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Carbs....

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Docb

Docb

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Relationship to Diabetes
Type 2
Beginning to think about carbs more as a result of things I have read on this forum. My normal died has never been overloaded with carbs, I never have been particularly fond of sweet things for example, but I have eaten probably the same amount of pasta, potatoes and bread as anybody else. Made a couple of near zero carb main meals in the last week and one hour after each of them I had the lowest BG readings since I started testing; 8's instead of mid teens. I find this interesting and I am going to work on carb reduction.

My question is what sort of carb intake do you type 2 carb counters aim for? Do you look at total carbs per day or carbs per meal?

I know things are different for type 1's and for type 2's there are no magic numbers guaranteed to suit every body but any input would help me get a feel for where to head.
 
I'm a bit lazy about carb counting, but I was provided with a meter a bit over three years ago when first diagnosed so by testing before and after meals I soon learned what foods elevated my BG and thus what foods to avoid. I now seldom test, apart from fasting BG a couple of times a week as I know pretty well what's what.
The book - Reverse your Diabetes by Dr David Unwin gives some very good advice about carbs and diet. And if you haven't already discovered it the book Carbs and Cals (and the app of the same name) is quite a handy guide to carb contents and portion sizes.
 
Hi again 🙂 I know you've directed this more towards type 2 but counting carbs is another factor that got me in the mess I am, I now eat about 100g carbs a day but they still want me eating more so my advice is don't get TOO hung up on counting, just find what works and will work long term for you 🙂 xxxx
 
I count myself as very lucky.
By eating about 50 gm of carbs a day I got my numbers back into the normal range with Hba1c just on the top edge of normal.
I am now trying to lose more weight and so reduced down to 40 gm per day maximum, with two meals a day, most of the carbs in the evening as that is when I am least insulin resistant.
The foods I eat are low carb, I don't try to have limited amounts of high carb foods.
 
See where you are coming from Kaylz, but as you know T1 issues and T2 issues are different.

Drummer, I don't need to loose weight, well a couple of kilos maybe to get a BMI comfortably in the OK zone, so my interest in carbs is solely related to BG control. Maybe the trouble with me is that I always have a techincal head on and am always looking for things you can measure to determine cause and effect. That way I can write numbers down and not have to rely on memory. Also don't want to do anything drastic so my idea was to vary carb intake for a few days to see what happens to BG. Thats why asked the questions, to give me some idea what carb content I should be looking for. At this stage I am happy to be guided by other peoples approach rather than delve into the books. Sorry if it sounds like I am over thinking this but it's my way of trying to figure out how to manage anything. Been working that way too long to change!
 
My weightloss was purely by accident, I got my BG levels down to 8mmol/l and stuck to eating the same foods, on 50 gm of carbs a day.
I'm afraid that a few days will not give any meaningful results - it took almost 3 months to get down to numbers considered non diabetic and another three to get to normal.
 
Interesting drummer, my nightime BG, just taken, is 8.2 .. its normally 12 -16 .. and today I have eaten well with a restricted carb intake of around 60g. Dunno what my normal diet might be but it would be a lot higher than that. Food for thought (sorry).
 
Yes - its all about the carbs
I was diagnosed in November 2016.
In December 2017 my BG after each of the two Christmas dinners I ate was 5.6.
 
Thanks for that TW. It's a route to getting to grips with carbs and you as an individual. I have been testing for a couple of weeks now and still trying to establish some base lines with carb intake effects being confounded by medication changes. My technical head tells me to look for broad effects in the first instance - vary the carbs have I eaten in a day and see how that relates to BG levels for that day - without being too specific about the source of the carbs. Looking at spikes from specific foods would follow on from that and would be easier to correlate once you have a baseline. Again apologies for the nerdiness, everybody has their own way of coping with challenge and I'm stuck with this one!
 
So are you actually on any 'BG lowering' medications, or do you mean eg you've had to start taking steroids for some other condition which has shot your BG up?

I mean if you've only just gone onto Metformin, since it doesn't work directly on BG but instead helps your body actually use your own insulin more efficiently, it takes a few weeks (2 to 3 ish) to show whatever effect it has, same with dose increases.

The method Alan describes in 'Test, Review, Adjust' isn't 'nerdy' - it's simply 'sensible' whatever type of D we happen to have!
 
I'm not on steroids but have taken 500mg metformin daily for several years. Attempts to increase it have bought on unpleasant side effects. Now trying gliclazide, currently 80mg, but the benefit, if any, is very small. Early days but carb intake seems to be by far the dominant factor in determining BG level. I know its blindingly obvious to you guys that this would be the case but it was a bit of a revelation to me and I suspect to many who's diabetes has got to a stage where managing BG requires more than taking basic medication.

I am sure I will finish up doing the sort of thing suggested by Alan, but I still think that I have to get a better base line as to what is going on first. I'll get there!
 
It is actually potty - when I was diagnosed the world and his dog knew it was all about carbs whatever type you happened to be. I couldn't believe it when having moved house and area 28 years later, the diabetes nurse at the 'new' hospital clinic was threatening me with having to answer to her if she ever found out I was carb counting in future. I didn't actually guffaw in her face because it was the day the clinic changed me over to a proper basal/bolus system so I needed her to still be on side until she handed over the new pens!

I did however ignore her.

Suddenly they've recently made this amazing discovery that it's all about carbs...…….

Me mother always used to tell me if you kept a thing long enough it came back into fashion! LOL

Leeches are pretty good at helping the nerves heal when you've amputated tops of fingers and they've re-attached them, and maggots can be helpful too...…..
 
My guess is that in most ordinary peoples diet carbs provide most of their calories and drastic carb reduction is not a good idea unliess the rest of the diet is balanced to cope. As such, the diabetes professionals are a bit wary of recommending carb reduction in case the patient really goes off piste and does themselves harm. Better to say nothing than say something that might do harm even if it is only to small number of the patients that are seen. Thay way you cannot get sued. It's a sad world where the judgement of the professional and the competence of the patient to understand are reduced to the lowest common denominator.
 
Unfortunately many HCPs are perfectly happy to deride testing for type twos as it will only make us upset and anxious, they push complex carbs such as baked beans and potatoes as acceptable foods and declare that low carb is not a way anyone can eat safely.
For most people drastic carb reduction is not only a good idea, it could save the NHS all the cost of cutting bits off in due course.
 
Docb said:
My guess is that in most ordinary peoples diet carbs provide most of their calories and drastic carb reduction is not a good idea unliess the rest of the diet is balanced to cope. As such, the diabetes professionals are a bit wary of recommending carb reduction in case the patient really goes off piste and does themselves harm. Better to say nothing than say something that might do harm even if it is only to small number of the patients that are seen. Thay way you cannot get sued. It's a sad world where the judgement of the professional and the competence of the patient to understand are reduced to the lowest common denominator.
Click to expand...

That's why it's important for patients to find out for themselves what they'd like to have a go at or not like to do - and let's face it there are still a lot of people who believe the responsibility for their own health isn't their job. Podiatrists still see people who don't wash their feet or even change their socks. (I'm not that keen on feet generally I have to say so that little snippet absolutely disgusts me - gimme a shitty nappy any day rather than a filthy foot, whereas I'll happily cut the toenails on a clean one if someone can't reach)

Education, education and education. I'm just nosey about anything I don't understand that affects or might affect ME - hence I try and find out. I don't understand why some other people, apparently, aren't!
 
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