We Count Carbs is focused on improving the lives of people living with diabetes through healthy plant-forward recipes, meal plans, coaching, and community.
Hi! I'm Sachi, a diabetes educator and a member of the Association of Diabetes Care & Education Specialists. In 2024, I will offer diabetes prevention lifestyle coaching. If you have prediabetes, participating in the CDC-recognized National Diabetes Prevention Lifestyle Change Program can cut your risk of developing type 2 diabetes by more than half and help you improve your overall health.
Why count carbs?
Carbohydrates have the greatest impact on your blood sugar. Sticking to a carb budget helps you gain better control of your blood sugars. We Count Carbs because carbs count!
Need help figuring out what to make for breakfast, lunch, snacks and dinner? Do you wish recipes came with carb counts and nutrition facts labels? You've come to the right place.
How to find out if you need to count carbs
Ask your doctor. The A1C (or HbA1c) is a simple blood test that measures your average blood sugar levels over a period of a few months. This can indicate if you are diabetic, or are at risk for developing diabetes. By eating to your meter, or CGM (Continuous Glucose Monitor), and counting carbs, you can cut excess carbs from your diet to help you keep your blood sugars within a healthy range.
How do we analyze the carbohydrate totals for the recipes?
We Count Carbs uses the USDA food database and the Nutrifox Nutrition Label Generator to create the nutrition facts labels, with carb counts, for the recipes.
We Count Carbs For You with Plant-forward Recipes and Meal Plans
This site is a collection of plant-forward recipes and meal plans for people on a carb budget. All recipes are about 30 grams of carbs, per serving. Our meal plans make sure that your daily nutrition and macro requirements are covered. Meals include plenty of protein, fiber, healthy fats, vitamins and minerals to keep you satisfied.
A plant-forward diet emphasizes plant-based foods such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains, beans and legumes, seeds, and nuts. It also includes animal-based foods in moderation, such as eggs, dairy, lean meat, poultry and seafood.
These recommendations are based on studies that have shown that a plant-forward diet helps to prevent and treat type 2 diabetes. The recipes and meal plans favor low-glycemic index foods, such as beans and green vegetables.
These recipes make it easier to manage carb counting when preparing tasty and nutritious meals. You can mix and match recipes to create a meal plan that fits your personal carb budget and tastes. There are low-carb recipes along with recipes that are keto-friendly.
Many of our recipes are naturally plant-forward, vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free or dairy-free. If you have specific dietary restrictions, go to our recipe index to locate recipes by category.
Is this a keto recipe site?
No. The focus of this site is low-carb, here's why. I practiced keto for 3 years. It made me sick to the extent that I had to meet with my doctor and undergo testing. Practicing keto also disrupted my sleep. When I stopped, my problems disappeared with my keto diet. I decided then that a lifetime of keto (50-20 grams of carbs per day) wasn't sustainable, healthy or necessary for me to manage my blood sugar. That's why the focus of the recipes on this site is low-carb (100–150 grams per day). I don't publish recipes that I don't eat. However, some recipes are naturally very low carb, like Sunny side up eggs with crispy sage, and therefore keto-friendly.
How to use these recipes
It is very important to follow the exact measurements for each ingredient when making these recipes. Each recipe was painstakingly developed and each ingredient carefully measured to provide the total amount of carbohydrates shown per serving. Any modification or substitution of any ingredient can either change the carb value of the recipe, or change how the recipe turns out. Each recipe was tested multiple times before publishing to check that results are consistent.
If you don't follow the recipe, I can't vouch for how the recipe turns out or for how the carbs add up. For example, the Easy chicken pot pie calls for equal amounts of flour and butter to make a roux for the gravy in the filling. If you reduce the amount of flour in the roux, then the gravy may turn out runny and your filling will be more of a soup than a gravy. If you replace the pie crust with a cauliflower crust, then the flavor, consistency and carb counts will change.
Who runs We Count Carbs?
If you've read this far, you might be curious about who put this site together. I’m Sachi, I'm the carb-counting chief cook and bottle washer at We Count Carbs! I’m the diabetes lifestyle coach, recipe developer, nutrition analyst, SEO researcher, writer, food stylist, photographer, videographer, content producer and social media manager here, phew! I love to play with my food.
Why did I start We Count Carbs?
Counting carbs is a pain in the neck. Since I already do it while planning my own meals, I thought why not share my recipes?
What did I do before I started We Count Carbs?
In my past life, I was an eLearning instructional designer and developer (that's me, above, at my desk at the old job when We Count Carbs was just a twinkle in my eye). I love creating instructional content and media. Now, at We Count Carbs, I get to help carb counters like you and me, eat right for our carb budgets.
I learned to cook from my mother, who was a Japanese restaurant owner and professional chef. I spent much of my childhood after school in "out of the way" corners of restaurants and bakeries. As I got older, I worked in restaurants alongside my mother preparing and plating food for customers. When I worked my desk job later in life, a part of me missed working with food. To get this blog started, I learned to use a camera, took a few online classes, and even went to a culinary school, the International Culinary Center, to get certified as a food stylist.
What do I do when I’m not busy with We Count Carbs?
I love riding my snowboard in the Winter. In Spring, Summer and Fall, I enjoy foraging wild edible plants and fungi out in nature.
Thanks for visiting! I hope that these recipes and lifestyle articles help you on your lifelong diabetes management journey.