Cindy Moore, MS, RD Responds:

Studies have shown that the total amount of carbohydrate eaten at a meal is more important than the type of carbohydrate you eat. So the short answer to the pasta question is yes, you can eat pasta. In fact, it’s important to eat some carbohydrate because the body and brain need it for energy. But you need to know what your blood glucose goals are and how many carbohydrate servings you can eat at meals to keep things in healthy balance.

Many people with diabetes use carbohydrate counting to plan meals. In this system, one carbohydrate serving is the amount of food that contains 15 grams of carbohydrate. Often individuals will have three or more carbohydrate servings at a meal—the equivalent of 1 cup of pasta. The only way to know if this amount of carbohydrate is working for your body is to check your blood glucose levels. The American Diabetes Association recommends that blood glucose levels before meals should be between 90 and 130 mg/dL and less than 180 mg/dL two hours after the start of the meal.