Chapter 3. Carbohydrates

WORKSHEETS

WORKSHEET 3-1

SuperTracker: Examine Your Carbohydrate, Sugar, & Fiber Intake

To complete this worksheet, you need to have completed steps 1 and 2 of Worksheet 2-4. This is where you entered in all the food and beverages you consumed for one day into SuperTracker.

Visit the ChooseMyPlate website. Click on “SuperTracker” in the left-hand column, then log in. Now click on “My Reports,” then click on “Nutrients Report.” Enter in the date you used when you entered your food and beverages, and click on “Create Report.” Print this page out to hand in, and use it (along with the “Food Groups and Calories Report” you printed for Worksheet 2-4), to answer the following questions.

1.  What percentage of your total kcalories were from carbohydrates?

2.  Is your percentage from #1 within the Acceptable Macronutrient Distribution Range of 45 to 65 percent of total kcalories? If not, were you above or below the range? What foods do you eat, or not eat, that you think contribute to your high or low percentage of kcalories from carbohydrates?

3.  Using the “Food Groups and Calories Report” from SuperTracker, how many kcalories from added sugars did you eat? Convert the number of kcalories from added sugars to grams of sugar as follows. Keep in mind that 1 gram of sugar contains 4 kcalories.

Example: If you ate 350 kcalories from added sugars, divide 350 by 4 to get the number of grams of sugar: 350 ¸ 4 = 88 grams of sugar.

4.  The American Heart Association (2009) recommends limiting your intake of added sugars to no more than 100 kcalories/day (about 6 teaspoons or 24 grams of sugar) for women and no more than 140 kcalories/day (about 9 teaspoons or 36 grams of sugar) for men. How does your sugar intake compare to the American Heart Association guidelines?

5.  If your sugar intake was higher than recommended, identify three high-sugar foods you ate and suggest a lower-in-sugar alternative for each of the high sugar foods. To see which foods you ate were high in sugar, use the “Food Details Report” on SuperTracker. To get this report, click on “Select All” under “Food Groups & Oils,” then click on “Added Sugars” under “Limits.”

6.  What was your daily fiber intake and how does it compare to your target?

7.  You should eat 14 grams of fiber for each 1,000 kcalories you eat. If you eat 1,500 kcalories; therefore, you should take in 21 grams of fiber, as calculated below.

1.5 ´ 14 grams = 21 grams

8.  Calculate how many grams of fiber you should eat in one day based on your number of kcalories eaten.

9.  If your fiber intake was lower than recommended, list three low-fiber foods you ate and suggest a higher fiber alternative for each of these foods. To see which foods you ate were low in fiber, use the “Food Details Report” on SuperTracker. To use this report, click on “Select All” under “Food Groups & Oils,” then click on “Dietary Fiber” under “Nutrients.”

WORKSHEET 3-2

Carbohydrate Basics

Directions: Below is a list of 15 foods. If the food, such as hamburger, is a good source of sugar, put a checkmark in the “Sugar” column. If it is a good source of starch or fiber, put the checkmark in those columns, too. Some foods won’t have any checkmarks because they are not good sources of sugar, starch, or fiber.

Food / Sugar / Starch / Fiber
1.  Hamburger meat, 3 ounces cooked
2.  Chicken wing, 1 wing
3.  Flounder, 3 ounces cooked
4.  Boiled egg, 1
5.  American cheese, 1 ounce
6.  Sour cream, 1 tablespoon
7.  White bread, 1 slice
8.  Whole-wheat bread, 1 slice
9.  Chocolate cake
10.  Macaroni, ½ cup
11.  Brown rice, ½ cup
12.  Split peas, ¼ cup
13.  Peanuts, ½ ounce
14.  Fresh orange, 1 medium
15.  Broccoli, ½ cup cooked

WORKSHEET 3-3

Carbohydrate Jeopardy
Sugars / Starches / Fibers / Foods
100 / 100 / 100 / 100
200 / 200 / 200 / 200
300 / 300 / 300 / 300
400 / 400 / 400 / 400
500 / 500 / 500 / 500

Directions: Put the word(s) asked for in the blank space.

