QUESTION = IS RICE NO CARBS, WHAT ABOUT PASTA?

[Q007]

Good Evening,

Could you please advise which kinds of rice are accepted - I'm T2 on no meds and want to stay that way but I really am struggling with diet, it's just slipping away with me at the moment (just had a McDonalds with a large coke) couldn't help it. Feel bad about giving in but I've been tired all the time with this low carb stuff. I've had my BG meter delivered, using it for three days and letting the meter tell me what I can get away with by the spikes, I just gave out today. I'm on the ceiling at the moment after the coke (the drink)..

Someone posted, unless I dreamt it, that BROWN rice has no carbs, is that true? I like rice and do know that if I eat rice for a meal and drink sparkling water I feel full. What kinds of rice are best (if at all).

What of pasta? can I have spag bol still? I've heard pasta is carbs? what can I get away with please?

What about the tiredness? is that due to the fact I'm new to trying a low carb diet? will I get used it and the tiredness go away?

Any secrets, please would you tell me

Kind wishes all,

Q..

 

[kezz01489]

Hi all rice has carbs hun it's just like pasta it's high in carbs and is slow release into the system so is best eaten before exercise or a long day out. There is a UK site and a book called cals and carbs that is fantastic to give a great guide. I hope this helps. Xxxxxx

 

[Q007]

Thanks KEZZ, Mwah!

 

[Robinredbreast]

Good Evening,

Could you please advise which kinds of rice are accepted - I'm T2 on no meds and want to stay that way but I really am struggling with diet, it's just slipping away with me at the moment (just had a McDonalds with a large coke) couldn't help it. Feel bad about giving in but I've been tired all the time with this low carb stuff. I've had my BG meter delivered, using it for three days and letting the meter tell me what I can get away with by the spikes, I just gave out today. I'm on the ceiling at the moment after the coke (the drink)..

Someone posted, unless I dreamt it, that BROWN rice has no carbs, is that true? I like rice and do know that if I eat rice for a meal and drink sparkling water I feel full. What kinds of rice are best (if at all).

What of pasta? can I have spag bol still? I've heard pasta is carbs? what can I get away with please?

What about the tiredness? is that due to the fact I'm new to trying a low carb diet? will I get used it and the tiredness go away?

Any secrets, please would you tell me

Kind wishes all,

Q..

Hi and good evening to you

Sorry to tell you, but Pasta is about 30 carbs = 88g and 30 carbs = 95g of brown rice, the same as white rice

The tiredness could be down to low carbing, but if it continues and or gets worse, it's best to have a word with your GP.

All the best with all your changes and good luck RRB

 

[scottish-jim]

Some useful information here: http://www.diabetes.co.uk/diet/low-carb-diabetes-diet.html

 

[Yorksman]

Could you please advise which kinds of rice are accepted -

What of pasta? can I have spag bol still? I've heard pasta is carbs? what can I get away with please?

Like bread, both pasta and rice have a lot of carbs and, also like bread, the more refined these products are, eg. white rice and white flour, the quicker the starch is turned into glucose, hence you will spike.

However, they all come in unrefined wholegrain varieties, wholegrain bread, wholegrain pasta and brown rice. In most people, but not all, the wholegrains take longer to digest and so the carbs take longer to be absorbed into the bloodstream as glucose. This is why these unrefined starchy products are more suitable for diabetics. Unfortunately, in the UK, our definitions and product labels are not that reliable. Today I saw some wholewheat crackers. I thought I would try them but a quick look on the back showed that they contained wholewheat and white (refined) flour. It didn't say in what proportions so I didn't buy. One loaf of bread sold at a supermarket which is described as wholegrain only actually contains 6% wholegrain flour, so it's not a good description really.

I tend to go on brands that I have tested. Morrison's brown rice is ok and Buitoni wholewheat pastas seem to be OK. Pasta is usually coarse ground durum wheat, semolina, and it is at the lower end of the GI index anyway but wholegrain pasta is mostly OK. I just find that Buitoni tend to put in the packet what it says on the packet. Pearl barley is very low GI and is great in stews. Blue Dragon do wholewheat noodles which are good too. