In our previous blog post, one of our readers, H Myrie asked us how much food would you need to eat to meet the Department of Health’s carbohydrate recommendations for people with diabetes?
In other words, how much food would you need to eat to take in 225-300g of carbs?
So to answer the question, we’ve compiled a list to show how much of different items you’d need to eat within a day to meet this government recommendation which is passed down to us via the NHS.
Top 10
Before we start, a note of caution, please do not try this at home!
- 5 to 7 medium Easter eggs
- 2 to 3 litres of full-sugar coke
- 6 to 8 Mars bars
- 7 to 9 jam doughnuts
- 25 to 34 custard cream biscuits
- 75% to 100% of a large (800g) whole grain loaf
- 75% to 100% of a 24 pack of Wheatabix
- 7 to 9 jacket potatoes
- 4 to 5 ‘sweet and sour chicken with rice’ ready meals
- 4 ½ to 6 medium servings of fast food French fries
Isn’t it staggering to see what you’d need to eat to hit the guideline figures? Could you physically eat 7 to 9 jacket potatoes or a 24 pack of Wheatabix in one day?
Just imagine you did eat 30-odd custard creams in one day, or comfortably polished off a 2 litre bottle of full sugar coke.
Now, take a really scary thought –imagine how much insulin one needs to produce to cope with this each day?
All carbs turn to glucose
No matter which option you pick, whether it’s the quickly absorbed Mars bars or the lower GI bread, your body’s going to have to produce roughly the same amount of insulin over the day for each of these 10 options. Low GI or not, each of these foods will get into glucose by your body.
Is it any wonder then people’s insulin cells are burning out and their sugar levels steadily rising through the roof?
Over to the you… What do you make of the Department of Health recommendations? -Are the guidelines to blame for the growing tide of pre- and type 2 diabetes? ')}
