always keep a calculator in my kitchen.
 
I carry my phone for the calculator and the little gem nutrition info book everywhere with me. It doesn't always help though!

It really annoys me that sometimes they put the calorie and fat content per pack but not the carbs. Or they put the per 100g info on it but no weight of the food! I'm happy to work out the carbs for myself but short of carrying a full set of scales around I'm at a loss!


Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
 
I've been told to weigh everything I eat by my dietician and diabetes nurse, and have been given a carb formula


Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
 
sarah88 said:
Or they put the per 100g info on it but no weight of the food! I'm happy to work out the carbs for myself but short of carrying a full set of scales around I'm at a loss!
Click to expand...


Ha! I forgot about that... It does drive me nuts too when they give you total weight and then no weight for individual portions or pieces.
 
Since neither humans nor foods are uniform materials, the actual amount of your portion and the exact amount of carb in that will be variable. It certainly isn't something you can calculate to the nearest 0.1 gram. It isn't hard to calculate rfrom the panel on the back of the package.
I have a little book I bought last year called "Carbs & Cals" it's endorsed by Diabetes Uk and one of the more useful DUK ideas.
It's full of photos of portions of food on specified size plates, so you an just look at the picture and make a good estimate.
Hana
PS there's a photo inside the front cover of a "Carbs & Cals" app on a smartphone!
 
Hi there. The app should be available. I bought the book and checked with iTunes cause I have an iPhone. But the iPhone app wasn't listed. I contacted the company who have said its in development. They don't know when it will be available but will let me know. That was 5 months ago.


Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
 

Totally agree with you frankieblake, its can be too time consuming and frustrating.

I love yogurts and so I do go through a lot but I know there was one which was 114 g per pot and the nutrition was per 100g!!!!!!! why not say per pot, as I am eating the pot and not 100g of it as that would leave 14, exasperating at times.
I weigh a lot of my food and my ratio of Insulin differs with each meal, I have guesstimated many times and I've either had too much Insulin or not enough :roll: I wish I were Carol Voderman sometimes.

RRB
 
Hi here. Just checked my iPhone and there is a really useful app I've found. Called calorie counter. It's got a picture of scales on it. It's really hood at giving you the full breakdown of most foods. Even has a really good section on eating out. I don't think it cost anything, if if did it wouldn't have been much.



Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
 
Carbs and cals does has an iPhone app that I use, it's fairly good when you're out and about, but isn't quite as extensive as the book but its helpful.






Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
 
hi, you should check out an app called My Fitness Pal - I find it really helpful to work out some of my carb portions. I weigh my food then search for it on this app and it tells you precisely how many carbs are in that portion of food. It's pretty accurate, one of the best I've seen so far.
 
Hi. Portion sizes have little meaning as different people eat different sizes and it is very easy to derive the carbs per portion by calculating from the 100gm figure knowing the portion size you are going to cook/eat. The bigger problem as others have said is when calories are quoted but no carb figure only fat.
 
I've noticed over that last year that carb info in supermarket food is disappearing in favour of calories (which is, of course, next to useless for type-1s).
I tend to go to Tesco, would any of you guys here recommend a supermarket with good carb labelling?
 


I too shop in Tesco's and can't say I've noticed it myself, suppose it does depend upon the items you buy.

Whenever the nutritional info is missing from a product I just look it up in the Calorie Carb & fat Bible, so far I've never been stuck when looking something up!
 
SimonClifford said:
I've got "Carbs & Cals" (4th ed) & the iPhone Carbs & Cals app. What's the other book you're talking about? Might like a look at that! ;-)
Click to expand...


Looks like you have enough there Simon, the book is called Calorie Carb & Fat Bible 2013, best place to buy it is Amazon.
 
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