Would you say this is a Low-carb diet?

[Faith*]

Hi.

I've radically changed my diet over the last 10 months, I've cut out all the bad things I used to eat (every possible variation of junk food) and swapped it all for meats and veg. I've even halved all my portions of foods at mealtimes but I don't really know if that means I now follow a low carb diet?

I thought i'd ask the experts, here is a typical day for me, it rarely changes unless it's a weekend when breakfast may become pancakes or toast.

Breakfast: Porridge 60g with approx 100-150mls semi-skimmed milk

Mid morning snack: usually either, 100g combined weight of strawberries & Pineapple or an apple or a small 100ml of yoghurt (approx 17g carbs)

Lunch: either a Tuna sandwich 30g or soup 15g with 4 crackers (20g) and on a naughty day I treat myself to a jacket potato with tuna.

Afternoon snack: Either an apple or a banana

Tea: Meat & veg with either 25g pasta or a 50g potato or no carbs at all.

If I go to the gym at night sometimes I go hypo so have to have a piece of toast with jam to bring my sugars back up.

Other than that it's the same routine every day.

What do you think??

 

[VickiT11979]

Hi Faith,

First I've tried to work out your carb values for what you eat. I get:
Breakfast: 42g average carbs
Snack: 13-17g carbs (not tried to work out carbs for berries & pineapple as I'd need weights of each)
Lunch: 30-35g carbs
Snack: 13-25g carbs (I weigh my fruit, medium size apple is 13g carbs, medium banana usually around 20g, large around 25g)
Tea: depends on what veg & how much. Veg does contain carbs, parsnip, baked beans & sweetcorn the most. You will be eating an added 5-15g carbs in the veg, plus 20g carbs in pasta & 7-10g in the potato.

Like me, your carbs vary a lot day to day, but somewhere I've seen reference to "liberal low carb" which I think is <130g per day, "strict low carb" which is <30g per day & the in-between. So on your lower carb days you are <130g, but on a higher carb day you are eating over 130g.

I've heard 2 things about low carb which are relevant to type 1s.

Firstly, if we try to go really low carb & we replace some of the carbs by protein, we probably find we need insulin to cover the protein, as around 50% of it can be converted to glucose, usually at 3hrs after eating it. This can actually worsen control, as it's another thing we need to weigh & calculate, the glucose peak occurs later than the peak activity of most rapid acting insulins, and I'm not sure protein metabolism is as straightforward as carbohydrate metabolism, ie does it always convert to glucose?

Secondly, there is a school of thought that says that your insulin:carb ratio for dosing only holds true up to a "carbohydrate limit". This is different for everyone but is often around the 30-40g mark. If you eat 30g carbs, your insulin dose works fine, but if you have a blow out & have 80g carbs, your calculated insulin dose might not be enough & you may need to do more - but I don't know how you work out how much more, except by trial & error!

Neither of these are that relevant to you at the moment as it doesn't look like you're going mad with protein, but it might be if you try to drop your carbs down further. Not that I'm trying to put you off, just making you aware.
Your control doesn't look too bad with your HbA1c - are you wanting to get it lower? Or just wondering about your diet?

 

[Faith*]

It's mostly just for my diet at the moment. I've been eating like this for a while, I used to eat loads and loads of carbs so wondered if I was now low carbing, I hadn't realised that you have to go even lower to be classed as on a low carb diet.

I would probably like to see my hba1c more closer to 7% but I am happy if I remain 7.4% for the rest of my life, at least i'm on target.

I didn't know that the protein converts to glucose in the absence of carbs, :shock: I wonder when that starts to happen i.e. how long on the low carb diet before it starts taking it from proteins? Although thinking about it I'm sure when I just have chicken, onions, pepper, sweetcorn I always give myself 3units of insulin so it must be for the meat and not the veg like I originally thought.

 

[noblehead]

I would say much like myself Faith you are eating carbs in moderation, nothing wrong with that mind as long as you feel well and you maintain good bg control.

Try adding some seeds, blueberries and a spoonful of yogurt to your morning porridge to make it a delicious and satisfying breakfast.

