Carbohydrates and Protein

[mum2westiesGill]

I'm sure I saw a thread on here recently which said about eating carbs and protein together but I can't find it now 😡

So if you eat carbs and include some protein what happens BG wise? Same question for if there were only carbs and no protein?

Sometimes I have a (quick) sandwich with just paste on or sometimes I have some type of protein such as sliced meat (chicken/ham etc), cheese, tuna etc.

Thanks in advance for any replies 🙂

 

[Dory]

there's been a couple of these types of posts dotted on here, although those were related to low carb (high protein) diets - where a lot of people (myself included) have found that eating high protein, low carb foods (like eggs and meat) still needs a bolus. This is because the body, attempting to hunt out carbs, will find it from the protein (which is partly converted to glucose at a much lower rate than carbs).

In your case, eating protein (and fats) with carbs will slow down the absorption of those carbs. 'normal' (ie not quick acting) carbs normally take about 1-2hrs to begin breaking down, whereas proteins are much slower (can't recall how much longer, it my be about 5 hours - someone will no doubt confirm). If you combine the two foods together and have say, steak and chips, or in your case a ham sandwich, your body will take longer to break down the carbs as they've been combined with protein (which are very complex molecules).

 

[DeusXM]

Protein slightly slows down the conversion of carbs to blood glucose, although I would say not by a massive amount - particularly as protein will break down to glucose anyway.

What really slows down carb absorption is fat. This is one of the reasons why pizza and ice cream are extremely hard to bolus for - they are very, very high in carbs but also very high in fat, which can lead to a prolonged carb hit. If I eat pizza it just sits in my stomach for 8 hours pumping out glucose.

If you eat carbs on their own, they'll usually hit your blood sugar very quickly. Your body is designed to convert carbs to blood sugar as quickly as possible (the starch in bread turns to sugar before you even finish chewing it).

From a general perspective I would always try to combine carbs with protein or fat - not only does this help mitigate the effect on my blood sugar, but carbs are usually pretty much nutritionally worthless in comparison with meats and cheeses (with the exception of some fruit and veg). Bread, rice, potatoes and pasta are literally just glucose energy and bulk.

 

[avantgardaclue]

You might like to consider home mad baked falafels. They are delicious, super low GI and full of protein. Dead easy to make and cook in half an hour.

Uncooked

Cooked

Eat with salad and smothered with plain yoghurt and harrisa.