new to this need advice please

[Ham167]

Hi all my(adult) son was diagnosed with type 1 last aug, he is managing well with his regime, I however need some advice/guidance of carb content of some foods please

 

[Inka]

Welcome @Ham167 🙂 What foods in particular?

 

[Inka]

Packaged foods like cereals will have the carbs on the box. Loose foods like potatoes can be googled. There are also books and apps you can use eg Carbs and Cals, and the little Collins Gem Carb Counter book.

Some digital scales are also useful so you can weigh things like pasta and rice accurately.

 

[Ham167]

Packaged foods like cereals will have the carbs on the box. Loose foods like potatoes can be googled. There are also books and apps you can use eg Carbs and Cals, and the little Collins Gem Carb Counter book.

Some digital scales are also useful so you can weigh things like pasta and rice accurately.

Hi, thank you for reply, we have scales and are checking packets etc, was thrown this morning when looking at pack of red split lentils - 30g uncooked =3.51 carb however packet states 30g uncooked =approx 80g cooked and pack shows 80g=9.4g so which carb value do I go by? sorry if this seems a daft question.

 

[Inka]

I’d go by the carbs for the raw uncooked weight @Ham167 I don’t find the cooked weight info very accurate. So if I was cooking with red lentils, I’d look at the raw weight carbs, see what weight of raw lentils were in my recipe, then work out the carbs for the whole recipe. I’d then divide that by the number of portions for my ‘carb per portion’ answer.

I’ve just looked at a pack of red lentils online, which gives similar information to what you’ve listed above, and it isn’t at all clear if the carbs per 100g is cooked or uncooked. I really hate packets like that. I’d verify it by googling. From memory, red lentils are around 52g carbs per 100g uncooked.

Hope that helps you. In general, go for the uncooked weight carbs and if there’s any ambiguity, Google to confirm the carb amount.

 

[Ham167]

I’d go by the carbs for the raw uncooked weight @Ham167 I don’t find the cooked weight info very accurate. So if I was cooking with red lentils, I’d look at the raw weight carbs, see what weight of raw lentils were in my recipe, then work out the carbs for the whole recipe. I’d then divide that by the number of portions for my ‘carb per portion’ answer.

I’ve just looked at a pack of red lentils online, which gives similar information to what you’ve listed above, and it isn’t at all clear if the carbs per 100g is cooked or uncooked. I really hate packets like that. I’d verify it by googling. From memory, red lentils are around 52g carbs per 100g uncooked.

Hope that helps you. In general, go for the uncooked weight carbs and if there’s any ambiguity, Google to confirm the carb amount.

Thanks, glad its not just me who was confused by it! Have sent for the calorie and carbs book and looked for ideas on the recipe finder.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Welcome to the forum @Ham167

Sorry to hear about your son’s diagnosis. Hopefully he is beginning to adjust and get his head around the basics. But it can be a bit overwhelming at the start!

Another thing to bear in mind with pulses is that because of the way the carbs are structured, for the vast majority of people not all of their carb content is absorbed. If memory serves, a proportion, often as much as half, goes through past the stomach and small intestine where it can be absorbed and arrives in the large intestine intact, where bacteria feast on it giving off CO2 (hence their reputation for windiness).

So you may need to allow less than the full carb count for pulses, or possibly not include them at all (unless they are beans in a sauce)