My patient’s grandmother asked me about a resource for help in determining carbohydrates in the casserole dishes she cooks. The dishes vary from stuffed cabbage to hamburger macaroni. Where can I direct her for help?

Determining carbohydrate content in home cooked meals is a bit more challenging than convenience items. Nutrition books and software may provide information useful for food eaten at home and in restaurants. They also provide an easy way to look up brand name foods. Many cookbooks provide carbohydrate information for easy counting when preparing meals at home.

Look for books and cookbooks in the “Nutrition and Diet” section of your local bookstore and library, or in online sources like the Diabetes Mall. Online sources and diabetes product guides from diabetes magazines, such as Diabetes Interview and Diabetes Forecast also list software and written sources. Look for recipes that have the carbohydrate content in the “Food” section of your local newspaper and in magazines related to health. Nutrition books, software in a PDA or Palm device, and newer cookbooks, similar to nutrition labels, list the amount of carbohydrate in a typical serving size of each food. If what you eat varies from this serving size, you may need to weigh or measure your actual serving, and you’ll need to do the necessary calculations to convert your serving into the grams of carbohydrate eaten.

JMS