Hello! Carbs question please

Status
Not open for further replies.
silentsquirrel said:
I tsp sugar = 5g carb

Using Waitrose values, carb per 100g, salad toms 3.0g, cherry toms 3.6g.

So your extra tsp of sugar would be true - if your portion is over 800g.
Click to expand...
The labels on cherry tomatoes are wrong according to my reaction to them as shown on my meter several times - as I always got a spike after eating them, and did not after eating salad tomatoes I drew my own conclusion.
 
Drummer said:
The labels on cherry tomatoes are wrong according to my reaction to them as shown on my meter several times - as I always got a spike after eating them, and did not after eating salad tomatoes I drew my own conclusion.
Click to expand...
Wrong for you. I do not dispute that. Not wrong for me. No reason for anyone else to assume they are wrong unless they test and find evidence for that for themselves.
 
I can see both sides of the argument here.
Some cherry tomatoes are very sweet and some are less so. As far as I am aware, the carb content on packaging or supermarket websites is more of a best guess with most fresh produce because it can vary between varieties and how ripe they are etc. Generally, if they are sweet cherry tomatoes I just have 3 or 4, if they are not so sweet I will have 6 or 7. Size plays a part too of course. Ultimately the carbs in them are sugars not starches and we are all reasonably good at detecting the sugar content by how sweet they are. Personally, I like a good balance of sweet and tart in my tomatoes/apples/raspberries and I would rather have a smaller portion of nice flavoured ones than some of the horribly bland watery salad tomatoes on offer in most supermarkets. Home grown are of course best.
I think it is important not to take supermarket info on carbs completely at face value, but to judge for yourself via taste and with your meter as to what your body can tolerate but it is certainly better spending your carb allowance on a few nice flavoured ones that you will enjoy as bland ones that provide a bit of colour and fibre but not much else.... in my opinion.
 
I am for around 50g of carbs at the moment and it works for me.. I am going to drop it a bit lower over the next couple of weeks as I've my weight hasn't shifted for the past 2 weeks.. I really is trial and error (in my humble opinion).. I know if I were to eat 130g recommended on the diabetes course, I would be ill.
 
Lilsis said:
I am for around 50g of carbs at the moment and it works for me.. I am going to drop it a bit lower over the next couple of weeks as I've my weight hasn't shifted for the past 2 weeks.. I really is trial and error (in my humble opinion).. I know if I were to eat 130g recommended on the diabetes course, I would be ill.
Click to expand...
People do settle on the amount of carbs they can tolerate by testing the effect of their meals and certainly I look upon it as per meal as well as a total in the day. I, for example would not have 50g in one meal and then only 10g in each of 2 meals to make up my 70g per day.
Some people find 130g is what they can manage and will be sustainable for them and that is better than trying to do less and finding it too difficult so they give up.
 
I am on week 3 of pre-DB, I’ve totally changed by eating habits, I was dreadful at snacking on all the wrong things, I’m surprised at myself how I have been able to adapt and still enjoy treats albeit much better choices.I’ve lost 4lb , I follow My Fitness Pal,it tracks my calories and tells me the amount of carbs fats in everything I eat,Might not suit everyone but for me it’s a good way for me to track,, it is free.
 
Thank you about the tomatoes. I've always gone for cherry ones mainly on price (and yes, taste - as in the cheapest toms, the 'standard' large ones are always completely tasteless - but then probably also have least sugar because of it?!).

It's helpful to know about the American carb labelling, and that the fibre (cellulose carb?) is allowed for under the British labelling system.

Quick question - if one has a totally carb-free meal, will it affect BG levels?

I ate a lunch salad of lettuce, cucumber, hard boiled egg and ham (all no carb??). And six cherry toms. Dressing was mayo and vinaigrette (oops, maybe sugar in the balsamic vinegar?). And some slices of yellow pepper.

That's about as keto as I go (!). But if one ate a totally keto meal, would it have any BG implications??
 
Callista said:
Thank you about the tomatoes. I've always gone for cherry ones mainly on price (and yes, taste - as in the cheapest toms, the 'standard' large ones are always completely tasteless - but then probably also have least sugar because of it?!).

It's helpful to know about the American carb labelling, and that the fibre (cellulose carb?) is allowed for under the British labelling system.

Quick question - if one has a totally carb-free meal, will it affect BG levels?

I ate a lunch salad of lettuce, cucumber, hard boiled egg and ham (all no carb??). And six cherry toms. Dressing was mayo and vinaigrette (oops, maybe sugar in the balsamic vinegar?). And some slices of yellow pepper.

