Safe daily carbs intake.

[MaggieB53]

Very new to this and trying to work out what 8 should be eating. How many grams of carbs are ok (all whole meal/unprocessed)

 

[Drummer]

Very new to this and trying to work out what 8 should be eating. How many grams of carbs are ok (all whole meal/unprocessed)

Wholemeal implies grains - best avoided until you find out what you can cope with.
Processing makes little difference except to the speed at which carbs are absorbed.

 

[Inka]

Very new to this and trying to work out what 8 should be eating. How many grams of carbs are ok (all whole meal/unprocessed)

Welcome @MaggieB53 🙂 Anything up to 130g carbs a day is considered low carb. The actual amount varies according to the individual. Some Type 2s can eat wholegrains in moderate amounts, some can’t.

What was your HbA1C at diagnosis?

 

[Lucyr]

It also depends what medication you’re on. Some medications it’s safe to do low carb on, whilst others like the flozins it’s unsafe to low carb whilst taking

 

[PhoebeC]

Short answer is - it depends.

Depends on your medication, how active you are, your current diet, we need carbs to function properly so you can't cut them completely. This is a very open question. As all bodies are different and you will find how you react to certain foods will be different than how others do. There's a post on porridge which shows this very well/

 

[Deb_l]

A lot of people on a low carb diet will stay below 130g of carbs a day but I have a slightly more haphazard approach.

In principal it probably works out the same but I generally just stick to what are classed as low carb foods <10g per 100g and don't weigh anything. Foods that are on the cusp of high carb, I have previously tested how I react using my BG meter. For example carrots. Carrots are higher carb than some veg but I know by BG isn't affected so I include carrots regularly in my diet.

Potatoes on the other hand send my BG stratospheric so I generally avoid all potatoes totally.

 

[DaveB]

As others have said it very much depends on the individual so you will need to experiment and check BS and your weight along the way. I might challenge the other post which says you need some carbs. Actually you don't need any carbs as long as you have fats and proteins as the body can convert some of these to glucose if needed and enough to keep the brain going. In practice you can't escape carbs so there is no issue. I try to stay below 150gm/day even though I'm on insulin.

 

[trophywench]

So @DaveB - you don't think that any human needs to eat any vegetables/salad, or any fruit whatsoever? cos if they don't need ANY carb whatsoever, they don't need anything (like the fibre, AKA roughage) contained in them? Personally I really get constipated if I don't eat enough roughage - and hence my body really does NOT function well at all until I correct that by eating more fruit/veg along with the protein and moderate amounts of fat.

Phoebe knows the same as me about this which is exactly why she posted what she did. My guts work OK thank you and therefore I've never needed to resort to adding eg psyllium husk, which does 'do the trick' OK but honestly should only be needed by those with different needs to the expected norm of a human body.

 

[Dragonheart]

you don't think that any human needs to eat any vegetables/salad, or any fruit whatsoever? cos if they don't need ANY carb whatsoever, they don't need anything (like the fibre, AKA roughage) contained in them? Personally I really get constipated if I don't eat enough roughage - and hence my body really does NOT function well at all until I correct that by eating more fruit/veg along with the protein and moderate amounts of fat.

There are enough people doing a carnivore diet that eat next to no carbs or any fibre. The claim is the carbs increase the need for fibre. They often report perfectly functional bowels - in the absence of the carbs they don’t need the fibre. Now they may be a subset of humans that do fine on this and you may be in another that doesn’t (but unless you eliminated the carbs you wouldn’t be able to test their hypothesis anyway). What it does show is that at least some humans don’t need it and it’s not a universal truth we must eat fibre to avoid constipation

As to the eating next to no carbs bit, the glucose we need to survive (130g a day) doesn’t have to come from carbs. It can be created via gluconeogenisis from fats and proteins and the rest of the energy come from ketones. It may not be desirable for more than a tiny % but it will sustain life. Eliminate either proteins or fats totally and you will die as a result. In reality keto levels of carbs will still give you your needed micronutrients from meat, veg, nuts and dairy etc

 

[Martin.A]

Very new to this and trying to work out what 8 should be eating. How many grams of carbs are ok (all whole meal/unprocessed)

You asked a simple question and got anything but simple answers. It would help if you could say what your HbA1c is and whether you're on any medication, and what that is.

 

[nonethewiser]

There are enough people doing a carnivore diet that eat next to no carbs or any fibre. The claim is the carbs increase the need for fibre. They often report perfectly functional bowels - in the absence of the carbs they don’t need the fibre.

Well let's be honest they are not going to say otherwise are they, especially if they are pushing said diet.

Fibre is essential for all round good health, all diets should incorporate it IMHO.

 

[Dragonheart]

Well let's be honest they are not going to say otherwise are they, especially if they are pushing said diet.

Fibre is essential for all round good health, all diets should incorporate it IMHO.

Well possibly some might but are they all liars and all pushing the diet? My own experience of 4+yrs keto and several low carb is that it’s never been an issue for me not to have the usual grain sources of fibre, just those coming from low carb veg nuts and seeds.

In a typical eatwell diet it probably is required. As ever, context is important and little is absolute

 

[nonethewiser]

Well possibly some might but are they all liars and all pushing the diet? My own experience of 4+yrs keto and several low carb is that it’s never been an issue for me not to have the usual grain sources of fibre, just those coming from low carb veg nuts and seeds.

In a typical eatwell diet it probably is required. As ever, context is important and little is absolute

Good that your consuming fibre then, it really is important to do so & shouldn't be excluded.

 

[Martin.A]

Good that your consuming fibre then, it really is important to do so & shouldn't be excluded.

Nutrition information on food packaging tends not to give an RI for fibre but adults need 30g per day according to Government guidelines, the NHS and the BHF. Like @HSSS I get almost all mine from low carb veg, nuts and seeds. In fact, a big chunk of today's will come from the chia seed that I'll stir into my soup tonight.

 

[nonethewiser]

Nutrition information on food packaging tends not to give an RI for fibre but adults need 30g per day according to Government guidelines, the NHS and the BHF. Like @HSSS I get almost all mine from low carb veg, nuts and seeds. In fact, a big chunk of today's will come from the chia seed that I'll stir into my soup tonight.

Seen that 30g mentioned before.

Like seeds but not chia seeds, although like all seeds they are good for you.

 

[JonathanGi]

I eat anything and everything vegetarian apart from cake. Type 1 for 57 years. HbA1c 37. BMI 22. We are all very different. It's a strange condition.

 

[Dragonheart]

I eat anything and everything vegetarian apart from cake. Type 1 for 57 years. HbA1c 37. BMI 22. We are all very different. It's a strange condition.

And the dietary needs of type 1 and type 2 are different as they are realistically 2 quite different conditions