carbs per meals, snacks and per day

[Nige13]

im not a fan of sweet so its easy for me.
Just a regular bag of popping corn from the supermarket. usually get it from the world food section because its usually better and in bigger bags 500g to 1kg.

normally 2 tsp of oil but i've been using a bit less recently.

big heavy pan with a lid, heat up the pan when the pan is hot add the oil and a 2 bits of corn. once both have popped eat them. add all the corn swish around in the oil and put it back on the heat, add the lid but keep a small gap for steam to escape. wait 30 seconds and turn the heat down to med. shake every 30 seonds until you stop hearing it pop or its only popping every couple of seconds.

while its hot add flavours.
i currently have a jar on the go with a mix of the below. i use a few pinches of the mix added ot the hot corn.
1 tablespoon of paprika
2 teaspoon of hot chilli powder
1 teaspoon of garlic powder

mix 2 is in a tiny salt shaker. chilli powder and turmeric.
mix 3 isnt a mix its just a few dried mix herbs.
mix 4 isnt a mix its just salt and black pepper.

ive reduced my salt a little bit so im not adding any but if i was to add salt i would add the salt in the pot at the same time as the corn. (you can add the flavour at the same time as well but its going to burn.)

i used to pop around a big fistful of corn but now im popping about 30g at a time, eat half and store the other half in a airtight container for another time.

my lunch right now is 5g carbs so i just tipped the leftover popcorn from a couple of days ago at the side so its probably close to 15g carbs.

id like to try out an air popper but im not sure if that uses less oil, the amount im currently using isnt very much so its probably ok

Wow, all sound amazing and thanks - will give it a try

 

[Proud to be erratic]

Thank you Barbara for that.
I think I need to increase both my carbs and fat intake!
I've been so scared of doing that and having to take more insulin. I'm constantly guessing everything. Soooo confusing

Hello @Mareen,

For you as a Type 1 there is no particular limit on what you eat, but of course you must take enough insulin to go with the carbohydrates you are eating. This really means you need to be carb counting and I gather from a different thread that you haven't done a DAFNE course so probably aren't yet carb counting. Are you even carb estimating, eg from the nutritional info on backs of packets? If not, may I suggest that you start at least looking at how many carbs you're consuming daily?

[NB Type 2 diabetics are at a different starting point, particularly if they are on oral meds, such as Metformin. They, usually, produce enough insulin but their bodies resist this; so their viewpoint is often to have low carb meals and thus allow what insulin is working to do its thing effectively. So this thread was started by a T2 and you might become misled by seeing carb nos that T2s are trying to stay below!]

Are you on fixed insulin doses? If so did the person defining those doses tell you what they assess (guess really) how many carbs each fixed dose might be covering for each meal? If not, go back to that person and seek guidance. Otherwise you are taking insulin with a thick blindfold on and blindly trusting that any one meal is being covered by your insulin dose - regardless of the many other factors that can come into play; eg the recent hot weather.

In his book "Think Like a Pancreas" (which I have found very helpful) the author Gary Scheiner describes Diabetes as complicated, confusing and contradictory. I can only agree with that appraisal - BUT it doesn't have to be like that always. His book also provides a lot of information about carbohydrates and carb counting, leading to insulin dosing. His book was my start point for carb counting and dosing and, once I got Libre 2, I could get a much better insight into what was (and was not) working for me.

One piece detail in his book was to try and consume at least 30 gms of carbohydrates with every meal for which you take a bolus dose. This excludes snacks which don't specifically need insulin.

Our bodies need glucose, the brain in particular demands only glucose. That glucose normally comes from the carbohydrates that we've eaten and which, during digestion and metabolism, get converted into glucose. If we don't eat sufficient carbohydrates, ie less than 30 gms, then in order to meet the demand for glucose our bodies will convert proteins and fats into glucose. There are reasons why we might not eat sufficient carbs, perhaps because our daily routines are very irregular or just by choice, eg for health reasons.

Importantly, in general, if each main meal for which we take a bolus is greater than 30 gms of carbs then that will usually be sufficient so that our bodies don't need to convert proteins and fats into glucose.

