The food exchange system can be used to pay attention to carbohydrates, calories, the fat, protein, or even sugar levels that one consumes. This is done by grouping similar foods that have similar nutrients and using a food in the group that has either less carbohydrates, fat, protein, calories, or sugar levels than the food that one consumed in the past. Therefore, in a diabetic food exchange system, one would consider a food that has the same nutrients but fewer carbohydrates than another an exchange as one would be substituting it for the food with the higher carbohydrate levels.
