How many carbs for my diet?

If you restrict your carbohydrates too much, your body breaks down muscle fiber into sugar, and if you eat too many carbohydrates, you body stores them as fat. The subject of carb consumption might seem confusing at first but I'm going to try to set some concepts straight for you so that you can make a better choice for yourself.
First realize that it is necessary to know how many calories you need in a day. Then, we can further organize the calories into protein, carbs, and fat calories. A good overall range for carbohydrates is 50% of your diet. If you calculate a daily calorie need to be 2000 calories, then 1000 of those calories should come from carbs.
Carbohydrates, like protein, are 4 calories per gram. Take your 1000 calories, divide them by 4, and you get 250. This means 250 grams of carbohydrates per day.
Remember, this is usually for your average person that is lightly to moderately active.
For some of my clients, for example, on a 2000 calorie diet, I will drop their carbohydrates to 40% of their diet giving them 200 grams. It all depends of you, your activity level, and your goal. These numbers can vary from person to person but one thing is certain, it is good to know your numbers.

Glycemic Index is another factor to take into consideration. It refers to the effect that a carbohydrate has on your blood sugar. Right click on the chart below to look at a glycemic index chart in another window.
The chart shows you the effect different foods have on your blood sugar. It is better to choose the foods with a lower glycemic index because of the slow release of insulin into your blood stream after eating them. When your body releases insulin slowly, your cells respond better to it, and you're less likely to have a "crash" in your blood sugar. It is best to keep your blood sugar from "spiking" as much as possible to avoid future problems with your health.
Feel free to write me with any further questions if you have them!