What are carbohydrates?
Carbohydrates is an umbrella term for sugary and starchy foods. Your main starchy foods include bread, rice, pasta, potatoes and cereal and sugary foods can include cakes, biscuits and sweets. Dairy products and fruit also contain natural sugars (also carbohydrate). We need some carbohydrates in our diet to provide us with energy, vitamins, minerals and fibre but having too much can lead to weight gain and poor diabetes control. When we eat foods containing carbohydrate, these break down into glucose (sometimes referred to as sugar in our bloodstream). When you have diabetes, your body struggles to regulate its blood glucose levels, therefore eating too much carbohydrate can raise your levels above the normal range. Having high blood glucose levels for a prolonged period of time can increase your risk of complications, therefore we would recommend moderating your carbohydrate intake and becoming aware of carbohydrate portions.
For further information regarding carbohydrates you can find this here.