 

[Faith*]

Thanks, I tried some greek yoghurt but it tastes awful. I'll try some normal plain in with my porridge. At least I know it's kind of following a low carb diet. Do you ever get days were you really crave just that extra bit of mash/rice or biscuits though? I stared at a tin of beans earlier and thought ooh yeah, I could eat you right now!! :shock:

 

[noblehead]

Thanks, I tried some greek yoghurt but it tastes awful. I'll try some normal plain in with my porridge. At least I know it's kind of following a low carb diet. Do you ever get days were you really crave just that extra bit of mash/rice or biscuits though? I stared at a tin of beans earlier and thought ooh yeah, I could eat you right now!! :shock:

I use a brand of yogurt in my morning porridge called Onken, it's a natural set yogurt that contains live Probiotic cultures.

I don't crave carbs as I don't really restrict them to much, however mashed potatoes would seriously effect my postprandial bg so I tend to just eat boiled, roasted or jacket pots, I do eat rice and stick to Basmati and beans I just eat occasionally, biscuits I only ever eat if I'm beginning to drop low and hovering around the 4mmol mark.

 

[Faith*]

I'll try the onken ones with it, just a spoonfull do you think? Is it the plain one with no bits? I remembered trying a strawberry one but I'm fussy and hate yoghurts with bits in.

 

[noblehead]

I'll try the onken ones with it, just a spoonfull do you think? Is it the plain one with no bits? I remembered trying a strawberry one but I'm fussy and hate yoghurts with bits in.

Yes it's plain natural set yogurt and doesn't contain any flavorings.....or anything else for that matter

It comes in a blue 500g pot, I buy mine from Tesco's but have also seen it in Asda and Morrisons, it's very nice and creamy and would be delicious on its own with berries should you choose, each 100g weight contains 3.8g of carbs.

 

[Faith*]

ok thanks for that, I'm off to asda on the way home so I'll see if I can find it and I'll try it in the morning and let you know. And hardly any carbs...perfect!

 

[iHs]

Hi

For quite some time now, I have been eating 1 weetabix (13g carb) with a very small amount of cold water poured on it to soften and then put some Basic yogurt on (2 tsp) to replace milk and then 1 tsp of chopped almonds. Sounds revolting but actually tastes fairly nice. Sometimes I add 2 tsp of large flake porridge and mix that in if Ive run out of almonds. The yogurt that I use comes from Sainsburys and has a mild yogurt taste but comes out like single cream. It also has the 'live cultures' in it. If you wanted to, you could get some black grapes as they are not too high in carb.

 

[de130770]

parsnips contain more carbahrites than potatoes

 

[sassywriter43]

Faith

I can honestly say the best way to keep track of what carbohydrates you are consuming is to join your fitness pal and put what you are eating in there. It will automatically work out the calories, carbs, fat and protein for you. You have to set yourself a daily target. Then you can see where you are going wrong.

Hope that helps.

 

[Faith*]

I love grapes, I munch on them between meals if I can get them on offer in asda lol

@sassywriter43 is that an app for your phone sorry?

 

[sassywriter43]

You can get it on the computer. I don't use it on my phone, but I do not know if it is available on the phone at all sorry, maybe someone else does. I just googled it out of curiosity one day and joined - as I needed to keep track of what I am eating when I can be bothered as I have 'food issues' I don't eat enough in other words.
My GP wanted me to set a target of 800 calories and about 35 grams of carbs and I cannot reach that.
Best thing about my fitness pal is that it is completely free.





Type 2 diagnosed Oct 2012 Diet controlled
Also have M.E, Fibro, MCS and a past anorexic.

 

[Susiebabs]

It's certainly available on the Iphone...I don't know if there's an android version too though.

