What’s better - low carbs or low ‘of which sugars’.

[AliceV]

Hi everyone,
I’ve only recently been diagnosed with type 2 and struggling to understand what’s better - low carbs or low ‘of which sugars’. I’m going to a restaurant tomorrow and they nave the national info for their dishes. These two had the lowest calories but very different carb and ‘of which sugars’. One has high carbs but low sugars, the other has low carbs but high sugars. Which would be better for me?
Many thanks.

 

[Sally71]

It’s the total carbs which you have to think about, because all of them will convert to sugar in your stomach. So of your two examples, 3.6 g carb per 100g is way better than 10g per 100g, even though most of the 3.6g is sugar. The other one has almost 3 times as much carb, which will still convert to glucose, it just might take a bit longer to get there.

 

[AliceV]

It’s the total carbs which you have to think about, because all of them will convert to sugar in your stomach. So of your two examples, 3.6 g carb per 100g is way better than 10g per 100g, even though most of the 3.6g is sugar. The other one has almost 3 times as much carb, which will still convert to glucose, it just might take a bit longer to get there.

Ah, right, I didn’t know that! I’ll go for the low carbs then Thank you Sally71

 

[rebrascora]

I am curious to know what the first meal is that has 14.91g carbs per serving and 14.24g of them are sugar? That is a very low carb meal and wondering if perhaps someone has made a mistake with the nutritional info.

 

[Leadinglights]

I am curious to know what the first meal is that has 14.91g carbs per serving and 14.24g of them are sugar? That is a very low carb meal and wondering if perhaps someone has made a mistake with the nutritional info.

There looks to be something very peculiar about the info as the second one says carbs per 100g 10. something but carbs per serving 67.something g. looks like the columns are muddled up.
It looks like a Wagamama meal of some sort.

 

[AliceV]

I am curious to know what the first meal is that has 14.91g carbs per serving and 14.24g of them are sugar? That is a very low carb meal and wondering if perhaps someone has made a mistake with the nutritional info.

Oh really?! They are from Wagamama - the low carb one is a dish called salmon koyo bowl. The high carbs dish is grilled chicken ramen. The nutritional info is on their website and potentially really helpful - if they are accurate!

 

[rebrascora]

Ah! Just had a look at the menu and the salmon koyo bowl looks like a very good choice and sounds tasty.

Ramen are noodles and they will be made with flour which is high carb, so anything containing noodles or pasta or potatoes or rice is likely to be higher carb.

 

[AliceV]

Ah! Just had a look at the menu and the salmon koyo bowl looks like a very good choice and sounds tasty.

Ramen are noodles and they will be made with flour which is high carb, so anything containing noodles or pasta or potatoes or rice is likely to be higher carb.

Fantastic! Thank you rebrascora I’m so new to this and I’m just so anxious about what I can eat. Can’t wait to speak to a dietician and have a better understanding! X

 

[Leadinglights]

Fantastic! Thank you rebrascora I’m so new to this and I’m just so anxious about what I can eat. Can’t wait to speak to a dietician and have a better understanding! X

You may have a while to wait to see a dietician but I expect they may follow the standard NHS dietary advice which is still to high in carbs for many people to tolerate. In the meantime have a look at this link as it has good information about adopting a low carb approach with some menu plans and some do's and don'ts. https://lowcarbfreshwell.com/
Enjoy your meal, I've never been to Wagamama.

 

[AliceV]

You may have a while to wait to see a dietician but I expect they may follow the standard NHS dietary advice which is still to high in carbs for many people to tolerate. In the meantime have a look at this link as it has good information about adopting a low carb approach with some menu plans and some do's and don'ts. https://lowcarbfreshwell.com/
Enjoy your meal, I've never been to Wagamama.

Thank you - that’s really helpful. Wagamama is lovely - unfortunately I can no longer have all my favs as they have sky high carbs (100g Per serving for katsu curry) and 1000 calories!!!

 

[rebrascora]

Yes, I too would be slightly sceptical of the advice an NHS dietician may give you. I know when I was first diagnosed 5 years ago they were very much against a low carb diet and that was a specialist diabetes dietician. The NHS advice is still quite a long way behind modern thinking.

I think one of the best bits of advice here on the forum is to get a BG meter and eat according to what it shows you your body can cope with. We are all different in how we respond to particular foods so being able to see in numbers how your body copes with particular meals can be really helpful, both in ruling out or significantly restricting things that cause you problems either by reducing portion size and/or frequency of eating them but also getting the occasional nice surprise when you find something you like but thought was likely off limits, is actually OK for you.

 

[AliceV]

Sorry - just seen your message! Thanks a lot for your advice - the meter sounds like a good idea and I’ll look into it.

 

[icowden]

There are also some useful tricks when you really fancy a favourite meal. For example you can make pasta easier to digest and less of a glucose spike by cooking the pasta, then allowing it to cool (you can speed this by running or leaving in cold water), and then reheating the pasta again. This changes the structure of the starches making it easier to digest and easing the blood glucose spike.

It's still carby but you may be able to cope with it better in a small portion.

 

[AliceV]

There are also some useful tricks when you really fancy a favourite meal. For example you can make pasta easier to digest and less of a glucose spike by cooking the pasta, then allowing it to cool (you can speed this by running or leaving in cold water), and then reheating the pasta again. This changes the structure of the starches making it easier to digest and easing the blood glucose spike.

It's still carby but you may be able to cope with it better in a small portion.

Thanks icowden That’s really interesting. I suspect I’m on a journey of discovery!!!