Hi my son was recently diagnosed with T1 so really new to this and we are now counting carbs just wanted to ask I know you have to count things like starchy veg but what about the others eg salads carrots green bean etc. Thanks
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Counting carbs Vegetables
- Thread starter Lisa2804
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PeterH55
New Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
Hi, if he is carb counting then this book is very useful, there is also a app for it on mobile phones, I use it all the time.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Carbs-Cals...=gateway&sprefix=carb+counting,aps,148&sr=8-1
salads and carrots have very little carbs in them.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Carbs-Cals...=gateway&sprefix=carb+counting,aps,148&sr=8-1
salads and carrots have very little carbs in them.
trophywench
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
Lisa - it entirely depends on how much the veges affect the person's BG - and everyone is different, I'm the same as Peter, I count spuds and parsnips but don't need to concern myself very much at all with anything else because I don't eat all that much of them. I count a salad as Nil carb - but even half a tomato increases other people's BG.
The minute amount of carb in a green bean is more or less only in the actual bean, which you can see in sliced runner beans, not the green fleshy part which surrounds them. The same applies to all leguminous veges - that is peas and beans (each without their 'pods') so if you're having A Lot of either well yeah, you probably need to count something for them, eg a tin of baked beans. If it's a whole tin then it's easy cos it says how many carbs on the tin - BUT the vast majority of carbs are in the sweetened tomato sauce around the beans so to start off try halving what the tin says. If it's too much or not enough insulin - adjust what you did the next time.
Green leafy veg of most types (including red cabbage LOL) the carb is negligible. 99% water and fibre.
The minute amount of carb in a green bean is more or less only in the actual bean, which you can see in sliced runner beans, not the green fleshy part which surrounds them. The same applies to all leguminous veges - that is peas and beans (each without their 'pods') so if you're having A Lot of either well yeah, you probably need to count something for them, eg a tin of baked beans. If it's a whole tin then it's easy cos it says how many carbs on the tin - BUT the vast majority of carbs are in the sweetened tomato sauce around the beans so to start off try halving what the tin says. If it's too much or not enough insulin - adjust what you did the next time.
Green leafy veg of most types (including red cabbage LOL) the carb is negligible. 99% water and fibre.
trophywench
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
More thought reminds me that things like mushy peas I do have to allow between 5 and 10g carb for (but I only have about 1 tablespoon of anyway as I'm not that fond) and also - anything with chick peas is also carby. Most white English people might think they never eat chick peas BUT if they like Indian food and Onion Bhaji's (or any pakoras) then they do. The flour used for the batter around the veg is gram (or besen) flour - ie finely ground chick peas. Hence converts the slower acting carb content of the steamed British green pea or broad bean (cos of all the fibre in peas and beans which slows the carbs down) into a carb content that is more like an express train, in comparison.
Which of course brings me smoothly on to onions. Boil/stew onion and OK, a few carbs but then you don't tend to eat a vast portion of it. Fry the onion so it changes colour - how can it do that? Caramelisation is how - all the starch in the onion turns to sugar and again hits the bloodstream quicker than boiled or raw onion.
Which of course brings me smoothly on to onions. Boil/stew onion and OK, a few carbs but then you don't tend to eat a vast portion of it. Fry the onion so it changes colour - how can it do that? Caramelisation is how - all the starch in the onion turns to sugar and again hits the bloodstream quicker than boiled or raw onion.
Sally71
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- Relationship to Diabetes
- Parent of person with diabetes
The original book had veggies in, but they are all very low carb (less than 5g per portion) and high fibre so what carb is there is unlikely to affect blood sugar levels, hence most people don't bother counting them. I think there was a note to discuss this with your dietician.
(Not including starchy root veg such as potatoes of course)
(Not including starchy root veg such as potatoes of course)
megga
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
I've been on a veg and fruit diet for the past 2 weeks, avoided potatoes, but everything else is fair gain. apart from the fruit, the veg hasn't affected my B/S at all, so not a drop of insulin for them. But if you do give anything at all, it would have to be an extended bolus.
Definitely - count everything. A carb is a carb, whether it's in starchy veg or not. It all adds up. E.g. Spag bol, has obviously got a lot of carbs in the pasta, but a can of tomatoes contains around 12g, an onion around 10g, a medium carrot will have around 15g, a clove of garlic has 1; so there's another approx 40g of carbs, which is a significant amount.
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