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Carb readings

B

Bill_Dundee

Member
Just a quickie - when people talk about sticking to 20 carbs a day, are they referring to the total carbs for that food or the sugar reading within the carbs. For example, a particular dish might have a total of 20g carbs per helping, of which sugars are 3g. There's a heck of a difference between the two figures and I'm not sure which I should be focusing on. For myself, I am trying to keep below 12g of sugar per day (until I get everything settled down.)
 
It is the total carbs. :) All carbs turn to sugar (glucose) when digested, so you need to factor them in.

So if a label says:
http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/Goodfood/PublishingImages/food-label-white-bread_377x250.jpg
food-label-white-bread_377x250.jpg


Then a single slice of this bread has 20g of carbs, of which 1.7 is sugar. In th UK, the fibre (which is also a carb, but does not raise blood glucose) is listed separately.

So for someone eating 20 g of carbs a day, that slice of bread is their entire carb intake for the day, leaving them only protein and fat as additional food.

On the other hand, if they didn't eat the bread, they could eat a LOT of vegetables before they had totalled up to 20 g of carbs.
For instance:
100g of green beans only have 3.1g of carb
100g of courgettes only have 1.8g of carb
100g of coleslaw only has 5.5g carb
100g of broccoli only has 3.2g of carb
100g of raspberries only have 4.6 g of carb
(all figs taken from the Tescos website)

This is why a well formulated low carb diet can contain a fantastic range of highly nutritious veg. :D
 
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Thanks for the info. For the time being I am concentrating on the sugars figure and trying to limit myself to 10g a day (or less). I have enough stored sugar (fat!) on me to keep me going!
 
I have done the 20g of carbs a day .. it's the full carb count not the sugar on its own as the carbs just turn to sugar when you eat them!!!!!
Edit to add ... if your not including the full carb in your calculations then it's not going to help your blood sugars as much as the full carb count
 
Carbs ARE sugar. I agree with all the above. They are not a separate thing no matter what the package says. A lot of very high carb food lists low sugar on the package. It is a marketing ploy.
 
I agree with the others. All carbs convert to sugar once eaten, so the whole of the carb content will eventually be in your blood stream in the form of sugar. The "of which sugars" is just a guide but means very little.
 
Yeah just to reiterate. To out body, it's kinda the same thing. Main difference is how long it takes to raise our bg.

Can't see benefit of the sugar focus.
 
Sometimes we need to take it in steps, sugar now, white carbs tomorrow...

But @Bill_Dundee the best thing you can possibly do it get a meter and start testing your blood glucose to see if your No Sugaring is working for you. If your blood glucose is at good levels, then you can be confident you are doing enough. If it isn't, you may want to go to the next step. Either way, knowledge is power. :)
 
I did a two step reduction, first cutting out sugar then a few weeks later carbs - but only because I was told to cut down on sugar and I didn't realise - nor was I actually told - at that point being somewhat in a total befuddled state of shock at my diagnosis (and I wasn't checking nutritional info on packaging, etc) that carbs=sugar=carbs. Had I known I probably would have done things differently, though I think the slower reduction actually helped me avoid the dreaded "carb flu" when I finally cut right down to 20-25g carbs a day. And until that point I hadn't used a meter either so I had no real knowledge of what was going on glucose-wise for me. In retrospect I definitely wish I had found this forum and all this vital information when I was first diagnosed!

Robbity
 
Thank you for all the above replies. I have been looking at this in the wrong way and I'll go by the carbs reading from now on. I still need to get my weight down BIG TIME, so I am assuming a limit of 25 carbs a day is okay. I do have a meter and I am self testing quite a lot so I can see how and when I spike and what is causing it the worst.
 
25 carbs a day is fine if it works for you. The first week or two will be the hardest and then the cravings fade out. Once you get to the weight you want you can add in a few carbs a week using your meter to see how it affects you. When you start putting weight back on then dial it back a bit on the carbs and that will tell you what maintenance level is right for you.
 
Bill_Dundee said:
Just a quickie - when people talk about sticking to 20 carbs a day, are they referring to the total carbs for that food or the sugar reading within the carbs. For example, a particular dish might have a total of 20g carbs per helping, of which sugars are 3g. There's a heck of a difference between the two figures and I'm not sure which I should be focusing on. For myself, I am trying to keep below 12g of sugar per day (until I get everything settled down.)
Click to expand...
The total. Avoid refined carbs in particular
 
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