-
Please Remember: Members are only permitted to share their own experiences. Members are not qualified to give medical advice. Additionally, everyone manages their health differently. Please be respectful of other people's opinions about their own diabetes management.
-
Learn more about joining the Diabetes UK Support Forum team here: https://forum.diabetes.org.uk/boards/threads/volunteering-opportunities-why-dont-you-join-us.112862/
Help before I give up
- Thread starter Lis
- Start date
- Status
Gwynn
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 2
That's an interesting question. It is different for every single person who is type 2.
Some foods may produce a spike in blood glucose whereas other foods may not. The only way of finding this out is to do a blood glucose test before eating a particular food and again 2 hours after. There should be a rise of no more than 2 on the meter. If there is ten consider eliminating or cutting down on that food.
A lot of foods contain carbs so it may be difficult, if not impossible, to eliminate them (although some seem to have managed it). The advice is to try to get the daily carb consumption to below 130g a day. To do this needs a bit of work calculating the days meals carbs. Thankfully there are some Apps online to help you with this.
Of course some foods are best avoided or cut down (a lot) eg sugar!! But there are plenty of others. Best to trawl the internet to see which foods are best that you like.
I hope that helps a bit
Some foods may produce a spike in blood glucose whereas other foods may not. The only way of finding this out is to do a blood glucose test before eating a particular food and again 2 hours after. There should be a rise of no more than 2 on the meter. If there is ten consider eliminating or cutting down on that food.
A lot of foods contain carbs so it may be difficult, if not impossible, to eliminate them (although some seem to have managed it). The advice is to try to get the daily carb consumption to below 130g a day. To do this needs a bit of work calculating the days meals carbs. Thankfully there are some Apps online to help you with this.
Of course some foods are best avoided or cut down (a lot) eg sugar!! But there are plenty of others. Best to trawl the internet to see which foods are best that you like.
I hope that helps a bit
Well we need zero but that's pretty hard to achieve..
I went for ketogenic levels of about 20g per day when I started.
Meat, fish, dairy above ground veg/salads in smaller amounts, berries with double cream for a sweet hit if necessary.
Pork scratchings for a snack.
This led to fairly effortless weight loss and "normalised" HbA1c within 4 months.. I then went on to lose even more weight by continuing with this. No meds and never hungry.
Also threw in some time restricted eating for good measure.
7 years later still "in remission"
You say we need zero carbs is this true? I’m not picking on what you’re saying I am genuinely interested. As I’m an in between diabetic I’m not on insulin and stick to a low carb diet, I’ve been criticised many times for this. Particularly by my consultant who wants be on no less than 70g a day which is really hard for me to stay in range. He just says the human body needs carbs and it does worry me a bit
PattiEvans
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
- Pronouns
- She/Her
No it doesn't. The human body can make glucose to fuel itself from proteins and fats in the absence of carbs. It will then start to use the stored fat in the body too. It will use the carbs first though because it's easier. However it's nearly impossible to eat a "no carb" diet as even lettuce has some carbs in it.
That’s reassuring to know. Thanks @Pattidevans
He's wrong.. there are no 'essential carbs".
Leadinglights
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 2
Avoiding or reducing your intake of high carb foods will help reduce your blood glucose. The obvious ones are cakes, biscuits, sugary drinks including fruit juice but the other big hitters are potatoes, rice, pasta, bread, breakfast cereals, starchy veg and tropical fruits but ready made sauces and ready meals can have 'hidden' carbs. Depending how far you are into the diabetic zone will determine how careful you need to be with your carb intake. This link may help you with some meal and food ideas. https://lowcarbfreshwell.co.uk/
I followed the principals in the link and reduced my HbA1C from 50mmol/mol to 42mmol/mol in 3 months and lost about 10kg.
D
Deleted member 21371
Guest
I think you need to consider the wording.
There is a lot of difference between "need", and "essential", to justify what is survivable on, and what is actually a balanced intake of food conducive for good health.
The human body needs a lot more than glucose.
Vitamin C for example.
We don't produce it, like obligate carnivores. (And they still eat up to 30% carbs)
It humans don't eat food with it in, or take supplements, it won't end well.
We make our choices, and take the outcome.
Last edited by a moderator:
For me, I have to remember all of my body, including my mind.
