What food scale do you use to measure your carbs? What's good, what's bad, what's unnecessary? I figure that this group ought to know what's the most useful and important features for us. Do you bring it with you when you eat out or are at friend's home? Thanks in advance for your input!
I have a "Kitrics Nutrition Label Scale" or some such like that. It has a built in list of "common foods" which you look up in a code book and type in the number for it to tell you what's in the food you're eating. I find it really helpful with fruits, veggies, and portioning out my lunch. I never take it anywhere with me and whenever I'm out, I just make the best guess I can and test if I'm unsure. :)
There are several such scales on the market. The one I use is the EatSmart. It works as Amy describes above -- you enter the code for the food item and it gives you a readout showing weight, protein, carbs, etc.
I don't take it with me when I leave the house either. As Amy says, I simply estimate carbs based on portion size. Like anything, else, that skill gets better and better with practice.
Here's a video on the EatSmart scale (thanks Manny!)
http://www.tudiabetes.org/video/advantages-of-a-food-scale-for
I use myfitnesspal app. It goes with me everywhere, of course. Also, after several years, my eyes have become accustomed to size and measurements. As diabetics we can measuure, add, multiply, etc at the drop of a hat. Good luck lh.
I also don't bother with a scale and making conversions of numbers. I know the amounts in many foods I eat regularly, mark my cookbooks with carb counts and if I don't know I have a list I use or look it up on calorieking.com
I have a EatSmart…the nice thing about this one is that it will keep a running total
of everything on the plate. After using one for a few months you will learn how to judge
how many carbs are on your plate at a glance. Many of us old timers used food exchanges
In the old days so we can easily look at our plate and estimate Carbs…I think everyone should at least understand how the exchange system worked…it’s a great way to judge carbs
when eating out…JMHO
Just to offer a different perspective that I hope is amusing: My sweetie bought me a really fancy digital scale, but I can never get it to work right, so I use our very ancient postal scale. I'm T2 and not yet insulin dependent, so of course that is a factor. I totally believe that there is no such thing as a free carb for a diabetic, but Ye Olde postal scale is accurate enough for me....Blessings on all.....
Interesting video. I think I am comfortable with my 1/2 cup measuring and calculating. Nancy
I use a Sauder scale I got when I got my pump. I don't use it all the time but will weigh certain things, cereal, peanut butter, chips, etc. to get the carb count exact. It seems to help. I've also used it to "test" stuff like bread, which will say a "serving size" is 32G for 13G of carbs but, due to the "loaf dynamics", the pieces vary from like 28-35G so I'll nudge doses a wee bit accordingly. I think precision in dosing can give you great benefits, which I've sort of realized, A1C wise, and am glad to have the scale if I want to use it. There's no way I'm lugging it to a restaurant though. I'll rely on my Jediabetic skillz...
I have a simple scale I bought at a store. It doesn't do anything fancy, I bought it mostly because it has a display that I can read. I also have a small pocket scale that I keep in my purse for when I'm out and about or travelling. Again, nothing fancy.
I use Carbohydrate Factors for calculating my food.
My endocrinologist recommended one of those scales that has a built-in nutritional database. My problem is that all of those have very low-contrast LCD displays that I can't see at all. Plus, I'm not sure if any of them are connected to the internet. Between the Calorie King app on my phone and the potential to have a food database in my pump, I'm not sure I'd benefit much from one of those fancy scales.
I use regular cooking scales at home, nothing fancy. While away from home I use small portable scales. They are the size of a smartphone and twice as thick. I do not weight everything, only what is reasonably weighable on the go (a piece of bread, but not pasta, a snack or some fruit).
I use Calorie Count website for nutrition information and I write down carb count for the food I eat in a small address book. It has an alphabetical index - easy to search afterwards. My menu is always about the same, so it only took a little bit of time to write everything down. I seldom add anything new now and I remember carb counts for the food I eat most often.
The most restaurants put nutrition information for the menu on their websites. It helps a lot to see how many carbs in each dish and to choose the most suitable carb wise.
I use a postal scale as well. Digital and not that old but it works as well as the nutrition scales for dosing insulin.