How low is a Low Carb 'Diet'?

[vickiann]

hello Everyone, I've been thinking about eating a 'low carb diet' but I'm not really sure what is a good amount to have??

Does anyone mind sharing how many carbs they eat as a rule and what impact it had on your blood sugars?

Thanks for reading - look forward to hearing from you 🙂

 

[Annette]

I think that anything below about 120 carbs per day is considered low carb (yes, really! I didn't think I low carbed!) and below about 40 is very low carb.
BUT to be honest, you need to eat what suits you. Like I say, I don't think I particularly low carb, but find that about 120 carbs per day gives me the most stability. Others find that they are quite happy on 70-80 per day, others still at 170 or so.
Try cutting out say 10-20% of your carbs, and see if it works. Then try a bit more. Continue until you feel you are not eating enough carbs for your situation (that's mentally and physically), and use that as your floor level.

 

[AlisonM]

It's really a matter of personal preference vickiann. I generally have between 100-150gms of carbs in a day, mostly in the form of cereals, rice or pasta. If I'm running high, I won't have even that much; if low then I may go mad and have chips, potatoes being my béte noire in life nowadays because they usually send my numbers through the roof.

Many folk eat fewer carbs than I do and some have more, you'd need to work out what works best for you, there are no set rules.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Personally I would forget about trying to tie down definitions of low, moderate and very low carb as opinions are so varied on the subject - I'd aim for the 'low BG spike, varied, satisfying, doable-long-term diet that suits Vicki' if I were you 🙂

 

[DeusXM]

They really vary between people, particularly as the conventional wisdom is 'normal' is 300g of carbs - an amount I'd be very, very hard pushed to eat in a day.

I personally find it difficult to eat more than 100g a day and maintain decent control.

Probably the most 'formal' amount is 24g, which is the maximum recommended by Doctor Bernstein, with two 6g meals and one 12g meal.

Generally though I would say that you should aim for 'right' carb rather than low carb - ie. whatever amount you can eat that delivers the blood sugar goals you're aiming for. In this context, 'low' carb is whatever is the maximum amount of carbs you can eat while still being in ketosis (which is different from DKA). Many have actually moved away from the idea of talking about 'low' carb diets and talking about ketogenic diets.

 

[HOBIE]

Mine changes every single day. Never never the same. I adore to miss lunch some days but others have it 🙂

 

[trophywench]

Never eaten much more than 110 - 120g carb a day - often far less. Odd times - more but can't say 'more' suits me.

This dates back to well BEFORE diabetes, as I was 22 when diagnosed.

 

[vickiann]

I think that anything below about 120 carbs per day is considered low carb (yes, really! I didn't think I low carbed!) and below about 40 is very low carb.
BUT to be honest, you need to eat what suits you. Like I say, I don't think I particularly low carb, but find that about 120 carbs per day gives me the most stability. Others find that they are quite happy on 70-80 per day, others still at 170 or so.
Try cutting out say 10-20% of your carbs, and see if it works. Then try a bit more. Continue until you feel you are not eating enough carbs for your situation (that's mentally and physically), and use that as your floor level.

Thanks for replying Annette, definitley giving me something to think about, we're all different so what suits one person won't suit everyone else.

 

[vickiann]

It's really a matter of personal preference vickiann. I generally have between 100-150gms of carbs in a day, mostly in the form of cereals, rice or pasta. If I'm running high, I won't have even that much; if low then I may go mad and have chips, potatoes being my béte noire in life nowadays because they usually send my numbers through the roof.

Many folk eat fewer carbs than I do and some have more, you'd need to work out what works best for you, there are no set rules.

Thanks Alison, think i will have to do some more research, it would seem it's not just how many carbs but what carbs that makes a difference - think i iwll do more testing with different types to see what affects me more.

 

[vickiann]

Personally I would forget about trying to tie down definitions of low, moderate and very low carb as opinions are so varied on the subject - I'd aim for the 'low BG spike, varied, satisfying, doable-long-term diet that suits Vicki' if I were you 🙂

Thanks Mike, that would appear to be general response in a nutshell 🙂 somethings definitely keep my blood sugar up longer than others - will have to do some specific testing and maybe that will help.

