Sweet Potato, Yay or Nay for low(er) carb eating

[Moortt]

Evening All,

Another post from me, once I know what I'm doing a bit more it will settle down I promise .

I've been planning my meals for the weekend, I was looking for autumn inspired options and I came across a Sweet Potato and Black Bean chili recipe.

I don't currently have a meter so I'm not going to be able to observe the impact on my blood sugars but are this forums thoughts on Sweet Potatoes. I've read a few things online that suggest they are a good option for diabetics due to the fibre and low GI properties of this vegetable. The nutrient facts for the recipe suggest a serving would contain around 55g carbs which seems high considering there's no sides included in that.

What are your experiences with sweet potatoes, are they good option for lower carb eating and less likely to spike blood sugars?

Thanks

 

[rebrascora]

As a Type 1 I have to inject insulin to cover my carbs, so all carbs count, Low GI or not and to be honest my body isn't remotely interested in digesting things more slowly if they are low GI anyway. That said I personally feel that sweet potatoes provide more nutrients (fibre, vitamins and other micro nutrients) than normal potatoes, so I do have a small portion once in a while. Portion control is key. To be honest I would be just as wary of the beans in your recipe. Some of us seem to be able to extract more carbs from beans and lentil than they are supposed to contain which is rather disappointing.
Really, it's such an individual thing, just go ahead and enjoy your casserole (I'm guessing you are a vegetarian otherwise a meat chilli would be a better option from the diabetes perspective) and once you have acquired a BG meter and can test your response, then you will know how your body actually responds rather than how my body responds or anyone else's.
Squash or swede can make a lower carb alternative to sweet potato if you want to play around with the recipe in the future, particularly if your meter shows an adverse reaction. Try half and half with swede or squash or a third of each. It's about finding a balance rather than completely excluding foods, although sometimes the balance might be reducing them to special occasions only.

 

[Leadinglights]

You could add some low carb veg like cauliflower, courgette or green beans as well which would reduce the impact of the higher carb beans and sweet potatoes and make more so less carb per portion. 55g carb per portion makes quite a high carb meal.

 

[Inka]

I find sweet potato more gentle on blood sugar than normal white potato. If you’re worried about the amount of carbs, could you reduce the amount of sweet potato slightly? It sounds a tasty recipe.

 

[Moortt]

I'm not vegetarian but we do try and eat a number of meatless meals for various reasons.
I hadn't considered the beans, but yes they could be contributing to the higher carb numbers as well as the sweet potato.
55 is high but I quite fancy trying it. Does offsetting the higher carbs from the main meal by keeping the other meals super low help / work? I know it won't stop the spike of this meal but over the course of the day the averages would even out. Not sure if things work like that with type 2 diabetes.

 

[Drummer]

@Moortt with my daily limit being 40gm of carbs, I would not consider putting sweet potato on the menu. I can eat more cabs now and not get elevated blood glucose, but I would see weight gain start again, which is not something I would want to happen.
I used a blood glucose meter to sort out meals which did not cause spikes at the start of my recovery. I was soon seeing numbers under 8mmol/l after meals. I stuck to the same foods and saw the number reduce to under 7 and then under 6. I do not eat anything with more than 10 percent carbs except for the occasional square of 95 percent cocoa chocolate.
You might find that there are some foods which you can cope with - using a meter will indicate what is and is not a good choice for you.
I found that I should avoid peas and beans as they seem to supply almost twice the listed amount of carbs when I eat them. I do have small amounts from time to time, but usually I stick to the vegetables on a list I made some considerable time ago which I know are 'safe' in normal amounts.

 

[Leadinglights]

I'm not vegetarian but we do try and eat a number of meatless meals for various reasons.
I hadn't considered the beans, but yes they could be contributing to the higher carb numbers as well as the sweet potato.
55 is high but I quite fancy trying it. Does offsetting the higher carbs from the main meal by keeping the other meals super low help / work? I know it won't stop the spike of this meal but over the course of the day the averages would even out. Not sure if things work like that with type 2 diabetes.

I would have thought it better to even out your carb intake between your meals rather than risking a spike from a heavy carb meal as that might start to give you unpleasant symptoms, Ok it probably wouldn't impact your HbA1C as that is a long term average. My thought when you said about offsetting a higher meal with a lower one was you wouldn't say Oh I only did 20mph on that journey so I can do 80mph for this one. On the other hand if you are doing some exercise then a slightly higher carb meal may well be fine for you.
I know you can't always get things the same and people often have a lower carb breakfast as they tend to be more sensitive to carbs in the morning.
I have 70g carb per day and tend to try approx 15g for breakfast, 20g for lunch and 25g for dinner with the rest making up drinks.
The best way is to test what you can tolerate as you may not react to all carbs in the same way.

 

[helli]

Some useful advice.
Something else you may want to consider is adding extra fat as the will slow down the absorption of the carbs.
For example, some melted cheese over your spuds.

 

[Moortt]

I would have thought it better to even out your carb intake between your meals rather than risking a spike from a heavy carb meal as that might start to give you unpleasant symptoms, Ok it probably wouldn't impact your HbA1C as that is a long term average. My thought when you said about offsetting a higher meal with a lower one was you wouldn't say Oh I only did 20mph on that journey so I can do 80mph for this one. On the other hand if you are doing some exercise then a slightly higher carb meal may well be fine for you.
I know you can't always get things the same and people often have a lower carb breakfast as they tend to be more sensitive to carbs in the morning.
I have 70g carb per day and tend to try approx 15g for breakfast, 20g for lunch and 25g for dinner with the rest making up drinks.
The best way is to test what you can tolerate as you may not react to all carbs in the same way.

Looks like I may have sourced a meter, I'll pick up some batteries and try testing before and 2 hours after to see the impact. It would be good to know!