The relevance of this is that 3 x 30 gm carb meals is still pretty low to meet many peoples desires to not eat too many carbs; in practice people usually eat a lot more carbs across the day. But, significantly, one can determine reasonably accurately the insulin to carbs ratios that works for each of us, albeit the ratios might be different for breakfast lunch and dinner. Hence arriving at the size of the bolus dose is "doable". Whereas the ratios for converting proteins and fats are different, usually lower (eg insulin to carbs might be 1unit insulin for every 10 gms of carbs); but not only very different ratios for proteins, varying for each meal but also varying with the type of protein; fat conversion is even less efficient. So if one can have 30gm minimum carbs per meal then bolus calculations are not only a lot more straightforward, but also this removes one of the many complication factors in managing D. I hope that hasn't added to the confusion, bottom line: try and ensure at least 30 gms of carbs in any one meal thus remove one 'variable' of proteins or fats being converted into glucose at some unfathomable conversion rate.

 

[Mareen]

Thanks for that 🙂
I have just ordered the book you suggested - Think Like A Pancreas.
I have been told to have 1 unit of insulin for every 10 gm of carbs. That's the extent of the advice I have been given. Doesn't always work and sometimes I find my sugar levels rocket as I haven't had enough insulin

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Mostly…

Breakfast Mon-Fri 25g
Breakfast Sat-Sun 45-55g

Lunch 35-50g

Evening meal mostly 60-70g (but occasionally anything up to 120g!)

 

[Proud to be erratic]

Breakfast 80-84 gm; very repeatable every day.
Lunch (if I have lunch) 30-60 gm; whatever is around.
Dinner 50-80 gm.

 

[SB2015]

My days vary, but we aim for about 30g of carbs per meal, but that doesn’t stop me eating biscuits at other times. It is only a target and gives us a guide to how much rice, pasta to use when cooking a meal at home. (If there is a mini magnum in the freezer that is likely to add on another 14g!!)

When eating out the carbs are usually higher, because although I could go for a salad, I want to try things that I don’t have at home, and sometimes they are a bit of an unknown, or just more carbs than I would normally eat.

 

[Nige13]

Hi Nice, I try to keep it pretty low. To give you some idea of a typical day for me:

Breakfast: Greek Yoghurt or Alpro no added sugar yoghurt and coffee with no added sugar soya milk (I've always liked Soya milk, even before I was type 2!).

Lunch: generally some salad and protein such as chicken, prawns or cheese. I don't usually have anything else with it but ocasionally I might have a crisp bread or Hovis wheat cracker if I feel a bit empty.

Dinner: generally fish/something like a pork chop with whatever vegetables I have. I always have three different ones, e.g. broccoli, carrots, tomatoes. Kale is nice too. I noted advice about root vegetables but doesn't do anything to me that I've noticed. Never been a big fan of potatoes but if I'm cooking for someone else I might have a very small portion of potato like two or three wedges (generally how I cook them for others). I never eat pasta (not a fan). I don't really eat rice if I'm honest. Probably once a year with a takeaway and then it's a table spoon of it.

Dessert is usually some greek yoghurt and strawberries /raspberries or I have them with cream. A treat would be a chocolate eclair.

Genuinely it is very rare for me to snack between meals. If I really did want something, I might have piece of fruit, piece of cheese or some olives. If I've been busy and my numbers are below 5 I will sometimes have a piece of brown toast. Ocasionally I'll switch that for breakfast or lunch if I'm running a bit low. We're all a bit different but I know that I'm low 5s I will start dipping quite quickly and I feel symptoms of a hypo below 4. My GP told me not to drive under 5 .

To put things into context, I've been hovering around the early levels of pre-diabetes since actual diagnosis. I've lost about 2 stone in weight overall and kept it off. I too like crisps but I don't try to incorporate them or an alternative into my diet because I think I'd find them too moreish. I don't buy them as a regular item for me at all, but once in a while I might have the odd packet of Walkers Ch/Onion but I literally only buy one packet and then it's done.

I do keep nuts in the house so if I wanted a nibble on something, I'd have them rather than crisps

Not sure there is anything particularly novel in my approach above, but it's good for us all to share our approaches as someone might pick up a suggestion here and there.

All the best.

