Onions and carbs

[Bob700]

I was gutted to hear that one of my favourite cooking ingrediants, onions are high in carbs, I make a lot of chilli, curry and a few others things using onions, I could possibly cut them out of my chilli recipe but I'll have to give up making my curries which I made in bulk using my easy recipe but it did involve a good few onions

 

[Greymouser]

I love onions, especially pickled ones and find they do not spike me at all! Yeah!

I suggest if you do not already have one, get yourself a blood sugar meter and test and experiment, to find out what foods affect you and what do not. We are all different and the experimentation can be fun, as well as being easier it seems for a type 2 than a type 1. 🙂

 

[Lilian]

I would not worry too much about onion carbs. One has to have some carbs. The carbs to be concerned about are those from refined grains and all processed foods, and the overly starchy ones like potatoes, rice, pasta, sugar etc. The vegetable carbs are good for you and you just add onions into the total amount of carbs you are eating. All vegetables grown under ground are higher in carbs than those grown over ground.

 

[Ljc]

I am on insulin (T2) and have found that I don’t have to jab for onions what ever way they are cooked though YMMV . I love them raw too ,so when I am slicing some for a stew, sarnie etc I am munching happily away on them .

I agree with testing to see if your body can cope.

 

[Sally71]

According to Carbs and Cals, 80g of cooked onions is 9g carbs, doesn't sound like loads to me! I certainly never count them when helping my daughter work out her carb count.

 

[Bob700]

Good to know as I say I cook easy to make curry sauce in bulk, split into portions and freeze, so I'll carry on doing it

 

[MeeTooTeeTo]

I do the same as you - cook in bulk and freeze. What I've been doing recently is reducing the amount of onions in chillis, spagbolgs and curries and adding chopped celery. There's less carbs in those and they work perfectly well as replacement/supplements to onions. 🙂

Dez

 

[Billy Bob]

Would bulking out meals with beans be a good option ?
A genuine question

 

[Bronco Billy]

It’s all relative. While onions contain about 10% carbs in relation to their weight, when cut up and used in food, they are very light. You would have to have more or less the whole onion for it to contain an amount of carbs worth bothering about.

 

[Ditto]

I like to have an entire small onion with breakfast. I must measure then to see how it affects me, but I didn't think it did. I might have to cut back to half an onion.

 

[trophywench]

Would bulking out meals with beans be a good option ?
A genuine question

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo !!

All legumes - peas, beans, lentils - are higher in carbs than anything with leaves - more like root veg. Far less carbs in onions!

 

[Billy Bob]

Thank you for that .
Again bad advice I got when first diagnosed that beans were good to include in my diet

 

[Maz2]

Would not think too many problems with onions. I eat most veg apart from potatoes. Parsnips, not too much. Beans and peas in moderation.

 

[Eddy Edson]

Would not think too many problems with onions. I eat most veg apart from potatoes. Parsnips, not too much. Beans and peas in moderation.

Parsnips, grains and watermelon are the only things I've found which have an impact on me big enough to care much about.

Bananas might also, but I don't eat them cos they're icky 🙂

 

[MeeTooTeeTo]

@Bob700 & @Billy Bob
There is an excellent site that I found very helpful when I started out on my journey.
https://www.dietdoctor.com/

There is lots of information and videos on low carb eating etc. Most of the info is free, but you can start a free trial to access all of the site (just remember to cancel before the trial period is up)

Also have a look at https://www.fatsecret.co.uk/

There is the website and Android and ios apps. This will tell you the carbs, calories, fat and protein content of most foods. You can also scan the barcode on most brand name products to get the same information. Just make sure you are using the UK site .co.uk

Dez 🙂

 

[mikeyB]

As Bronco Billy says, the carbs in onions aren’t worth bothering about. Interestingly, onions contain pure sucrose, as does beetroot. You’d struggle to eat enough to affect your BG, though. Please don’t change your recipes to eliminate all carbs, you’ll end up eating nothing🙂

 

[Billy Bob]

Thanks Dez I will be sure to look these up
Just cooked a large pot of beef mince curry which I hope it is not to high on the carb chart ? I bulked out with 1 medium red pepper , 1 medium green pepper , 1 medium size white onion and a large handful of mushroom . Some garam massala , garlic granules , chive flakes , salt , pepper and a beef stock pot , served with cauliflower rice .
Plenty to freeze for another time

 

[Browser]

Good to know as I say I cook easy to make curry sauce in bulk, split into portions and freeze, so I'll carry on doing it

On the freezing point, something that works for me is bulk cooking brown rice, wholewheat pasta and mashed new potatoes. Split into portions ( 120 gms for rice and pasta and 150 gms for potato. ) and freeze. Pasta and rice is cooked till very al dente and cooked from frozen for a few minutes in boiling water. Mash is cooked from frozen in microwave for four minutes on high. As I say, this works for me without a bad spike and I prefer the real McCoy to the usual substitutes now and again.