Some useful advice.
Something else you may want to consider is adding extra fat as the will slow down the absorption of the carbs.
For example, some melted cheese over your spuds.

Maybe I'll add some grated cheese to the chili 🙂

 

[nonethewiser]

Sure carb wise not much difference. Like sweet potato in stews casseroles, boiled baked roasted has to be normal tatties, chips has to be Maris Pipers everytime.

 

[trophywench]

Er, I dislike the taste of sweet potato, so don't have it ever. The thought of the taste makes me shudder - similar to that of oats!

 

[Moortt]

Evening folks.

My meter strips took a bit longer to come through but finally arrived yesterday. Have got the hang of doing the tests now and got round to making the sweet potato chili this evening.

I thought I'd share the results.

My pre-dinner reading was 4.5
Dinner, a portion of Sweet Potato and Black bean stew, 1/2 pouch of sweet potato rice and 4 squares of green and blacks 85% chocolate.
Post dinner reading, 6.3

So it didn't seem to cause much of a spike after all. Less, than the Chicken and Chickpea stew I had yesterday which gave me a 2.3 increase.

I'll have left overs for lunch tomorrow and repeat the test to see if consistent.

 

[Deleted member 21371]

Evening folks.

My meter strips took a bit longer to come through but finally arrived yesterday. Have got the hang of doing the tests now and got round to making the sweet potato chili this evening.

I thought I'd share the results.

My pre-dinner reading was 4.5
Dinner, a portion of Sweet Potato and Black bean stew, 1/2 pouch of sweet potato rice and 4 squares of green and blacks 85% chocolate.
Post dinner reading, 6.3

So it didn't seem to cause much of a spike after all. Less, than the Chicken and Chickpea stew I had yesterday which gave me a 2.3 increase.

I'll have left overs for lunch tomorrow and repeat the test to see if consistent.

I found sweet potato, black beans, butter beans, chickpeas, are all low GI, and didn't raise my BG as many said it would.
A 2.3 increase is very good as well.
For dinner today I had fishcakes, made of trout, and blended chickpeas and butter beans, and coated in breadcrumbs.
I don't eat low carb at all, but I like the taste of these.

 

[Drummer]

Impressive @Moortt - I'd have been up in the teens eating that - you obviously can cope with more carbs than I can eat.

 

[Moortt]

Impressive @Moortt - I'd have been up in the teens eating that - you obviously can cope with more carbs than I can eat.

Total carbs for the day was 88. I think 100g is about my limit based on a few days of testing.

It seems tolerance is very individual, not just to totals but also in what foods cause spikes.

I can't understand why the NHS don't prescribe meters for all diabetics, I did 3 months without one and it was all guess work. At least with the meter I can test how I react to things.

 

[Deleted member 21371]

Total carbs for the day was 88. I think 100g is about my limit based on a few days of testing.

It seems tolerance is very individual, not just to totals but also in what foods cause spikes.

I can't understand why the NHS don't prescribe meters for all diabetics, I did 3 months without one and it was all guess work. At least with the meter I can test how I react to things.

It's a very small majority of us that actually react to meter readings, yet alone test.

I got prescribed one by my doctor, after she saw I wanted to reverse my diabetes by losing weight, but limiting foods to smaller portions of ones which didn't spike me.
I had an NHS dietician that was on board as well, so we kept if low fat, complex carbs, low GI, cut out all sugar, all the usual things but tweaked to my meter.

 

[Drummer]

Total carbs for the day was 88. I think 100g is about my limit based on a few days of testing.

It seems tolerance is very individual, not just to totals but also in what foods cause spikes.

I can't understand why the NHS don't prescribe meters for all diabetics, I did 3 months without one and it was all guess work. At least with the meter I can test how I react to things.

I have a limit of 40 gm per day - the diabetes gave up long ago, but I keep to the low carb to prevent weight gain. I am still changing shape little by little.
In my new winter clothes people are noticing the alteration in my waistline.
When I started using my meter I found the same thing, we all react as individuals and need to fine tune to suit our particular metabolism.

 

[Deleted member 21371]

Impressive @Moortt - I'd have been up in the teens eating that - you obviously can cope with more carbs than I can eat.

I have a limit of 40 gm per day - the diabetes gave up long ago, but I keep to the low carb to prevent weight gain. I am still changing shape little by little.
In my new winter clothes people are noticing the alteration in my waistline.
When I started using my meter I found the same thing, we all react as individuals and need to fine tune to suit our particular metabolism.

If you would see BG in the teens with just 88g of carbs, are you sure you have reversed your diabetes, as high BG is the first sign of diabetes?
Is there anything else that could cause you to spike that much?

 

[Drummer]

If you would see BG in the teens with just 88g of carbs, are you sure you have reversed your diabetes, as high BG is the first sign of diabetes?
Is there anything else that could cause you to spike that much?

I used the past tense, putting my advice in line with the situation I am advising about.
It would not be much use to advise that I will eat Christmas dinner this year, long after achieving remission and see blood glucose levels under 6mmol/l without indicating the path I took to get here.

 

[Deleted member 21371]

I used the past tense, putting my advice in line with the situation I am advising about.
It would not be much use to advise that I will eat Christmas dinner this year, long after achieving remission and see blood glucose levels under 6mmol/l without indicating the path I took to get here.

Glad you cleared that up, it was the present tense you used actually, ("more carbs than I can eat", not could eat) and we wouldn't want to confuse anyone who may think spikes are ok, so long as you don't gain weight.
Always check the results with a meter.

(But I agree, nothing wrong with eating carbs if they don't affect you, enjoy your proper Christmas dinner, with all the stuffing, roast potatoes, Yorkshire puds, and lashings of gravy, followed by Christmas pub and custard. I will be 😉)