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Food packaging info

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Spook

New Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 1
When looking at food packaging, what should I look for first. The sugar content, the (Fats) saturates, or the carbohydrates.thanks
 
I'm not the best with Type 2 Diabetes, but I know people with type 1 have to carb count so carb content is what I always look at.
 
Hi @Spook , welcome to the forum The only thing I Check is the carbohydrate content. Here in the UK sugar is already included in the carb content , though you will see it mentioned as , of which are sugars directly under the carb content.
 
As a diabetic, fats aren't the issue. Sugar is included the carbohydrate figure. So if you just look at carbs you'll will be checking sugar. Look at the info on the back of the pack, don't just look at the 'traffic lights' on the front.
 
Double check the columns I made a mistake this week and brought a pukka pie thinking it was really good at 19g of carbs only to realise when I got home that’s per 100g and it’s actually 40 odd!
 
bakebeans said:
Double check the columns I made a mistake this week and brought a pukka pie thinking it was really good at 19g of carbs only to realise when I got home that’s per 100g and it’s actually 40 odd!
Click to expand...
8B7250FA-6EF8-4ACB-A163-338D62A919AD.gif
I’ve done that too
 
Thank you, that's a big help I normally look at traffic lights first, so I should look at carbohydrates figure. So something like cheese is ok or not because it's low sugar but high Saturates but carbohydrates are ok?
 
bakebeans said:
Double check the columns I made a mistake this week and brought a pukka pie thinking it was really good at 19g of carbs only to realise when I got home that’s per 100g and it’s actually 40 odd!
Click to expand...
And I have just check my Gullon sugar free cookies and found that they are 12g carb per biscuit so not so good then?
 
@Spook how long have you been diagnosed? I assume your on insulin? As a Type 1 there really shouldn't be any restrictions on what you allow yourself but if your not carb counting and adjusting your insulin to suit the consumed carbohydrates then I wouldn't go overboard, sugar free isn't really recommended as the polyols can have a laxative effect and a little of the real deal really wouldn't do you much harm, I'd talk to your team about carb counting, my team were happy to allow me to self teach a few weeks after I was diagnosed so it may well be the same case for you too and it does make things by far easier xx
 
@Kaylz - Spook is a new boy! been diagnosed about 5 minutes.

Cheese does have fat, yes, it's made of milk so it can't avoid that - but it's classed as protein and not a carbohydrate in sight. Well, last bit's a lie. I see our mature cheddar in the fridge, has 0.1g carb per 100g weight. I doubt very much whether I have ever eaten that much cheese in one go in the last 70 years!

In which case, Spook, the carb content of cheese is classed as 'Negligible' in the true sense of that word!
Meat's the same, so comprises protein and fat, but no carb whatsoever. Eggs are 100% protein, no carbs and no fat either.

Leading question I'm afraid cos we don't know so far - do you actually need to lose any weight?
 
trophywench said:
@Kaylz - Spook is a new boy! been diagnosed about 5 minutes.

Cheese does have fat, yes, it's made of milk so it can't avoid that - but it's classed as protein and not a carbohydrate in sight. Well, last bit's a lie. I see our mature cheddar in the fridge, has 0.1g carb per 100g weight. I doubt very much whether I have ever eaten that much cheese in one go in the last 70 years!

In which case, Spook, the carb content of cheese is classed as 'Negligible' in the true sense of that word!
Meat's the same, so comprises protein and fat, but no carb whatsoever. Eggs are 100% protein, no carbs and no fat either.

Leading question I'm afraid cos we don't know so far - do you actually need to lose any weight?
Click to expand...
No lost over 2 stone in hospital, slowly putting back on, used to be fairly fit and eat healthy. Used to love fruit, jacket potatoes and don't drink, trying new ideas like lasagne with turkey mince, streamed fish and chips.thanks for your info.
 
trophywench said:
@Kaylz - Spook is a new boy! been diagnosed about 5 minutes.

Cheese does have fat, yes, it's made of milk so it can't avoid that - but it's classed as protein and not a carbohydrate in sight. Well, last bit's a lie. I see our mature cheddar in the fridge, has 0.1g carb per 100g weight. I doubt very much whether I have ever eaten that much cheese in one go in the last 70 years!

In which case, Spook, the carb content of cheese is classed as 'Negligible' in the true sense of that word!
Meat's the same, so comprises protein and fat, but no carb whatsoever. Eggs are 100% protein, no carbs and no fat either.

Leading question I'm afraid cos we don't know so far - do you actually need to lose any weight?
Click to expand...

Jenny I have to correct you on that. Eggs are not 100% protein. They contain about 5g fat and 7g protein. Most of the remainder is water with a small percentage of very important micro nutrients.

@Spook

I appreciate that NHS advice is still to eat low fat and avoid saturated fats but there is a growing wave of opinion that fats and Saturated fats in particular have been falsely maligned. Quite a few of us here on the forum who follow a low or very low carb diet, eat a high proportion of fat including saturated fats like cheese and cream and fatty meat and eggs and we are seeing our cholesterol levels reduce and our weight is stable.
I believe that the NHS are behind the curve when it comes to dietary advice, particularly for diabetics, but only you can make your mind up about which advice to follow.... Do some research. I found some really interesting presentations by Dr Peter Attia which spurred my interest in the subject. I am not a rebel by nature so I was very reluctant to go against NHS advice and eat more fat but I really feel that it has been the right choice for me. I follow a very low carb, high fat way of eating which minimizes the amount of bolus insulin I need.
 
As others have said it is mostly just total carbohydrates that you need to look at, usually in tiny print on the back of packaging.
 
Hi @Spook there is lots to learn so quickly.

When looking at labels just focus on the total carbs. Every bit of that is going to become glucose and the figures in the UK will include the sugars (‘of which sugars’). I can now tell you the carbs for quite a few biscuits!! Not the ideal foods but life requires that sometimes they are included in our shopping!!
 
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