Counting carbs

[ivan 2]

Sometimes counting carbs becomes obsession and frustration.

It`s rather easy with 100 g or ml of something.

But what with e.g. vegetable soup with several ingredients ? Is it really necessary to use apothecary scale to count carbs in 50 g of carrots, 70 g of cauliflower and 40 g of canned tomatoes in one serving ?

We are fully aware what healthy, low carb food is, but I got tired with meticulous counting of carbs.

After all, how do you know what`s under 50 grams per day if you eat various vegetables, drink a glass milk and snack an apple ?

Do we exaggerate ? Or it`s time to live normally after we have changed our way of life and improved our HbA1c with weight loss, exercise and healthy diet ?

 

[kitedoc]

Hi @ivan 2, I guess it depends on how important it is for maintaining a certain amount of carbs per day, for weight loss etc.
I imagine that once you have calculated the carb value of the usual ingredients one might just use that figure in future unless there is a change in the ingredients for example.
Also there may be different levels of starches, carbs etc in veg. and fruit depending on when in the season they were grown, with the amount of fertilisers used and the variety of the vegetable or fruit grown.
Thankfully BSL readings (including for T2Ds) is at least a way to see how a particular brand/variety of veg. or fruit affects one.
? Ask the NHS to quantify the carb values of various fruit and veg (or find a study which has done this) to show the variation of vegetable and fruit against dietary charts which say things like 1 orange = 15 g carb etc.
Then ask why T2Ds cannot have BSL meters on NHS.??

 

[Guzzler]

You could try 'eating to your meter'. If your vegi soup keeps your readings lower then fine, if it doesn't then tweak the recipe and test again.

 

[bulkbiker]

Well I'm guessing that if you are injecting insulin its probably still quite important so you don't over or under medicate?

 

[britishpub]

I got tired with meticulous counting of carbs.

I've never counted carbs and I hope I never ever have to.

All that weighing, and measuring, even before you get to eat anything.

Can't be ***** with all that milarky.

Do we exaggerate ?

I doubt it is done deliberately, but I expect people can sometimes be "over optimistic". I do laugh sometimes when people say they have only eaten **carbs, and then proceed to list what they've eaten and it obviously contains far more than they have admitted to themselves.