Carb total per day

[Karen57UK]

Sorry if this is a silly question but how do I know how many grams of carbs I should have per day ?

 

[Northerner]

Sorry if this is a silly question but how do I know how many grams of carbs I should have per day ?

Hi Karen, unfortunately there is no one answer to this question, however the simple answer is 'whatever you can tolerate well and maintain good blood sugar levels'. People's tolerances can vary a great deal, even for the same foods, so it's important to know how you react personally to your food choices and root out the items (or quantities of items) that send your levels too high. This can only really be done by testing before and after eating, as described in Test,Review, Adjust by Alan S. Forgive me if I've missed it, but are you currently testing?

 

[Karen57UK]

Hi Karen, unfortunately there is no one answer to this question, however the simple answer is 'whatever you can tolerate well and maintain good blood sugar levels'. People's tolerances can vary a great deal, even for the same foods, so it's important to know how you react personally to your food choices and root out the items (or quantities of items) that send your levels too high. This can only really be done by testing before and after eating, as described in Test,Review, Adjust by Alan S. Forgive me if I've missed it, but are you currently testing?

Thanks for the reply. I started testing on Tuesday so it’s all very new. I was on Metformin and then Metformin SR but can’t tolerate it. I started on 100mg of Januvia on Tuesday too. My H1bac is currently 54.
Since I started testing the lowest has been 7.7 and highest 13.4.

 

[Northerner]

Thanks for the reply. I started testing on Tuesday so it’s all very new. I was on Metformin and then Metformin SR but can’t tolerate it. I started on 100mg of Januvia on Tuesday too. My H1bac is currently 54.
Since I started testing the lowest has been 7.7 and highest 13.4.

Good to hear you have made a start 🙂 It does take a little while, but be patient and don't worry - nothing drastic is going to happen overnight and what you learn through this process will be of great value to you in the future. As we often say, think of it as more of a marathon than a sprint! 🙂 It's helpful to write a food diary, writing down the amount of carbs in everything you eat and drink each day for a week or two, and including your test results alongside so you can build up a firm idea of what things have a dramatic effect and which ones you can happily continue to enjoy 🙂 Some people choose to approach things from a different angle and cut their carbs to an absolute minimum, then maybe add things in gradually, but it depends on how well this fits in with your own life. My personal view is that it is more sustainable if you discover how you are affected by the things you enjoy and only remove or reduce things if you find it is necessary - that way you can retain maximum flexibility in your diet 🙂 Tastes can change too, so you might find that you don't actually miss the things you have to remove, or you might find much better alternatives that you enjoy more! 🙂 The key thing is always 'moderation', and leave out or minimise the obvious things, such as sugary things, or highly processed foods. Maggie Davey's letter offers a good template 🙂

Your numbers are not dreadful and your HbA1c suggests you may only need to make small adaptations to get things under much better control 🙂 Good luck, let us know how you get on, or if you have any other questions 🙂

 

[Docb]

Its very personal but it is useful to have other peoples experience to give you some idea of where you should be aiming. I aim at about 80/day as a target but have found, as northerner says, that some things are to be avoided for me. Apples, fruit museli and cappuccinos are on the list even though the notional carb content does not put me over the 80 target.

 

[Lilian]

You should also be considering the amount of carbs per meal. Unlike calories, you cannot really save them up. You might be able to tolerate say eg 100 carbs a day, but if you eat one meal a day, that 100 carb hit might be much too much for you in one go. If you ate 4 meals a day then each meal of 25 might be fine. (numbers are not suggestions just for ease of example).

 

[Drummer]

I found that I got better results eating fewer carbs in the morning as I was more insulin resistant then.
At present I am eating only 40 gm of carbs a day as two meals, more to lose weight than control blood glucose, as that has been fine for ages.

 

[SB2015]

I like to think of it as being nice to your pancreas. As others have said testing is going to show you how many carbs your body can cope with at a meal keeping th BG within range. The specific foods will react differently for each of us too, so the food diary along with tests will help you to make appropriate choices for you.

Personally I aim for 30g per meal and find that works for me and keeps the spikes to blips in general. This has been decided on through testing and trial and improvement (and the target gets ignored on occasions!!).