MacaroniIt’s taken a while for the penny to drop in my life at various times but this one seems like a pretty stupid oversight. Never mind, I’ve done it time and again so if I can save one person from it while making myself sound like a complete idiot, that’s what I’m prepared to do. Here goes:

When measuring the carbs in pasta, do not go by the amount on the packet, because this is for UNCOOKED PASTA.

(Likewise, rice, couscous, noodles – pretty much any sort of grain).

I like to think I’m a reasonably intelligent person, but embarrassingly this has caught me out more than once. The last time was in fact when Aaron and his partner were over for dinner and my hubby prepared a delicious dish with spaghetti as the main source of carb. He carefully counted the total amount of carbs, weighed each diabetic’s dish, and multiplied it by the carbs indicated on the nutrition table on the packet. Unfortunately (I say this with conviction because I’ve just done a survey of the grains/legumes in our cupboard), the values on these packets are almost always for uncooked amounts, which gives a much higher carb reading.

So, here are the true values for you, taken from an April version of a carb list I was given by Auckland Hospital:

Couscous = 72% carb uncooked; 28% carb cooked

Pasta = 74% carb uncooked; 28% carb cooked

Rice = 77% carb uncooked; 28% carb cooked (white rice); 30% carb cooked (brown rice)

Spaghetti = 75% carb uncooked; 24% carb cooked

And yes – both Aaron and I did go quite badly hypo after dinner (even though we’d both bolused for less than the grand total my husband gave us because it seemed too high). And yes, our partners did try to beat us at Cranium while we were still low (as well as a bit drunk). And no – they did not beat us – because we rule.


By Nic on 1 May 2009 at 8.38 am
Posted in Food, Hypos & Hypers
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