Carbs Allowed Per Day Help Please

[wasdale]

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

 

[Resurgam]

Well - as a diabetic the normal amount of carbs in the usual diet is far too many for most of us.
My personal target at the moment is 40gm per day as I want to lose more fat.
To reach normal numbers for blood glucose and Hba1c I had a maximum of 50gm per day.
I did have a meter to check my blood and I reduced and excluded foods so that my after eating readings were no more than two whole numbers, or less than 8 - but once I reached 8 I found that my numbers kept going down even eating the same amounts.
By checking your weight you can see if you are eating enough protein and fat to maintain your weight - though I find beans and avocado tend to put up my weight, as will small amounts of anything with flour - it is as though the carbs from different sources react differently if I eat them.

 

[NicoleC1971]

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!

 

[wasdale]

Well - as a diabetic the normal amount of carbs in the usual diet is far too many for most of us.
My personal target at the moment is 40gm per day as I want to lose more fat.
To reach normal numbers for blood glucose and Hba1c I had a maximum of 50gm per day.
I did have a meter to check my blood and I reduced and excluded foods so that my after eating readings were no more than two whole numbers, or less than 8 - but once I reached 8 I found that my numbers kept going down even eating the same amounts.
By checking your weight you can see if you are eating enough protein and fat to maintain your weight - though I find beans and avocado tend to put up my weight, as will small amounts of anything with flour - it is as though the carbs from different sources react differently if I eat them.

Thanks

 

[wasdale]

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!

Thanks & yes I deffo need to lose some belly fat

 

[NewTD2]

It really depends on how much your body can tolerate.

For me, I can tolerate 80-120g of carbs per day and achieve fasting bg levels between 4.3 to 5.5.

 

[wasdale]

It really depends on how much your body can tolerate.

For me, I can tolerate 80-120g of carbs per day and achieve fasting bg levels between 4.3 to 5.5.

Thanks

 

[callieuk]

I started out my eating relatively normal for a few days and recorded everything in MyFitnessPal. Once I could see where the carbs where I could better target reductions. I'm at about 50g a day but many days I am well under that just through planning what I eat and being aware etc. I originally thought I'd struggle with a 100g a day. If you are aware of what carbs are where in your diet you will really easily be able to set your own limit.

 

[bulkbiker]

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

Personally I went very low to start with intending maybe to add some back in later on. Just never got round to adding them back in when I saw how well my body responded to cutting them out almost completely.

 

[Guzzler]

I think a level of 100g per day is a good starting point. As you learn where those pesky carbs are hiding and which ones raise your blood glucose levels too highly that figure comes down steadily until you reach a point that is comfortable for you as an individual and that looks good on your meter. Good luck.

 

[Terrytiddy]

Hi @wasdale as mentioned its down to what you want to achieve and how you can cope with low carbs. I have a lot of weight to loose 157Kg and blood glucose of 16.6 at start of May. I went on Low Carb High Fat (LCHF) and initially reduced my carbs to 20% per day. This was easy for me as didn't have a lot of carbs from food, most coming from beer (that has now stopped). I do 18/6 fasting every day with no food from 20.00 till 14.00 next day, with only black tea, coffee and water during fast. I've now reduced my carbs to 5% or less per day. To date I have lost 2 1/2 stone and Bg are 4.5 average over 7 days. Only exercise I do is walking the dog. Good luck on your journey.

 

[Dr Snoddy]

The NHS dietician suggested 35g per meal when pressed for an actual value. (In my head I thought, ok 8 meals per day -joke!). I have largely stuck to this for 4 years and my HbA1c has stayed in the normal range. However, I have a lot of abdominal fat and am steeling myself for a lower carb/calorie intake.

 

[wasdale]

Hi @wasdale as mentioned its down to what you want to achieve and how you can cope with low carbs. I have a lot of weight to loose 157Kg and blood glucose of 16.6 at start of May. I went on Low Carb High Fat (LCHF) and initially reduced my carbs to 20% per day. This was easy for me as didn't have a lot of carbs from food, most coming from beer (that has now stopped). I do 18/6 fasting every day with no food from 20.00 till 14.00 next day, with only black tea, coffee and water during fast. I've now reduced my carbs to 5% or less per day. To date I have lost 2 1/2 stone and Bg are 4.5 average over 7 days. Only exercise I do is walking the dog. Good luck on your journey.

Wow well done

 

[Parisemo]

I am

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

type 1 and for each meal I have 30 carbs I never or rarely snack? I think for men it's more. Can't you contact your diabetic nurse sure they would help.

 

[SalRead1]

The NHS dietician suggested 35g per meal when pressed for an actual value. (In my head I thought, ok 8 meals per day -joke!). I have largely stuck to this for 4 years and my HbA1c has stayed in the normal range. However, I have a lot of abdominal fat and am steeling myself for a lower carb/calorie intake.

 

[SalRead1]

The dietician on my retraining course said you need around 140gm of carbs a day to maintain brain function at its optimum level. This was only 3 years ago so naturally I’m very confused about the low carb diets and people having a very low carb intake in general.

 

[britishpub]

The dietician on my retraining course said you need around 140gm of carbs a day to maintain brain function at its optimum level.

Yeo uyji ydgh pytivb ujbm aqaqPop Bfgo gzxxx wqytui hbiotyu mghgh

 

[Richie 2]

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

I'm 29 years IDD. I've never had a set amount of carbs to take, just adjust my insulin dose accordingly. However in the last few months I have switched to a low carb diet and cut down massively on bread, pasta, rice and dairy. my weight has gone down and my HBA1C reduced. Don't get hung up on carb intake. If your sugars are good, then just go with what your doing. ps. I feel better now than I have for a long time.

 

[bulkbiker]

The dietician on my retraining course said you need around 140gm of carbs a day to maintain brain function at its optimum level. This was only 3 years ago so naturally I’m very confused about the low carb diets and people having a very low carb intake in general.

That I'm afraid is the old fallacy that assumes those carbs have to be eaten. As our body is quite capable of making all the glucose it needs from our protein intake then you don't need to eat any carbs whatsoever to have a perfectly functioning brain. At least I hope mine is still functioning after 2 years of fewer than 20g of carb a day.

 

[bulkbiker]

Can't you contact your diabetic nurse sure they would help.

If my nurse was still diabetic then I'm not sure she'd have a lot of useful advice for me. I think Type 1's have a bit of a different experience from the NHS from my extensive reading on these forums. You seem to be a "bit of a challenge" so maintain interest whereas for the Type 2's its more a case of "oh here's another one" give them the usual bumph and send them on their way.