Sugars

100 The chemical name for what is called white sugar.

______

200 The concentration of this sugar in your blood is important for energy and health

______

300 The chemical name for milk sugar.

______

400 Sugar is made from sugar beets or ______.

______

500 The number of grams of sugar in a teaspoon.

______

Starches

100 Starches are classified as ______carbohydrates.

______

200 Starch is made of many chains of thousands of which sugar linked together?

______

300 Name a starchy vegetable

______

400 Grains are rich sources of starch—true or false?

______

500 When heated in liquid, starch undergoes a process called ______.

______

Fibers

100 Most fibers are chains of glucose that can’t be broken down by human digestive enzymes: True or false?

______

200 The part of a whole grain that contains much fiber.

______

300 The name of a category of fiber that is extracted from plants and then added to a wide variety of foods that includes wheat bran and vegetable gums.

______

400 A diet high in fruits, vegetables, beans, and whole-grain products that contain ______fiber can lower blood cholesterol levels and yoru risk of heart disease.

______

500 For every 1,000 kcal you eat, you need ____ grams of dietary fiber.

______

Foods

100 The primary source of added sugars in the American diet comes from ______.

______

200 Which product contains more fiber: whole-wheat bread or white bread?

______

300 Which food has a higher glycemic load: kidney beans or chocolate cake?

______

400 Which food is a better choice for someone who is lactose intolerant:

cottage cheese or hard cheese?

______

500 Name a food high in soluble fiber, which increases satiety.

______

WORKSHEET 3-4

Comparison of Artificial Sweeteners

Prepare 4 quarts of iced tea. (To prepare 1 quart, pour 4 cups of boiling water over 4 tea bags. Brew 4 minutes. Remove tea bags and chill tea in refrigerator for 2 hours or until cold. Repeat.) In this exercise, you will add 2 teaspoons of sugar, or its equivalent, to each cup of iced tea.

1. To the first quart of iced tea, add 8 teaspoons of sugar and mix thoroughly.

2. To the second quart of iced tea, add 4 packets of Splenda (sucralose) and mix thoroughly.

3. To the third quart of iced tea, add 4 packets of Equal (aspartame) and mix thoroughly.

4. To the final quart of iced tea, add 4 packets of Sweet-One (acesulfame-K) and mix thoroughly.

Next, prepare a blind taste testing of the sweetened iced teas by assigning each quart a number (see below) and labeling the number on the iced tea quart. Before pouring samples, make sure each product is thoroughly stirred. Ask students to fill out the evaluation form below.

Evaluation of Sweetened Iced Teas

1.  As you taste each iced tea sample, please check off under the most appropriate category.

Dislike Very
Much / Dislike
Slightly / Neither Like Nor Dislike / Like Slightly / Like Very
Much
Sample #52
Sample #35
Sample #67
Sample #12

2.  Do any of the samples leave any type of aftertaste? Which samples? What type of aftertaste (sweet and pleasant, metallic, artificial, etc.) does the sample leave?

3.  Rank each sample from your favorite to your least favorite.

#1
#2
#3
#4

4. Which sample do you think contains table sugar? ______

WORKSHEET 3-5

Baking with Artificial Sweeteners

1. Bake blueberry muffins using regular sweeteners and bake a batch using the following recipe.

Blueberry Muffins with Splenda

Ingredients

2 cups all purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

¾ teaspoon salt

½ cup light margarine, softened

1 cup SPLENDA® No Calorie Sweetener with Fiber, Granulated

¼ cup honey

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

½ cup 1% low-fat milk

1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries, thawed

Directions

1.  Preheat oven to 400°F. Line 12 muffin cups with paper liners. Lightly spray liners with nonstick cooking spray.

2.  Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt, and set aside.

3.  Beat margarine at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy. Gradually add SPLENDA® Granulated Sweetener and honey, beating until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating until blended after each addition. Stir in vanilla. Alternately add flour mixture and milk, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Beat at low speed until blended after each addition. Fold in blueberries.

4.  Spoon batter evenly into paper-lined muffin cups. Bake 20 to 22 minutes or until golden. Remove from pan immediately and cool on wire rack.

2. Have a taste test of the two products. Count up the number of people who prefer each product. Which is the favorite? How acceptable are the Blueberry Muffins with Splenda?