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Carbs per meal

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J

JoyHarterink

New Member
Relationship to Diabetes
At risk of diabetes
When my husband was diagnosed with Type II he was told to limit the grammes of carb per meal to 60.
Does anyone know what my target should be? I am prediabetic and female.
 
It will vary with different people as to what they can tolerate and what dietary regime they may be following. The suggested amount for somebody diagnosed and who want to follow a low carb diet would be less than 130g per day but it can depend also on what medications people are on.
As prediabetic then you still will have an amount of carbs you can tolerate without blood glucose being raised too much from your meal.
Some people are more sensitive to carbs in the morning so would have a lower carb breakfast and the other carbs spread between the other two meals and snacks and drinks.
130g per day is not a bad place to aim at but working out by making a food diary of everything you eat and drink and see how many carbs that is and reduce gradually by a third for a couple of weeks and then another third if you need to.
 
Welcome to the forum @JoyHarterink

Unfortunately there isn’t one simple recommendation that would suit everyone. :(

Total carbohydrate content is certainly the aspect of a meal which is most likely to impact blood glucose levels, but within that are all sorts of variations and imponderables - because people can have quite different reactions to different sources of carbs.

When told they are at risk of diabetes, some people on the forum have found it helpful to simply cut right back on sweet and sugary things (including fruit juice and some fruits), and to generally aim to reduce portion size of carbohydrates in their meals.

For more precision, others choose to self fund a BG meter so that they can check immediately before eating, and again 2hrs after the first bite to aim for a rise of 2-3mmol/L or less. By keeping the ‘meal rises’ down to a moderate level (even if readings are a little on the high side to begin with) the overall BG levels can gradually come down over time. Plus of course this approach can free you up to eat the sources of carb your metabolism copes well with, and shows you where others (even some thought of as healthy or slow release) don’t suit you so well.

If you like the sound of this approach, it helps to choose a meter which gives reliable results for reasonable cost. The most affordable meters members here have found are the SD Gluco Navii or the Spirit Tee2 - which both have test strips at around £8 for 50 (some other brands would be £25 or more for 50 strips!).

Good luck and let us know how you get on 🙂
 
If your husband is also Type 2 then you may already have a monitor but if not it would be a good investment for improving blood glucose management for both of you.
I would have thought that a dietary approach which is being watchful about your carb intake would be beneficial for you both, of course it depends on what medication your husband is on as well.
 
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