Less carbs the better right.

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oddjob

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Hello,
I'm prediabetes and I was under the impression that the lower the amount of carbs the better.
I avoid cereals, breads, french fries; all that stuff and my blood sugar stays even. If I add some of this food, my blood sugar can hit 180-190, which would seem logical as I'm insulin-resistant.
After browsing for type-2 info on this site I came across their "Ten steps to eating well For people with Type 2 diabetes" and #2 says:

"At each meal include starchy carbohydrate foods
Examples include bread, pasta, chapatis, potatoes, yam, noodles, rice and cereals. The amount of carbohydrate you eat is important to control your blood glucose levels....."

If I did that my blood sugar would be constantly elevated and I would eventually transition into full diabetes. If I already had type-2, surely cutting way down on carbs is of life-or-death importance, not eating them at every meal.

Does this seem right to you all?
Thanks,
Bob
 
Bob, this is why Wallycorker has a thread encouraging us to sign up to a petition to Downing Street re the advice given to Type 2s on diet. Many of us have found, in practice, that restricting the amount of carbs we eat is the only way we can maintain reasonable blood glucose levels. Of course there is significant debate about how much carb we need per day and, indeed, every one of us is different.

Personally I use the Joslin Centre for Diabetes nutritional clinical guidelines and stick to about 130g chd per day - others have far less, others have more
 
It is important to cut down on carbs, but my personal understanding is for a balanced diet you need some carbs.

Complex carbs release their energy more slowly, so are better, found in things like fresh vege, whole meal brad and pasta and whole grain rice.

The more refined, the simpler the carbs become and the more quckly they release their energy. The simplest carbs you can get are found in refined sugars.

Many folks on the forums carb count, so they will be able to explain the relationshop with carbs better than I do. It may be worth looking at carb counting and GI diet books. Most people seem to have the Collins Gem Carb Counter.
 
Have you considered exercise...?

Did you miss out doing exercise Bob? A lot of people forget the exercise bit...😱

I briskly walk 20 minutes to work and back each day. That has made a world of difference to my BG and other numbers. And I can burn off a 'sin' too...:D
 
Bob,
I'm in complete agreement with your strategy for keeping BGS down.
It works for me. :D

Ken
 
I still eat carbs, but I eat the lower GI carbs mostly. Seems to be working ok for me now, levels are fairly steady. But everyone is different as said before.

Oh and excercise🙄 its evil & makes me sleepy but I do it 5 days a week. Also helps hugely and as brightontez said you can burn off your occasional sins :D :D
 
hi oddjob welcome to the forum may i ask where your from as you are using the other units in your blood testing ?
🙂 I am a T2 and I have cut out all refined sugar...and cut down on Carbs but not all together...I have a problem sadly with any fruit ...sends my bs skywards so i have had to cut right back on that...my HbA1c is steadliy dropping...7.9 on diagnoses last one was 6.4 so its all about steadily and surely making the changes needed to suit You and testing to achieve better control...the official advice is to eat some with all meal .....but some people suit non or a greatly reduced level....we are all different x
 
oddjob said:
Hello,
I'm prediabetes and I was under the impression that the lower the amount of carbs the better.
Does this seem right to you all?
Thanks,
Bob
Click to expand...

If I did that my blood sugar would be constantly elevated and I would eventually transition into full diabetes. If I already had type-2, surely cutting way down on carbs is of life-or-death importance, not eating them at every meal.

Does this seem right to you all?
Thanks,
Bob[/QUOTE]

Hi Bob,
Diets high in Protein can cause kidney problems/disease. diets high in Fats are thought to lead to heart disease/stokes. Diabetics are particularly prone to both so the dietary advice has to steer a course between the Scylla and Charybdis of high protein and high fat recommendations. The result is advice which leads to having lower amounts of those two and moderate amounts of carbs. In addition T2 diabetes almost all have to lose weight so lower fat ( fat has 9 calories per gram as opposed to 4 calories per gram of carb) cuts a lot of calories.
The actual official dietary recommendation in Britain is for ...
A low GI, Mediterranean style diet with
-- 45 to 60% of calories coming from carbs depending on work done/level of physical activity.
-- 10-20% from protein
-- upto 35% of calories from fats with at least 25% from "good fats".
The advice isn't telling you to stuff your face with carbs. The official line is for T2 diabetics to think of a carb portion as 15 grams ( e.g. one new potato, a slice of bread) and have between 8 and 15 of those day. The GI recommendation means you are supposed to be choosing carbs with a low glycemic index value which will take longer to process, producing a longer lower hump in bgs rather than a sudden spike.
But diet is only one leg of the triumvirate - good control is given by a mix of diet, exercise and medication that keeps you in balance. You are looking at the dietary advice in isolation.
the advice to eat some carbs with every meal is to prevent Hypos and help keep you on an even keel.
The idea that "carbs cause raised bgs therefore I must avoid carbs" is just simplistic chop-logic ; the best route for Type 2 diabetics is to learn how to MANAGE carbs with an effective regime and mix of the three elements ( diet/exercise/medication) not to try to run and hide from carbs.
Very few T2 diabetics could maintain a really low carb regime for any length of time.
 
I agree with you Peter. The last two paragraphs sum it up for me too.

I have cut down my carb intake from what was excessive at diagnosis to what is considered to be about the recommended daily allowance and I do 2 lots of 20 minute brisk walking exercise too. The Metformin is my little helper.
 
Hi Bob - I'm a non-insulin dependent Type 2 diagnosed over nine years ago and I'm with you all the way.

I have cut back dramatically on the starchy carbohydrate foods - i.e. cereals, bread, potatoes, pasta and rice - and that has led to a massive improvement in my blood glucose levels - HbA1c down from 9.4% to 5.1% and still dropping.

My testing shows me that I can take carbohydrate as fruit without it hardly affecting my blood glucose levels - I seem to be lucky that way because many other diabetics tell me that they don't react to fruit the same as me.

The "eat plenty of starchy carbohydrate message" is one that is often given to diabetics in the UK. Quite crazy really!!!!

By the way, I assume that you aren't from the UK because you are quoting mg/dl instead of mmol/l. Where are you from?

Best wishes - John
 
Brightontez: can i ask why were you prescribed metformin? you seem to be doing really well and was just curious as to why you were put on medication
 
Thanks for the question Carina.

I was put on Metformin because diet and exercise alone was not enough. I was getting very tired and my BG was too high.
 
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