On Tuesday, I noted that Scott's trouble with canned soup was just the tip of the carb-counting iceberg (or should that be "the lowest climbs on Everest" for the math-challenged?), looking at discrepancies in a product's own label as well as between what is stated on the label and what can be measured in the kitchen. Yesterday I looked at errors introduced by the processes of cooking and serving food, the canard of "free foods", and upscaling issues. Today I hope to conclude the series with issues of variation between individuals with diabetes (or an individual with diabetes). In short, Your Carb-Counting May Vary.

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In my last post, I addressed some of the issues involved in achieving an accurate picture of one's dietary intake based on the nutrition labels on packaged foods. I touched on the discrepancies between measurement by weight and by volume, between the approximated number of servings on the label and the number of servings based on posted content weight, and discrepancies between posted net weight and both real and usable content weight.

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Food is frustrating to me. Ever since I can remember, food has been a completely different aspect in my life than what my family, peers, and humanity deals with. Yes, food is a source of energy and existence. Yes, it's amazing. Yes, it packs on the pounds. But it's also a total love-hate relationship with me. For one reason: diabetes.

When I was first diagnosed, my life was thrown into "sugar-free" mode. My sugar intake was limited. I never tasted a real coke unless I was low. I didn't get to eat normal candy or normal desserts. Everything was tainted by fake sugar, a chemical taste that couldn't replace my childhood need for some old-fashioned sugar.

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My friend Scott, who has spent enough time on insulin to make my head spin, just vented his frustrations regarding the carb count for a meal of soup and crackers. While I've not had to become quite as precise on carb-counting as those of you on insulin, having to completely rewrite my doctor's office's 1000 mg sodium/day diet (following the flyer they gave me would have had me consuming closer to 2000 mg sodium/day) made me much more sensitive to calculating serving size than the average person with diabetes -- or the average person with hypertension, for that matter.

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I was reading through the dLife Viewpoints section today and saw a post that really hit home.

It's called "Bested by a Can of Tomato Soup" by Scott Johnson and I think it should be required reading for type 3's and other people without diabetes.

Counting carbs can sometimes be a difficult and maddening situation.

And we do it for virtually every meal every day. I mean, we are supposed to.

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tpacific

Today is Cinco de Mayo. Being of Mexican heritage I can say that I have never celebrated the 5th of May except maybe once in my 20’s I may have had a Corona with dinner. Who knows.

All of my friends and co-workers want to go out for Mexican food tonight. Tacos, Nachos, Burritos, tortillas, and salsa not to mention the Margarita’s. All good stuff, but for me not a very big deal since we tend to eat Mexican food a lot.

AND I LOVE IT!

My wife has unfortunately mastered the art of making taco shells so whenever she makes tacos I eat about a bakers dozen. Okay, that may be exaggerating but I know I can eat at least half of that and it always makes my blood glucose skyrocket hours after eating.

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