Carb counting, carb cutting, carbo-loading, low-carb: Carbs, short for carbohydrates, are a ubiquitous part of the diet vernacular, especially for people with diabetes. Focusing on the challenges of counting carbs and planning meals may have kept you from asking a basic question: What is a carbohydrate? Here’s your chance to break down those carb-laden muffins, potatoes, lattes, and carrots into their basic carbohydrate components so you know just what you’re eating—and how your body deals with it.

All of the foods you eat contain a mixture of carbohydrates, protein, and fat that your body converts to either energy or raw materials essential for life. Carbohydrates are particularly good at providing quick energy, and understanding them is key to managing diabetes because they are broken down directly into glucose, the sugar that people with diabetes have in excess in their bloodstreams.

As the word carbohydrate implies, these molecules are made up of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. Simple as that sounds, these three components can be joined together, like Tinkertoys, in many ways and serve many purposes. The body can both get carbohydrates from food and make its own carbs.