Finding Your Ideal Body Weight

• Your ideal body weight is based on your sex, height and frame size (small, average or large).
  For women:
  Begin at 100 pounds for a 5-foot person (add 5 pounds for every inch over 5 feet; subtract 5 pounds for every inch under 5 feet). This number is your ideal weight if you are of an average build. Add 10 percent if you are large-framed; subtract 10 percent if you are small-framed.
  For example:
  The ideal weight of a woman that is 5 feet, 9 inches tall and large-framed = 160 pounds
  100 + 45 (5 x 9) = 145--her ideal weight
  145 x 0.10 = 14.5 pounds, rounded to 15
  145 + 15 = 160 pounds
  
  For men:
  Begin at 106 pounds for a 5-foot person (add 6 pounds for every inch over 5 feet; subtract 6 pounds for every inch under 5 feet). This number is your ideal weight if you are of an average build. Add 10 percent if you are large-framed; subtract 10 percent if you are small-framed.
  For example:
  The ideal weight of a man that is 6 feet, 3 inches tall and small framed = 176 pounds
  106 + 90 (15 x 6) = 196--his ideal weight
  196 x 0.10 = 19.6 pounds, rounded to 20
  196 - 20 = 176 pounds
  
  

A Little about Carbohydrates

• Carbohydrates, when and if they need to be broken down, are sugars. Complex carbohydrates are long chains of sugars; simple sugars are short chains and are sweet to the taste. The names of simple sugars end in -ose: lactose, sucrose, glucose and fructose. These sugars need little digestion before hitting the bloodstream. Complex carbs take longer to digest and hit the bloodstream more slowly over time (like a time-release sugar) and are better sugars for the body. All sugars are converted into glucose before the sugar moves into the bloodstream. In non-diabetics, glucose causes insulin production to begin. In diabetics, the presence of glucose is the basis of the need for insulin injections. Without insulin, the sugar level in the bloodstream would increase to potentially deadly levels.
  
  

Calories and Ideal Body Weight

• Diabetics have an easier time maintaining their blood sugar levels at their ideal body weight. Whether they are at, above or below their body weight, their daily caloric intake usually needs to be adjusted. If the person is overweight, the downward adjustment in their food intake will help them lose weight. If the person is underweight, the diet will help them gain the weight they need to be at a healthy level. Weight gain and weight loss should be implemented and handled under the care of a physician.
  
  

Exchange Rates

• Nutrition labels on many foods provide diabetic exchange rates for the consumer to easily tabulate their food intake over a day. If a diabetic is on an 1,800 calorie-per-day diet, 50 percent or 900 of those calories will typically be carbohydrates. One gram of carbohydrate provides 4 calories. One exchange = 15 grams of carbs, or 60 carb calories. A diet that includes 900 carb calories per day equals 15 carbohydrate exchanges per day.
  
  

Foods You Do Not Have to Count

• Free foods are foods that you do not have to count toward your total daily caloric intake. To qualify, a food has to provide 20 or fewer calories and 5 grams or less of carbohydrates per serving. Possibilities include: sugar-free hard candy, sugar-free Jell-O, sugar-free gum, light or low-sugar jam or jelly (2 tsp.) and sugar-free syrup (2 tsp.).