Starchy carbs

[cleo82]

Hi guys, pest here! Just signed up yesterday and someone kindly replied with the newbie advice, extract of which:

The main carbs to avoid OR reduce are the complex or starchy carbohydrates such as bread, potatoes, pasta, rice, starchy root veg and also any flour based products. The starchy carbs all convert 100% to glucose in the body and raise the blood sugar levels significantly.

Curious about this point! Was diagnosed 20+ years ago so perhaps the advice has changed over the years, but I thought best practice was to base meals around starchy/complex carbs, not to reduce / avoid them :?

Any comments / advice appreciated!

 

[kateincornwall]

Hello and welcome Cleo . You are right , this is the advice given out by most Diabetic nurses and/or Doctors , eat starchy carbs , this advice has not changed despite a shifting trend . Many of us on here have discovered, by reading and by personal experience, that our blood glucose is reduced when we avoid carbs of any kind, including the starchy ones ! We have to bear in mind that the starch turns to glucose when eaten, so for many of us , the obvious ones such as bread, potato, rice, pasta ,pastry etc. are best avoided as much as possible .

 

[kateincornwall]

Just to add, maybe I put that badly !! For myself , I dont completely avoid carbohydrates, but reduce them greatly , I use my meter to tell me how many I can tollerate without raising the blood glucose .

 

[cleo82]

Thanks Kate! I generally have 30g of carbs for breakfast and 40g for lunch and dinner, bulk of which is starchy - is that high?

Out of interest, how do you fill yourself up when reducing carbs? I try to stick to a low fat diet with plenty fruit & veg - is it possible to do this whilst reducing carbs without being hungry all the time?

 

[sugarless sue]

As a Type 1 you can probably eat starchy carbs in moderate portions and cover them with Insulin. There are Type 1's on the Forum who reduce their starchy carbs and have found that it helps reduce Bg levels and also that they can reduce their Insulin amounts. Care must be taken not the reduce too quickly as this may cause Hypos. This was in the next paragraph.......

If you are on Insulin you may find that reducing the carb intake also means that you can reduce your dose of insulin. This can help you to keep weight gain down as Insulin tends to make you put on weight and eventually cause insulin resistance. This should be done slowly so as not to cause hypos.

Type 2's, especially those not on medication, find that if they eat a lot of starchy carbs their Bg levels soar and then they have no way of reducing their Bg levels.

 

[daisy1]

Thanks Kate! I generally have 30g of carbs for breakfast and 40g for lunch and dinner, bulk of which is starchy - is that high?

Out of interest, how do you fill yourself up when reducing carbs? I try to stick to a low fat diet with plenty fruit & veg - is it possible to do this whilst reducing carbs without being hungry all the time?

When you reduce carbs, you will find that your hunger will reduce at the same time. Carbs don't only make your levels high, make your weight stay high, but also make you feel hungry. You will need less insulin too if you eat less carbs. I am not sure if you are eating 40g carbs for breakfast and lunch, or 40g for each. You could try reducing your carbs gradually to around 80g per day and see how it goes. If you feel like it you can even go lower but do it slowly. At the same time you could eat a little bit more fat as it makes foods more satisfying. Have a look at Viv's diet on the Low Carb Diabetes Diet Forum to get you started.

 

[noblehead]

Hi Cleo,

Rest assured you are doing nothing wrong. The advice given is aimed at all diabetics but is more relevant to those that don't control their diabetes using insulin, there are no reason to avoid complex carbs altogether but a reduction in the amount does see beneficial gains in bg and weight maintenance, as you already eat a moderate amount of carbs with each meal (30-40g) there is no need to reduce this further.

I eat bread, potatoes, root veg, pasta,rice and oats everyday but like you keep to a moderate amount of 30g-50g per meal but do eat more on a weekend such as a Saturday night treat and Sunday dinner. I adjust my insulin according to the carb content of my meal and keep my bg well within the recommended guidelines set out by NICE and my diabetes care team.

Since completing the DAFNE course 2 years ago the knowledge and experience I have gained since this time has given me a greater flexibility to eat as little or as much carbs at each sitting, this has been invaluable when eating out and in family events such as weddings, barbeque's etc.

Hope what I have wrote has been useful!

Nigel

 

[donnellysdogs]

I too was told to eat starchy carbs 26 years ago. However, later on, I was told by my then consultant that carbs and insulin and hunger go hand in hand.....the more carbs you eat, the more insulin you need, the more hunger you get, and more importantly the more the increase of high's and lows......

I am one, that eats carbs in moderation....my insulin is less and so are my high's and low's....I put this down to there being less error in me being overestimating or underestimating the foods involved. I am never hungry in between times. Yes, my body expects food at certain times but in between times, it doesn't...

Prior to moderating my carbs, I couldn't walk in to a garage without wanting to pick up some chocolate or cakes etc. Now I'm not bothered at all, and can look, but never want.

Think it takes time for our bodies to get used to any new regimes and routines, but eating moderate carbs instead of higher carbs and starches has really benefited my BG levels (as has the pump!!) I iused to have extremes, but now I am pretty, pretty level between 5 and 8 with an odd blip now and again, and my latest hba1c was 6.3.

 

[cleo82]

Many thanks guys for all your comments - haven't done the dafne course but do adjust insulin for carbs and know first hand the under/over estimating problems. Will cut down a bit and see how it goes...

 

[Zanshin]

Sorry to jump on the back of this...I just wondered, as a Type 1 who likes endurance sports (marathons and sportive cycling), I rely on eating above average levels of carbohydrates in order to fuel the distance. This occasionally makes blood sugar management harder than if I did less sport and ate less carbs.

In short, is there a healthier alternative, in terms of diabetes management?

 

[Zanshin]

oops, just found about 10,000 posts on carbs on the forum...sorry, I`m new!