I see a lot of people saying that low carb diets are good for diabetics but I know a lot of cyclists and endurance athletes that say high carbs are good for maintaining energy.
With this in mind are high carb foods that are low in sugar good to have? I’m thinking quinoa, oats, beets etc
Carbs turn to glucose once ingested. When your body works, and works properly, it uses that glucose for fuel. That's why athletes speak of carb-loading. A banana means they can keep going for longer.
For a type 2 diabetic, burning that glucose is a problem. We're insensitive to our own insulin, and it is with the aid of insulin that blood glucose is burnt off. If we can't burn it, it gets stored in our bodies as fat, and when those stores are full, it ends up just about everywhere else. Even tears can end up tasting sweet. Glucose in blood, organs, muscles, etc, can do massive amounts of damage, possibly resulting in blindness, kidney or heart failure, amputation of extremities etc.
So, the difference is whether or not you can use glucose for fuel. I can't, so I use fats and protein instead, and keep carbs to a minimum. My body can't handle the glucose it turns into, so... No quinoa for me. And I'm not the only one. There's actual athletes that adhere to, for instance, a carnivore diet, which has no carbohydrates whatsoever.
Those are the basics: Practically all carbs turn to glucose once ingested. Good carbs, bad carbs, doesn't matter, a carb is a carb is a carb, and when you have a metabolic condition like type 2 diabetes, you have a problem handling those. Whatever speed of uptake, whatever colour, whether they're wholemeal or over-processed... Which is probably not what you wanted to hear, sorry.
Hope this helps, though.
Jo