That's about as keto as I go (!). But if one ate a totally keto meal, would it have any BG implications??
Click to expand...
I work in Waitrose and we use British labelling.. It's very strictly controlled. If the product came from America of a country that uses that form of labeling but it would be stated. It normally says something like Carbs and then Net Carbs.
 
Callista said:
Thank you about the tomatoes. I've always gone for cherry ones mainly on price (and yes, taste - as in the cheapest toms, the 'standard' large ones are always completely tasteless - but then probably also have least sugar because of it?!).

It's helpful to know about the American carb labelling, and that the fibre (cellulose carb?) is allowed for under the British labelling system.

Quick question - if one has a totally carb-free meal, will it affect BG levels?

I ate a lunch salad of lettuce, cucumber, hard boiled egg and ham (all no carb??). And six cherry toms. Dressing was mayo and vinaigrette (oops, maybe sugar in the balsamic vinegar?). And some slices of yellow pepper.

That's about as keto as I go (!). But if one ate a totally keto meal, would it have any BG implications??
Click to expand...
It may well but you would only know by testing, but I would suspect it may be so little as to be unmeasurable, even lettuce and cucumber have a few carbs.
 
Ah, Waitrose, my local. My expensive local! It's why I have to buy their cheapo cherry toms, not the fancy vine ripened/miniplum etc etc, sigh. But the cheapo cherry toms are very good, and in these expensive times, pretty good value. 🙂
 
Callista said:
When would be the optimum time to test after eating?
Click to expand...
2 hours after the first bite is pretty standard for testing the effect of food on blood glucose. Paired results of just before and 2 hours after are needed to give useful data.
The aim is an increase of no more than 2-3mmol/l or no more than 8-8.5mmol/l after the 2 hours.
 
florence4 said:
Hi. Newly diagnosed with Type 2 last week. Trying to get my head round adapting my diet/eating habits as I cook from scratch most days. Can someone please confirm the carb level you need to average at daily? I think it's around 150g shared out as best you can between 3 meals but am reading many different things! Many thanks
Click to expand...

Hi There,

Your best option is to follow a low carb diet regime or simply reducing the current amount of carbs you eat. People have successfully followed low carb diets to lose weight and manage their diabetes including lowering their HbA1c, cholesterol and blood pressure levels as well as reducing the amount of diabetes medications they take.

I would suggest ordering a few of our eating well magazines here: https://shop.diabetes.org.uk/collections/eating-well-with-diabetes


Hope this helps !
 
Callista said:
Quick question - if one has a totally carb-free meal, will it affect BG levels?
Click to expand...
Hi @ Callista, your question about eating a totally carb-free meal is a great question, with a "perhaps" answer!

In order to stay alive we must eat! Yes it's possible to fast and remain alive for more than 24 hrs, but our bodies need nutrition and our brain in particular demands glucose, which it would normally get from everyday carbs being converted into glucose. So when we fast completely our bodies initially use up reserves, such as fat; and although our muscles don't willingly give up their glucose stores, muscle wastage will occur eventually.

If we don't eat any carbs whatsoever (difficult in practice to have a diet that has truly zero carbs) then our bodies will convert proteins and fats into glucose, to keep the brain happy! The conversion rates for proteins and fats are more irregular than carb conversion, so I (being insulin dependent and need to take the right amounts of insulin for the glucose I'm going to create) I prefer to work with carbs, rather than just fats and proteins. In practice, apparently, one only needs c. 30 gms of carbs per main meal and those are sufficient to stop the body hunting fats or proteins for conversion. At 3 meals per day a 90ish gm carb daily intake would work and that would be considered firmly in the low carb daily category. If after my 3 daily meals I'm still feeling hungry but can't be bothered to take more insulin, I will snack on very low carb foods and generally see little change in my BG.

So: any food will ultimately get converted into glucose and there will always be a consequent effect on BG levels. But whether that effect will be significant will depend on how big the meal was as well as what glucose reserves were available at that time. Also whether my activity level is gently using up glucose being created is an important consideration. I sometimes spend a full and busy day outdoors and can get by with regular snacks with no extra insulin.

But I have a Libre sensor and that, in conjunction with an extra app, gives me a continuous display on my phone of my blood glucose. As I eat I can see a few mins later changes in my BG levels. If I have a zero carb meal, say a ham and cheese omelette, I don't take any insulin and I see very little BG change - initially. But sometimes I see a mild increase in BG a couple of hours later. However, I don't know if that increase is solely because of the omelette or from a myriad of other factors that can also affect my BG!