Sure, we may be able to survive without consuming carbs but that will make my life much more challenging when I am with others such as work events, travelling and (as someone using insulin) recovering from hypos.
For my mental health, I prefer not to totally limit my carbs (although I eat less than someone without diabetes).
We are all different. We have different lifestyles, different tolerances and different targets. It is important to chose what is best for ourselves when we treat our whole body not just the diabetic part.
Sure, we may be able to survive without consuming carbs but that will make my life much more challenging when I am with others such as work events, travelling and (as someone using insulin) recovering from hypos.
For my mental health, I prefer not to totally limit my carbs (although I eat less than someone without diabetes).
We are all different. We have different lifestyles, different tolerances and different targets. It is important to chose what is best for ourselves when we treat our whole body not just the diabetic part.
D
Deleted member 21371
Guest
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Don’t give up @Lis!
It sounds like you are doing really well. Well done on the weight loss, that can really help to improve insulin sensitivity.
Don’t be put off by the suggestion to reduce your carbohydrate intake. And be reassured that you almost certainly won’t need to reduce your intake to extremely low levels, and should be able to retain a workable, enjoyable, and flexible menu that suits you - unless you choose to go very low carb as a preference, of course!
Many members find it can be really helpful to keep a brutally honest food diary for a week or two. Note down everything you eat and drink, along with a reasonable estimate of the total carbohydrate content in your meals and any snacks - that’s the total carbs, not just the ‘of which sugars’.
It might sound like a bit of a faff, and will involve weighing portions, squinting at the fine print on packaging, and possibly looking up things on the internet, but it will give you a really good idea of which foods are the main sources of carbs in your menu.
Once you can see which meals or snacks are your ‘big hitters’, and where carbs might be unexpectedly lurking, your diary might also suggest some likely candidates for swaps, portion reductions, quick wind, or opportunities for using lower carb alternatives (eg celeriac or swede mash instead of potato, or cauli ‘rice’).
Good luck, and let us know how you get on 🙂
Last edited:
rebrascora
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Mike, I think you may have missed a "don't" out of that sentence highlighted above which makes a very significant difference to the meaning.
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Drummer
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 2
Well - I am doing very well on under 40 gm of carbs a day - it does mean that I still have some of the bread I bought for Christmas still in the freezer, it took me a month to get through many of the Christmas foods - but I feel perfectly content. There is no need to eat carbs, but I like to have stirfries (though these days I buy the frozen ones from Lidl as I never know if I will be hungry enough to eat them) and stews or salads depending on the weather. My appetite has shrunk right down. So many things I was used to buying seem to have become rare. I used to do chicken thighs in the Tefal Actifry, now I put a whole chicken in the pressure cooker. I eat all sorts of meat, fish, cheese - eggs when I can get them. I put a splosh of cream in my coffee and eat twice a day, and when told that I am at risk if imminent death due to my diet I smile and point out that I am over 70, have had Covid multiple times, I enjoy life and get up to lots of things, I feel very well and have most of my marbles, and sitting staring at the TV in a care home is the last thing I want to be doing.
If I get to 85 I am going to buy a motorbike and see if my leathers will fit.
D
Deleted member 21371
Guest
OK, two things.
A life without beer, and a life with out an appetite for food.
A life without beer, and a life with out an appetite for food.
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
- Pronouns
- He/Him
I think the suggestion that you don’t need any carbs and the inference that zero carbs is a viable possibility seems weird to me. And actually quite misleading.
Here’s why: https://forum.diabetes.org.uk/boards/threads/zero-carbs-is-a-silly-suggestion.104469/
42istheanswer
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 2
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Mike @everydayupsanddowns may be typing this as his post looks incomplete, but the brain needs glucose. The difference between glucose being essential for the brain, and certain amino acids (protein compenents) and fatty acids being called essential is that our bodies can't make those amino acids or fatty acids - so they are essential in our diet. We can make glucose (as several people who themselves eat differing amounts of carbohydrates have said, our bodies prefer to make glucose by the simple expedient of breaking down glucose chains from starches in our food, or glycogen stored in the liver, but can make it by breaking down proteins and fats). We can also turn fructose (a differently shaped sugar molecule) into glucose, but there is a limit to how fast this can be done and the liver can be overwhelmed if there is too much fructose too quickly digested in a meal and turn some of it into fat instead. If we eat very low carbs so there isn't enough easily available glucose for every cell, and our bodies convert some of the fat, then ketones are produced as a side product - some of our cells can also use these I believe. There is debate about whether ketones are ok or harmful for people who are producing them because of eating ultra low carb rather than because they are in diabetic ketoacidosis (usually seen with hyperglycaemia). Those who choose to "go keto" or eat ultra low carb fall on the "ok" belief side, others may vary. (ETA seen the linked post now, and agree with what Mike has put there also - normal diets are never completely carb free.)