 

[hanadr]

Faith
i wouldn't call that a low carb diet, but it sounds as if you've cut back a lot from where you were. so LOWER! I'm someone who needs to go below 50 carbs per day to manage on my minimal dose medicine.
The carbs are found in cereals and their products such as bread or pasta, root vegetables like parsnips and potatoes and fruits, in the main and any processed foods that contain them.If you want to cut back further, You might find a carb counter book helpful.
The important thing really is; are your sugars where you want them to be? If so carry on the way you're going, It's right for you.
Hana

 

[Faith*]

Faith
i wouldn't call that a low carb diet, but it sounds as if you've cut back a lot from where you were. so LOWER! I'm someone who needs to go below 50 carbs per day to manage on my minimal dose medicine.
The carbs are found in cereals and their products such as bread or pasta, root vegetables like parsnips and potatoes and fruits, in the main and any processed foods that contain them.If you want to cut back further, You might find a carb counter book helpful.
The important thing really is; are your sugars where you want them to be? If so carry on the way you're going, It's right for you.
Hana

Thanks, it's just handy to know so that when people ask I've a better idea of how to describe my diet. I'll just call it a reduced carb diet ey lol

I'll try the onken ones with it, just a spoonfull do you think? Is it the plain one with no bits? I remembered trying a strawberry one but I'm fussy and hate yoghurts with bits in.

Yes it's plain natural set yogurt and doesn't contain any flavorings.....or anything else for that matter

It comes in a blue 500g pot, I buy mine from Tesco's but have also seen it in Asda and Morrisons, it's very nice and creamy and would be delicious on its own with berries should you choose, each 100g weight contains 3.8g of carbs.

I could only find the vanilla one! I definitely don't recommend a spoonful of that with porridge haha It's gorgeous on it's on though. I'll look out for the blue one though. Thanks for the tips, I've a new morning snack yoghurt now haha

 

[desidiabulum]

I love grapes, I munch on them between meals if I can get them on offer in asda lol

@sassywriter43 is that an app for your phone sorry?

Whoa! Watch out for grapes! It's not all about carbs. Glycemic load of grapes is 11 per serving, which is nearly three times that of a pear or an orange, and their GI is as high as a ripe banana. Test and see, but I find grapes send my sugars soaring (and so would a banana). Hba1c level is your choice, but as I'm sure you know some of us aim at being quite a lot lower than your target, and I do wonder whether just rethinking some of your food choices might help to ease you down a bit more without too much trouble.

 

[Faith*]

Grapes don't seem to affect me that much, I only do 1 unit for about 5-6 grapes. I'm on a pump though so the background insulin may help with that possibly. I was just curious as to what constitutes a proper low carb diet, I eat really healthy these days. I've reduced my carbs a lot due to my training regime but I don't think i'd survive lower than 50g per day like I've discovered some people are on as I need those carbs to get me through a gym session without a hypo :?

 

[VickiT11979]

I'm the same re exercise Faith. My HbA1cs have been around 7.4-7.8% generally in the last few years, then I reduced my carbs from around 200-270/day to 50-130/day, averaging 90ish at the end of October. I think it's helped my control, my HbA1c is lower now than it used to be, but it's exactly the same as last Nov, when I'd only been "reduced carbing" for 2 weeks. So I don't really know, but my current diet suits me & I'm sticking with it!
Really low carb is harder for type 1s because we need to replace the carbs with something to maintain our calorie intake, and then protein has more effect & can mess things up. Type 2s still have some insulin production so their bodies can cope fine with protein being slowly converted to glucose over a few hours.
I have to carb load a bit before exercise & take in glucose during exercise, even if I reduce my basal & previous bolus, so my exercise days are those where my carbs go above 100g.

I have a routine now: Lidl full fat Greek yoghurt 150g with about 40g blueberries & Splenda for breakfast (11g carbs), sometimes with a slice of Burgen Soya & Linseed bread toasted (12g), sometimes with Sam JBs low carb Almond flour bread (6g).

Lunch varies more, usually involves 1or 2 slices bread (Burgen or almond flour), salad, soup (slim a soup or those supermarket cartons that are <4g carb/100g soup), weight watchers yoghurt, pork scratchings.

Tea tends to be meat or fish with lots of veg & no potato, I use grated cauliflower instead of rice, sliced courgette instead of pasta, don't have a good substitute for chips though! Tried celeriac chips but didn't like them much.

Snacks can be celery & hummus, almonds, pistachio nuts, almond flour cheese on toast, cheese, chicken drumsticks.
I still like a few crisps occasionally & often have a square of dairy milk or dark chocolate after tea, plus I like a latte, and that's often where my carbs start going up.