Hence - perhaps.
Callista said:
That's about as keto as I go (!). But if one ate a totally keto meal, would it have any BG implications??
Click to expand...
Hopefully I've answered this above.
 
Proud to be erratic said:
So: any food will ultimately get converted into glucose and there will always be a consequent effect on BG levels. But whether that effect will be significant will depend on how big the meal was as well as what glucose reserves were available at that time. Also whether my activity level is gently using up glucose being created is an important consideration. I sometimes spend a full and busy day outdoors and can get by with regular snacks with no extra insulin.
Click to expand...
It is however important to take into consideration that @Calista is only at risk of diabetes so should have plenty of insulin production still and therefore her body may well be able to manage to match the slow release of glucose from protein and fats better that a fast spike from carbs.... In reality protein and fats become like very, very low GI carbs, so they may in fact not affect their BG levels because the body is able to balance that slow glucose release more easily.

It is believed that approx. 40% of protein and about 10% of fat breaks down into glucose in the absence of enough carbs and in my experience the release starts to happen about 2 hours after a meal and will continue for many hours. For me this is the benefit of these food groups because they provide slow release energy over a much longer period than carbs meaning that I don't feel hungry in between meals like I did with more carb rich meals. It can be more challenging for those of us who are insulin dependent to inject for it and I am so thankful for Libre allowing me to see when and how much I need to inject so that I don't have to try to calculate it, but with a pancreas which is producing insulin but is perhaps a bit sluggish to respond to carb release, then low carb, protein and fat rich meals can enable the body to balance things more easily and if you need to lose weight, they can stop the hunger pangs/cravings and make it easier to lose weight for people who have struggled on conventional low fat diets.
 
rebrascora said:
It is however important to take into consideration that @Calista is only at risk of diabetes so should have plenty of insulin production still and therefore her body may well be able to manage to match the slow release of glucose from protein and fats better that a fast spike from carbs.... In reality protein and fats become like very, very low GI carbs, so they may in fact not affect their BG levels because the body is able to balance that slow glucose release more easily.

It is believed that approx. 40% of protein and about 10% of fat breaks down into glucose in the absence of enough carbs and in my experience the release starts to happen about 2 hours after a meal and will continue for many hours. For me this is the benefit of these food groups because they provide slow release energy over a much longer period than carbs meaning that I don't feel hungry in between meals like I did with more carb rich meals. It can be more challenging for those of us who are insulin dependent to inject for it and I am so thankful for Libre allowing me to see when and how much I need to inject so that I don't have to try to calculate it, but with a pancreas which is producing insulin but is perhaps a bit sluggish to respond to carb release, then low carb, protein and fat rich meals can enable the body to balance things more easily and if you need to lose weight, they can stop the hunger pangs/cravings and make it easier to lose weight for people who have struggled on conventional low fat diets.
Click to expand...
Understood and happy with what you say - just answering the question posed and providing some explanation about metabolism.
 
I do wonder if the reason pizza is so tricky to dose with insulin and tends to need more insulin than expected is because the carbs don't release quickly, so the body assumes it needs to break down the protein and fat for glucose and then you get the protein and fat glucose release as well as the delayed carbs making it release more than expected over a much longer period.
 
Thank you for all the explanations - very helpful! I definitely pick up from my own experience that eating a meal that has a lot of protein (fish, chicken etc), with a lot of veg (broccoli usually) (and a few cherry toms, OK), can be sating, and I don't feel hungry afterwards.

I adopted this diet (Dukan!)(goes back a bit)(successor to Atkins I think, which goes even further back!)(all 'keto-ish'), and was scared I'd feel hungry without starch-carbs (potatoes etc), and was pleasantly surprised when I wasn't. Starch carbs (especially pasta!) became my 'treat' (but I always had a small creamy/sweet pud, sometimes with starch in it).

Like many I suspect, I went to the bad with Covid lock down - the gym closed, and without that to motivate me, I lapsed on the starch, both main course and pud (and tea time).

I suspect that I was not alone, and the NHS is now seeing very probably a 'wave' of pre-T2s and T2s emerging in my late middle aged age group.

Plus, of course, that all GP appointments all but vanished, and routine blood tests were abandoned. Had I been tested earlier, I wouldn't be as close to T2 as I have now got.....and I doubt I'm alone in the population on that.
 
Glad you are finding a system that works well for you @Callista

And welcome to the forum @florence4
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top