By clicking on the link below to the International Table of Glycemic Index and Glycemic Load you can detemine what carbohydrate rich foods raise your blood sugar too high. Allow several seconds to upload this table

How many carbohydrates should you be eating each day?

The answer is to focus on the quality of the carbohydrates versus the quantity. You can determine this by knowing about Glycemic Index and Glycemic Load.

The glycemic index (GI) is a number that shows how quickly a normal body will convert 50 grams of carbohydrate from a specific carbohydrate food or drink into circulating blood sugar. The higher the number, the greater the blood sugar response. A low GI food will cause a small rise in blood sugar, while a high GI food will cause a large rise. A GI of 70 or more is high, a GI of 56 to 69 is medium, and a GI of 55 or less is low. Keep in mind that 50 grams of carbohydrate is a lot for some foods, for example fruits and vegetables. So carrots which in some studies have been shown to have a high GI typically have an individual serving size of 80 grams of which there is 6 grams of total carbohydrate in that serving. To reach the 50 gram mark of the GI you would need to have over 8 servings of carrots which is equal to greater than 650 grams or about one and a half pounds of carrots.

Glycemic Load: The glycemic load (GL) is the amount of carbohydrate in a particular serving of a food multiplied by the glycemic index. For example sugar is a carbohydrate with an extremely high GI. If one speck of sugar is consumed, it will not raise your blood sugar because the quantity is so small even though it has a high GI. If a large amount of sugar is consumed then your blood sugar will go up. Carrots are an example of a moderate to high GI food that has a low GL because it has a very small amount of carbohydrate. It will therefore will not cause the body's blood sugar to rise that much. A GL of 20 or more is high, a GL of 11 to 19 is medium, and a GL of 10 or less is low.

The link above is to a comprehensive table which lists the glycemic index and glycemic load for most foods found in the American diet. With this information you can determine which carbohydrates are good for you. In general, the whiter the the flour, the easier it is for your body to break down the flour to sugar and the worse it is for you. Generally, when choosing a starch carbohydrate it is better to choose those that are darker, denser, and more loaded with oats and grains. Usually the glycemic index will be lower for these carbohydrates. Examples include sweet potatoes versus white potatoes and whole-wheat flour versus white flour. It is also good to try to eliminate high fructose corn syrup from your diet as much as possible. It has an extremely high glycemic index, is very calorically dense, and may blunt levels of a hormone called leptin which tells your body to feel full.