Carbs

[Anne the artist]

Hello again. Another question. I'm working on my carb intake. I've not seen a Dietitian yet. I keep asking. So, we've tried to work it out as best we can. The amounts to aim for seems to differ wherever you read. I have 2 slices of wholemeal bread with a little butter for breakfast. We make our own Hummus type dip with different vegetables or beans. I have this with carrot sticks, a tiny piece of cheese and 2 slices of wholemeal toast again. Dinner is a veggie meal with one cup of rice or pasta or 2 tiny potatoes. I have easily 6 or 7 Veggies or fruit a day. We added it up to about 100 carbs. I can't see how I can get it lower without starving. Is this correct....

 

[Kaylz]

many type 2s cant handle bread, rice, pasta or tatties at all so choose not to have them

as for bread there are lower carb breads although I'm not sure what your using

vegetables there are lots of lower carb versions as again you haven't stated what they are

xx

 

[Docb]

Anne, the easy way to get below 100g carbohydrate and not starve is to eat as nature intended and be an omnivore. I get well below 100 g/day without starving or losing weight and it has got my BG under control but I have no idea how I could have done that on a vegetarian diet. I guess it must be possible, it's just I am glad I never set myself the problem of trying to do it. I gave up my own home made hummous - far too carby from all those chickpeas.

 

[Drummer]

You are choosing all the high carb foods - bread, legumes, rice, pasta, potatoes - rather than low carb foods, so your choices are limited, your meals seem tiny.

why not have a decent bit of cheese and a heap of cauliflower - cook the cauliflower, pile it in a dish, cover with cheese, cheese, more cheese - then place in a warm oven until the cheese melts.
Stir fries of mushrooms, courgettes, sweet peppers, aubergines, and any other stuff in the fridge are great any time of day. I eat large salads, a bag of pre made along with beetroot tomato celery sweet red pepper cucumber radishes - dressing of mild vinegar and olive oil and a sprinkle of herbs.
Low carb doesn't seem to work if you are struggling to include high carb foods.

 

[Eddy Edson]

Hello again. Another question. I'm working on my carb intake. I've not seen a Dietitian yet. I keep asking. So, we've tried to work it out as best we can. The amounts to aim for seems to differ wherever you read. I have 2 slices of wholemeal bread with a little butter for breakfast. We make our own Hummus type dip with different vegetables or beans. I have this with carrot sticks, a tiny piece of cheese and 2 slices of wholemeal toast again. Dinner is a veggie meal with one cup of rice or pasta or 2 tiny potatoes. I have easily 6 or 7 Veggies or fruit a day. We added it up to about 100 carbs. I can't see how I can get it lower without starving. Is this correct....

Nuts & seeds? I don't see them mentioned on yr list and they give you a lot of protein and fats bang for the carb buck.

 

[Anne the artist]

Anne, the easy way to get below 100g carbohydrate and not starve is to eat as nature intended and be an omnivore. I get well below 100 g/day without starving or losing weight and it has got my BG under control but I have no idea how I could have done that on a vegetarian diet. I guess it must be possible, it's just I am glad I never set myself the problem of trying to do it. I gave up my own home made hummous - far too carby from all those chickpeas.

We don't make Hummus from Chickpeas

 

[Docb]

We don't make Hummus from Chickpeas

That's interesting, what do you use as a base?

 

[rebrascora]

I had the same problem until a few weeks ago. Even with small portions like one slice of wholemeal bread or wholemeal pasta or a couple of potatoes my BG is spiked for 8-10hrs, so that my next meal spikes on top of that and it just continues a steady upwards trend, even overnight into the next day, so unless I have a couple of meals without those complex carbs, I have no hope of bringing it down.

I now start my day on a 3 egg (I keep chickens) mushroom omelette with salad leaves and avocado. Sometimes I include aubergine or bacon or onion or cheese in the omelette. I thoroughly enjoy it , so I don't feel "deprived" and it is substantial enough to see me through to tea time with just a snack or two like a chunk of cheese or a few raspberries with some greek yoghurt or a handful of nuts or perhaps some veg crudités with a tiny amount of hummus during the day. Then I have a proper meal in the evening with a small carb portion of wholemeal pasta or potatoes (sweet or normal) and plenty of veg, particularly green veg. That said, my brother in law has found a wonderful recipe from his Mary Berry cook book called "Posh Veg" which is like a really chunky ratatouille (peppers aubergines, courgettes, onions and passata baked in the oven with gruyere cheese. I could eat this stuff for every meal and never get sick of it. You can use it as a side dish with meat or fish (my sister loves it with bacon on top) or you can just eat it on it's own hot or cold.

I hope you manage to find something that works for you. If you reduce your carbs to a significant extent, you really need to replace it with healthy fats so that you have some means of producing energy. I was sceptical at first, but I am not seeing weight gain (I'm down to a normal BMI) and I am enjoying my food .... much less tempted to binge or even crave and previously I was a sugar addict.... and feel better mentally and physically and my BGs are much more stable.