Get access to an advanced food database and let our carb calculator do the work for you.
Carb calculator and diabetes
We hope that you with our carb calculator:
✔ Don’t have to rely on your mental math skills being top-tuned
✔ Can declutter your mind and let AI guide you through your meals
✔ Ultimately can get a more flexible lifestyle
Getting access:
As a new user in the UK, you can get an access code to HDA from the diabetes clinics we collaborate with. Please contact your clinic or insurance company to check if they’re a Hedia partner. If you have any questions please send us a mail at support@hedia.com . Learn more about how to get access and use the app here.
Carb calculator
How our carb calculator works
HDA aims to make the daily hurdle of carb counting easier.
Insulin-dependent diabetes and (the importance of) carb counting
Carbs turn into glucose once you’ve digested them. Therefore, the carbs of your meals and drinks directly affect your blood glucose level. That is why understanding the nuts and bolts of carb counting can make your day a lot easier.
Counting carbohydrates also makes it possible for you to match your insulin requirements with your meals – and this can be a great way of managing your blood glucose levels.
The ultimate goal is to help you keep your blood glucose as close to target range as possible, as often as possible.
But counting carbohydrates requires discipline, hard work and patience.
And to really get the calculation method under your skin means understanding carbohydrates and adjusting your insulin doses accordingly.
This is were HDA comes into play
Hedia Diabetes Assistant (HDA) is your personal diabetes assistant that calculates the carbs in your meal for you. Those carbs – together with your current blood glucose level, and your insulin sensitivity – will allow the app to give you an insulin recommendation.
How HDA’s carb calculator actually works
When downloading HDA to your phone, and creating your own personal user, you tell us:
If you use an insulin pen with half-unit precision or whole-unit precision or a pump
Which unit you use to measure your blood glucose level (mmol/L or mg/dL)
Your insulin-to-carb ratio (your doctor will tell you this, alternatively you can use the 500 rule)
Your insulin sensitivity factor (your doctor will tell you this, alternatively you can use the 100 rule or 1800 rule)
When you start using the app for everyday recommendations, it’s really simple.
… You:
Measure your blood glucose level with your blood glucose meter and transfer your measurements wirelessly to Hedia Diabetes Assistant.
Tell HDA what you’re about to eat or drink
Tell HDA how much you’ll be working out today
And that’s it! HDA now gives you a recommended insulin dosage.
Carb counting explained
Okay. So there’s nothing basic about carb counting. We know it can be tricky. And that’s exactly why we have nutrition experts, nurses, machine learning engineers, and data scientists to let Hedia Diabetes Assistant do the math for you.
There are numerous factors to take into account when calculating carbs. But carb counting made simple looks like this:
Want to see how you count carbs
in your daily life?
in your daily life?
Let’s say you want a carrot bun.
First you have to check how many grams of carbs the carrot bun contains per 100 grams. This you can check on the nutrition facts label. Let’s say the label tells you there are 39 grams of carbs per 100 grams.
Now you must figure out how much the bun weighs. You can do this by actually weighing it – or by dividing the total net weight of the bag of buns with the total number of pieces you will eat. If there are 9 buns in total, and the net weight is 550 grams, it goes:
The calculation will then look like this:
The final step is to calculate how many units of insulin, you need with your meal.
For this you need the 500 rule:
Example: Patient taking 50 units a day:
This you’ll need to do for every food item your meal consists of.
When you’re on the go, eating out or just don’t need the hurdle of calculating the carbs yourself – it might be easier for you to use HDA as your personal diabetes assistant.
Questions? Want to know more about how we can help you?
We are here to help you!
Hedia has a team of nutrition experts, nurses, machine learners and our amazing developers ready to answer all your questions at support@hedia.com, or fill out the contact form.
You’ll hear from us within 48 working hours.
HDA as a medical device software
HDA is a medical device software registered in the Danish Medicines Agency (Lægemiddelstyrelsen). Hedia has a CE-certification mark stating conformity with the EU directive for medical devices sold within the EU.
Read our user manual here to learn more about how to use Hedia.