I was wanting to know what the overall most used book or website for carb counting would be and the most accurate. I have been told calorie king is the best and we were given a 2009 book but I have noticed that I can’t find certain things in it. We went to a buffet expecting it to be easy to carb count. I was wrong, very wrong.
We use the Calorie King book the most since it covers a lot of restaurants, and random food that we might run into when we aren’t prepared. For Carb factors I have Gary Scheiner’s Carb counting book (which also has carb counts, but not nearly as much as the Calorie King) However, you will find that eating out will almost never be right - even when the restaurants give you their own carb counts, they aren’t necessarily weighing and measuring everything exactly, and there is so much fat in that food that can both delay the spike and then extend the spike. We just make sure to check 2 hours after a restaurant to catch a spike, and if it seems like a lot of fat we often give a bolus and extend it (can’t remember if I read that you are on a pump or not)
It’s hit or miss at restaurants… We’ve gotten better at eye-balling things to figure out carb counts but it was pretty hard at first. Try measuring things at home (like pasta, rice, etc…) then putting it on a plate to see what a serving size looks like… Seems like most high carb foods (rice, pasta, potatoes, cereal) are about 45-50 carbs per cup. Calorie King is pretty thorough and you can even get an app for iphones if you have one. When my son was diagnosed last November, we bought him an iphone partly because of the diabetes apps that can be used… When in doubt, we stick with the foods we know carb counts to: pizza, fries, chicken nuggets, mashed potatoes, cookies, fruit… basic teenage kid foods… Lots of string cheese too.
Good luck!
My favorite is The Diabetes Carbohydrate & Fat Gram Guide…recommended by The Americaan Dietic Assoc. and American Diabetes Assoc. It has everything you could ask for regarding home cooking and fast foods and restaurant chains. I purchased mine at Borders. It’s also available at Barnes & Noble. By the way…I added all of my favorite foods into the “Presets”/ Carb presets under the “Settings” on my PDM so that I can just click on them easily.
Calorie King is what I use. I also have a Salter 1450 scale and a smaller one I can take with us (1350?) that has a lot of foods in it. You can also program other foods into it.
My son got an iPhone for the diabetes apps too! He’s also got celiac so he can look up which foods are gluten free with those apps. Most people think I’m nuts, I’m glad to read you did the same. LOL
Another online resource that I find useful is http://www.wolframalpha.com/. You put in the food you are asking about and carbs in the search line. It is a very quick way to look up a carb count if you are near a computer.
Calorie King is wonderful, but you might also check out Dotti’s Weight Loss Zone if you guys are eating out often. She lists almost every fast food joint and has fairly good carb counts for most menu items.
Buffets are nightmares. LOL Stay away. OR set an extended (square wave) bolus for all the grazing your child is likely to do. As a rule of thumb, when I eat at a buffet, I assume I’m getting about 20-25g from EACH item on my plate - rolls, fried food, etc.
Is that some kind of hand held electronic device?
Thanks everybody you guys are great!! What are the hand held devices and where do I get one?
not handheld, but helpful at home. http://www.amazon.com/Salter-Nutri-Weigh-Diet-Scale-Model/dp/B000T8IQYK/ref=pd_sim_k_3
we have one a bit smaller that could be carried to a restaurant.
http://www.amazon.com/Salter-Nutri-Weigh-Go-Nutritional-Scale/dp/B000VRK5V6/ref=sr_1_cc_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1279226528&sr=1-1-catcorr
I may look into this…tell me more about the apps available besides calorie king.
Calorie King and I want an EatSmart Digital Scale. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0013IDHTO/ref=ord_cart_shr?ie=UTF8&m=A37RGE1MLU3I6K