Could someone please help in advising how many carbs per day I should be having as tried looking on Google but cannot get a straight answer anywhere. I've never been advised by any diabetic nurse or Dr so just don't know were to even begin.
I'm not overweight but don't want to gain weight either.
Any kind of help would be very much appreciated. Thanks in advance
Quantity of carbs is a very individual thing based on your own situation and what drugs you are taking if any to manage your diabetes? If its insulin or any drug that encourages the body to make mroe insulin then seek advice from your nurse to adjust dosage.
If you are not taking meds you could start by noting down what you are eating now typically and then changing
one meal at a time. A useful way to evaluate the current situation would be to think of the golden rules of carbs:
1 QUANtITY How much carbohydrate are you eating? (portion size as it relates to a cupped hand perhaps). See point 2 re changing the proportions of your meal so that you are eating less carbohydrates but are not going hungry and are getting enough calories to maintain your weight.
2. QUALITY What quality is it? e.g. white sugar, cakes, biscuits or brown rice, wholegrain breads or berries and green veg (a spectrum from highly processed foods which will rapidly increase your glucose levels through to carbs that are very fibrous and won't have a big impact on your blood sugar). Note that the wholegrain breds, rice and pasta will have an impact on your blood sugar but not as much as white carbs!
3 COMPANY What company are your carbs in? e.g. do you eat them with protein foods and fats which will slow down their absorption into the blood glucose? Can you eat more of the fat and protein foods to keep you full?
4 TIMING The timing of the meal may be important too e.g. hormones at breakfast make the body more likely to overreact to carbs with too much insulin and added resistance from the stress hormone cortisol. Annoying if you love your toast and cereal but there are great low carb options to swap in.
Also are you snacking? When eating a carbohydrate snack e.g. biscuit, banana, crackers... you will be getting your body to produce insulin to deal with the carbohydrate. Everytime you do this you will be increasing insulin resistance and thus making your diabetes worse. You may find that if you are eating more fat and protein that you feel less hungry in any case!
Re weight maintenance you may find you do lose a little weight but bear in mind that this may be belly fat and that is a good thing with regards to diabetes type 2. A tape measure is probably a better check than the scales for this reason!