 

[vickiann]

They really vary between people, particularly as the conventional wisdom is 'normal' is 300g of carbs - an amount I'd be very, very hard pushed to eat in a day.

I personally find it difficult to eat more than 100g a day and maintain decent control.

Probably the most 'formal' amount is 24g, which is the maximum recommended by Doctor Bernstein, with two 6g meals and one 12g meal.

Generally though I would say that you should aim for 'right' carb rather than low carb - ie. whatever amount you can eat that delivers the blood sugar goals you're aiming for. In this context, 'low' carb is whatever is the maximum amount of carbs you can eat while still being in ketosis (which is different from DKA). Many have actually moved away from the idea of talking about 'low' carb diets and talking about ketogenic diets.

Thanks DeusXm - never heard of ketogenic diets, will have to look that up, you tend to think that carbs will have the same effectg no matter what type of carb it is, but that doens't seem to be the case, it's been nice to get different people's views and see what they do.

 

[vickiann]

Mine changes every single day. Never never the same. I adore to miss lunch some days but others have it 🙂

Hi Hobie, i tend to have pretty much the same for breakfast and lunch but tea can vary a bit - it is nice to be able to skip a meal if you want - usually breakfast for me lol but i want to try and get my sugars on a more even level and not get them to get too high hence thinking low carb might be the way to go but thanks to everyone's responses they given me a few things to think about.

 

[vickiann]

Never eaten much more than 110 - 120g carb a day - often far less. Odd times - more but can't say 'more' suits me.

This dates back to well BEFORE diabetes, as I was 22 when diagnosed.

Thanks Jenny, sometimes it's good to review things, and seeing what other people do can be very helpful

 

[Northerner]

I'm another 100-150g carbs a day usually - much more and my insulin doses start to get a bit too high and become less accurate 🙂 I'd suggest looking into th GL Diet, vicki - The GL Diet for Dummies is a good introduction 🙂 It describes food and food combinations that will release energy slowly and steadily, so fewer spikes 🙂

 

[AlisonM]

One more point. Now I'm used to it, if I eat more than 150 grams in a day, I feel dopey, heavy and sluggish all the next day.

 

[vickiann]

I'm another 100-150g carbs a day usually - much more and my insulin doses start to get a bit too high and become less accurate 🙂 I'd suggest looking into th GL Diet, vicki - The GL Diet for Dummies is a good introduction 🙂 It describes food and food combinations that will release energy slowly and steadily, so fewer spikes 🙂

Thanks for that Northerner I will go and have a look - I don't think I normally go over that a day as a rule u I'm definitely looking for 'fewer spikes'!

 

[vickiann]

Thanks for the warning Alison🙂

 

[DeusXM]

ketogenic diets, will have to look that up

It's pretty similar to low-carbing, really. It's just a question of acknowledging what you're trying to achieve. 'Low-carbing' means eating a diet that is low in carbs, which you could be doing either for blood sugar, or weight reasons.

A ketogenic diet, however, is a diet where you are specifically trying to shift your metabolism away from using blood glucose as your energy source and towards using fat as your energy source. This does essentially mean 'very low carb'.

No-one really knows what the long-term impact of ketogenic diets is, but it's worth pointing out that the principles behind them seem to suit the idea of intermittently having access to fruits and starch (as if you're a hunter-gatherer never quite sure where the next meal is coming from, which describes around 150,000 years of human lifestyle) and that those who've gone on them seem to enjoy good weight loss and blood sugars.

Oh, and some people with epilepsy have also found that ketogenic diets for unknown reasons prevent them having seizures.

 

[Carina1962]

I've cut down carbs and sugar to help me lose weight and reverse my fatty liver, am going to try and stick to about 130g a day and see how it goes.

 

[HOBIE]

I've cut down carbs and sugar to help me lose weight and reverse my fatty liver, am going to try and stick to about 130g a day and see how it goes.

Well done Carina & good luck 🙂