Thank yo for your reply 🙂 Makes me think I am going in the right direction.

 

[Pomster]

I usually have 20g of oats in the morning with two big spoonfuls of peanut butter and a cup of blueberries
Lunch is usually 3 poached egg with half a avocado on sour bread toast
Evening meal varies
I must admit i dont carb count as such but i do check my bs 2hrs after every meal, if the bs is high then i tend to go for a walk to get it down

 

[helli]

This excludes snacks which don't specifically need insulin.

I wish!
The advice I was given was I could eat 10g carbs between meals without a bolus. That is only one biscuit and less than a packet of crisps.
With a pump all carbs need a bolus. This is because, unless injecting, there is no "spare" basal as pump basal patterns match the ups and downs during the day whereas MDI it is wrongly assumed basal needs are the same 24x7x365.

 

[helli]

Thanks for that 🙂
I have just ordered the book you suggested - Think Like A Pancreas.
I have been told to have 1 unit of insulin for every 10 gm of carbs. That's the extent of the advice I have been given. Doesn't always work and sometimes I find my sugar levels rocket as I haven't had enough insulin

It may be a good idea to record when it doesn't work and see if you can spot a pattern such as breakfast is more likely to cause a spike or the next 24 hours after exercise or pasta needs more or you forgot to count carbs in a sauce or (too common for me) forget to count the jam when I have jam on toast, or you spike when you have a difficult meeting or ...
There are many things that affect our levels. Not just food.

 

[Jenny65]

Breakfast 17.1 g (low carb toast from carbzone) peanut butter, strawberries, coffee, benecol
Lunch 8.7 g (chicken breast slices, 2 tomatoes and some peppers
Dinner 16 g - re nourish tomato, passion flower and basil soup
snacks 5.5 g - cashew nuts
11.8g - apple

Total 61.2g (not typical day as would normally eat about 20 - 30 g at dinner, but had stomach ache so only had soup

 

[Proud to be erratic]

@helli,
I can't disagree with all that you say here.

I wish!
The advice I was given was I could eat 10g carbs between meals without a bolus. That is only one biscuit and less than a packet of crisps.

Many snacks might requite a bolus, even for people on MDI.
That said I regularly take a snack, such as a biscuit and latte, or even a small bag of crisps, to nudge my BG up - without a bolus; I get a real benefit of having my Libre low alarm set near the upper limit of 5.6 - hear or feel the alarm, check the trend and respond accordingly if appropriate. Its my form of sugar surfing, I think.
If I could just get the tech and my phone improved so that my Libre is then a real-time CGM, again.

With a pump all carbs need a bolus. This is because, unless injecting, there is no "spare" basal as pump basal patterns match the ups and downs during the day whereas MDI it is wrongly assumed basal needs are the same 24x7x365.

Since my basal is Tresiba it is not a matter of assuming that basal needs are the same 24x7x365 - it's a real consequence of what any basal actually provides; only with a pump can you fine-tune and match the insulin to your needs.

But I get your underlying point - as Newbies to MDI we're told that the basal looks after daily insulin needs (and get that right first); perhaps, understandably not wanting to overcomplicate things, with little awareness that the basal is very much a compromise fix for what is a very irregular need across the 24 hrs. Indeed, we frequently read in this forum about newer members who are using shorter acting basals once daily, on medical advice, unaware that it might be better having the dose split into 2x daily.

But all of this is really well away from the original purpose of this thread, which I think was for the interests of T2s. I started this digression with my reply to @Mareen, slightly concerned that as a T1 there could have been a misunderstanding since T1 and insulin dependents remit for carb control is different. Then I further expanded the digression! I'm now stepping out of this thread, apologies to @Nige13.

 

[Gwynn]

I try to keep to below 130g carbs a day and 30g max in any meal, but it does vary. Sometimes I can go to 80g carbs a day and some meals just 10g.

I replace the lost calories by increasing my unsaturated fat intake and protein.