When choosing carbs to eat, as well as considering the impact on you personally of different carb containing foods/meals (and I use meals as an addition as depending on how much protein and fat are also in the meal, you may digest the carbs at different rates so in a higher fat meal your liver may be able to cope with slightly more carbohydrates without your blood sugars rising too much) you may also want to consider the overall health of your diet. That's one reason why some people choose wholegrains - they don't often have much difference to refined grains in terms of total carbohydrates, but the additional fibre may be helpful even if it doesn't slow the digestion and absorption of the carbs much for you. I would suggest that a BG reading 2 hours after starting to eat ("post meal") that is usually no more than 3 mmol above the pre-meal reading is ok. I have found over the past few months that sometimes it is barely higher for lower carb meals so this will balance the odd one that is more if they are the odd meal and not most meals. (Also non-diabetics have the occasional higher reading so the aim is for generally meeting target rather than perfection for most people.)
Some fruits and vegetables are higher in carbohydrates than others, some diabetics choose to limit their intake of higher sugar/carb fruits and vegetables but it depends on your personal preference (and BG readings if you do them) how you choose to decide. I tend to go with mostly lower carb vegetables and look at the other carbs in a meal when deciding on e.g. an apple - so if I'm having bread with the meal, I probably won't have an apple, but if I'm having salad with protein (e.g. fish or cheese) and no bread or crackers, then I might have an apple as part of the salad.
When choosing carbs to eat, as well as considering the impact on you personally of different carb containing foods/meals (and I use meals as an addition as depending on how much protein and fat are also in the meal, you may digest the carbs at different rates so in a higher fat meal your liver may be able to cope with slightly more carbohydrates without your blood sugars rising too much) you may also want to consider the overall health of your diet. That's one reason why some people choose wholegrains - they don't often have much difference to refined grains in terms of total carbohydrates, but the additional fibre may be helpful even if it doesn't slow the digestion and absorption of the carbs much for you. I would suggest that a BG reading 2 hours after starting to eat ("post meal") that is usually no more than 3 mmol above the pre-meal reading is ok. I have found over the past few months that sometimes it is barely higher for lower carb meals so this will balance the odd one that is more if they are the odd meal and not most meals. (Also non-diabetics have the occasional higher reading so the aim is for generally meeting target rather than perfection for most people.)
Some fruits and vegetables are higher in carbohydrates than others, some diabetics choose to limit their intake of higher sugar/carb fruits and vegetables but it depends on your personal preference (and BG readings if you do them) how you choose to decide. I tend to go with mostly lower carb vegetables and look at the other carbs in a meal when deciding on e.g. an apple - so if I'm having bread with the meal, I probably won't have an apple, but if I'm having salad with protein (e.g. fish or cheese) and no bread or crackers, then I might have an apple as part of the salad.
Drummer
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 2
On days when I have felt too unwell to go out shopping or too feeble to delve into the depths of the freezer (I have had Covid 5 times and now the slightest thing can flatten me for a day or so) I eat protein and natural fat. Not only does it keep me alive and upright, in a little while I feel more cheerful and somewhere the essential clockwork is wound up and I start to feel better.
However - for most people carbs are a good option to bring in variety in look and flavour. When there are offers of large packs of protein I know that I should buy some then divide them up and freeze them - but it doesn't happen, so they all go in the freezer, then get defrosted and opened at a later date, then carbs can disguise the fact that we've been eating the same type of meat for three days.
However - for most people carbs are a good option to bring in variety in look and flavour. When there are offers of large packs of protein I know that I should buy some then divide them up and freeze them - but it doesn't happen, so they all go in the freezer, then get defrosted and opened at a later date, then carbs can disguise the fact that we've been eating the same type of meat for three days.
Last edited by a moderator:
- Status