Diabetic Exchange System Out - Diabetic Carb Counting System In

March 25, 2010
Dear Diary,
I was just getting comfortable (well not really) with the Exchange method of tracking my daily food intake. Look up the nutritional data, measure out portions, multiply this, add or divide that, yes there is a measurable amount of calculating and recording to do this properly.

Yesterday someone on the Yahoo Type 2 Diabetic Group mentioned that the Exchange System was out of date and considered Old School. Carbohydrate tracking is the latest way to keep your diet in check. Well fine and dandy, so I inquired if there was a good website to get me off on the right track.

It was recommended that I checkout Sparkpeople.com because they offer FREE menu planning, and complete nutritional tracking of what you eat. Sure you have to become a member, but don't worry it's free and they keep your information private.

Let me say, this is one fantastic website. They provide a workable menu, but better yet you can add a food for when ever you happen to eat it. Most foods are already stored in their database so you just scroll through your choices and pick the one that applies. If you have something not listed you can add it to the database by filling out the nutritional data on it. They do state that their purpose is not for Diabetic diet control, but guess what, it appears to work great for that too.

They start out by determining your BMI (Body Mass Index), your ideal weight, and what your calorie intake should be if you desire to lose weight. In my case it charted losing 50 lbs over the next year placing me at a diet of 1,800-2,100 calories. Right on track with what I had already calculated for myself.

Today was my first day using this system. I found it very easy to choose meals and snacks that kept me within my desired calorie, carbohydrate, and fat limitations. In fact other than being a bit hungry just before supper, because of no afternoon snack, I felt satisfied all day.

At the end of the day I managed to finish at just over 1,800 calories with my nutritional values all within limits. Better than I had been able to do all week using the exchange system.

The prof of the pudding will be tomorrow when I check my blood sugar first thing in the morning. If it is still in check, I'll be doing the happy dance for sure.

This morning my B/G was 60 with a sample from my index finger. I questioned this result because it's awfully low. I immediately did a second test on another finger which gave me a reading of 95. So much for accuracy, I recorded the higher of the two, but even that was a good number for me.

Be sure to check back tomorrow at The Diabetic Food Addict to see how I did with this online nutritional tracking system.