Eating large amounts of carbs over time can limit your body's ability to metabolize them
Eating large amounts of carbs over time can limit your body's ability to metabolize them, especially if you have diabetes. Photo Credit: Dmitry A/Shutterstock The following excerpt is adapted from the new book Master Your Diabetes: A Comprehensive, Integrative Approach for Both Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes by Mona Morstein, ND (2017, Chelsea Green Publishing) What exactly are carbohydrates? Carbohydrates are biological molecules consisting of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen atoms, but we also use the term as shorthand for foods that contain a lot of starches or sugars. People with diabetes need to be strict in eliminating high carbohydrate foods from their diets because even small amounts of these foods can pose big problems for regulating glucose levels. A low-carb diet means restricting carbohydrates to less than 45 grams per day, and even down to 20 grams per day, depending on your daily caloric intake. Reading Nutrition Labels Carbohydrates are listed on nutrition labels