CARB COUNTING USING CARBOHYDRATE FACTORS (CF)
CF’s are helpful with:

Foods that are eaten at home

Foods that are of odd shapes or variable sizes (e.g. fresh fruit, store
bought baked goods)

Foods with variable density within a volume measure (e.g. packed brown
sugar vs. loosely scooped brown sugar)

A food item that has a mixture of ingredients (e.g. stews, stir fries)
To use CF’s you must remember to:

Use your digital scale

Use your CF list

Weigh only the edible portion of food.
Instructions
1. Weigh the food on a digital scale.
Example
You’ve placed an apple on a scale and
note that it weighs 185 grams.
2. Find the foods CF in one of the food
The CF for an apple is 0.12.
groups listed in this handout.
Multiply the weight of the apple (185
3. Multiply the food’s weight by it’s CF.
grams) by the CF of an apple (0.12)
4. The answer is the number of grams 185 grams of apple X 0.12 = 22.2
grams of carbohydrate.
of carbohydrate you are eating.
Determine the total CHO in the meal below using the CF in this booklet.
Food item
CF
=
Weight
X
Whole wheat bread
74 g
X
=
Hummus
20 g
X
=
Raw tomato
17 g
X
=
Grapes
27 g
X
=
Total CHO
=
CHO
Barley, pearl, cooked
Biscuits, plain or buttermilk
Bread Crumbs
Cornstarch
Couscous, cooked*
Couscous, uncooked*
Bread Crumbs
Muffin
 Blueberry
 Corn
 Oat Bran
Noodles, cooked*
 Egg noodles
 Japanese Soba
 Rice noodles
Grain Products
Breads and Grains
Pancakes, buttermilk
.26
Pasta, cooked*
.47
 Macaroni
 Spaghetti, plain
.67
 Spaghetti, whole wheat
.90 Rice, cooked*
.22
 Brown
0.8
 White
.67 Rice, cooked* (cont’d)
 Wild
Rolls
.45
.48
.43


.29
.27
.27
.23
.22
.29
.19
White
Whole wheat
.47
.43
Tortellini with cheese filling
Tortillas
 Corn
 Flour
.45
.36
.52
.24
.21
.24
Flours
Arrowroot flour
Buckwheat flour
Brown rice flour
Chickpea flour
Potato flour
.85
.64
.72
.47
.82
Rice flour
Soy flour
Wheat flour, all purpose
Whole wheat flour
.78
.20
.73
.61
Fruits and Vegetables
Fruits
Apple
Apricot
Banana
Berries
 Blackberries
.12
.09
.21
.04
Peach
 Canned in juice
 Canned in light syrup
 Canned in water
Grapefruit
.07
.10
.13
.05
.09
 Blueberries
 Cranberries
 Raspberries
 Strawberries
Cherries, sweet
Dates
Figs, dried
Mango
Nectarine
Orange
Papaya
Vegetables
Asparagus, cooked
Beans, green/yellow, raw
 Cooked
Broccoli, raw
 cooked
Cauliflower, raw
 cooked
Celery
Corn, Sweet cooked
Cucumber, raw peeled
Lettuce
 Iceberg
 Romaine
Mushrooms, raw
Onion, yellow raw
 Sautéed
Peppers, Green raw
 Sautéed
Peppers, Red raw
 Sautéed
Grapes
Honeydew melon
Kiwi
Pear
 Canned in juice
 Canned in light syrup
 Canned in water
Pineapple
 Canned in juice
Plum
.15 Pomegranate
.09
.10
.08
.12
.07
.06
.05
.14
.68
.55
.02 Potato
.04
 Baked, flesh/skin
.04
 Boiled no skin
.04
 Boiled with skin
.05
.04 Sweet potato
.02
 baked no skin
.01
 boiled no skin
.20 Tomato, raw
.03
.01
.01
.02
.08
.07
.03
.02
.05
.05
.17
.08
.11
.13
.11
.13
.06
.12
.15
.10
.16
.20
.19
.18
.18
.15
.03
Legumes, Nuts and Seeds
Almonds
Cashews
Hazelnuts
.08 Lentils, boiled
.29 Sunflower seeds
.08 Walnuts
.16
.16
.05
*If you look at the Nutrition Facts table for grains, such as those above, you may
notice they give the CHO value for a dry weight of the grain. This is because
once you have cooked it, water is absorbed and this changes the weight. The
weight of the final cooked product will differ depending on how long it was
cooked, and how much water was absorbed.
Carbohydrate Factors
Of Common Foods