 

[Jenny65]

I have eaten 2 meals a day for the last few days see the first 3 days on my chart below) but yesterday had 3 meals and today my BG is 6.4 when previous ones this week were in the 5s and one 4.9,The only difference is the carbs consumed because having 3 meals were half a plate is veg does increase it (on my food app over half the bar is dark green on the sugar line (this means half my sugar intake is from vegetables) - my charts are in the post below but it shows the increase in my BG on the 19th at bedtime and again its higher this morning, the only difference is the 3rd meal. I think it could be the larger fasting window too.

I am trying to have under 100g carbs and 1200 cals a day but once my nutri check app tells me I am close to the carb max I panic and refrain from eating (normally go through my fridge to see what I have that has low enough carbs to eat for a third meal but days like yesterday I was so hungry I went over the 100g carb slightly and had a 3rd meal anyway

 

[Ali11782]

Hello @Mareen,

For you as a Type 1 there is no particular limit on what you eat, but of course you must take enough insulin to go with the carbohydrates you are eating. This really means you need to be carb counting and I gather from a different thread that you haven't done a DAFNE course so probably aren't yet carb counting. Are you even carb estimating, eg from the nutritional info on backs of packets? If not, may I suggest that you start at least looking at how many carbs you're consuming daily?

[NB Type 2 diabetics are at a different starting point, particularly if they are on oral meds, such as Metformin. They, usually, produce enough insulin but their bodies resist this; so their viewpoint is often to have low carb meals and thus allow what insulin is working to do its thing effectively. So this thread was started by a T2 and you might become misled by seeing carb nos that T2s are trying to stay below!]

Are you on fixed insulin doses? If so did the person defining those doses tell you what they assess (guess really) how many carbs each fixed dose might be covering for each meal? If not, go back to that person and seek guidance. Otherwise you are taking insulin with a thick blindfold on and blindly trusting that any one meal is being covered by your insulin dose - regardless of the many other factors that can come into play; eg the recent hot weather.

In his book "Think Like a Pancreas" (which I have found very helpful) the author Gary Scheiner describes Diabetes as complicated, confusing and contradictory. I can only agree with that appraisal - BUT it doesn't have to be like that always. His book also provides a lot of information about carbohydrates and carb counting, leading to insulin dosing. His book was my start point for carb counting and dosing and, once I got Libre 2, I could get a much better insight into what was (and was not) working for me.

One piece detail in his book was to try and consume at least 30 gms of carbohydrates with every meal for which you take a bolus dose. This excludes snacks which don't specifically need insulin.

Our bodies need glucose, the brain in particular demands only glucose. That glucose normally comes from the carbohydrates that we've eaten and which, during digestion and metabolism, get converted into glucose. If we don't eat sufficient carbohydrates, ie less than 30 gms, then in order to meet the demand for glucose our bodies will convert proteins and fats into glucose. There are reasons why we might not eat sufficient carbs, perhaps because our daily routines are very irregular or just by choice, eg for health reasons.

Importantly, in general, if each main meal for which we take a bolus is greater than 30 gms of carbs then that will usually be sufficient so that our bodies don't need to convert proteins and fats into glucose.

The relevance of this is that 3 x 30 gm carb meals is still pretty low to meet many peoples desires to not eat too many carbs; in practice people usually eat a lot more carbs across the day. But, significantly, one can determine reasonably accurately the insulin to carbs ratios that works for each of us, albeit the ratios might be different for breakfast lunch and dinner. Hence arriving at the size of the bolus dose is "doable". Whereas the ratios for converting proteins and fats are different, usually lower (eg insulin to carbs might be 1unit insulin for every 10 gms of carbs); but not only very different ratios for proteins, varying for each meal but also varying with the type of protein; fat conversion is even less efficient. So if one can have 30gm minimum carbs per meal then bolus calculations are not only a lot more straightforward, but also this removes one of the many complication factors in managing D. I hope that hasn't added to the confusion, bottom line: try and ensure at least 30 gms of carbs in any one meal thus remove one 'variable' of proteins or fats being converted into glucose at some unfathomable conversion rate.

This was good to read. My aim is like 40g carbs and def no more than 60g at meal. If you can ever give me advice I'll always be grateful. Knowledge is what helps me but sometimes I have to go over and over it to get it to stick in my head.

 

[Jenny65]

19th August I had 3 meals the other days just 2 and it does seem to affect my BG in particular my waking one.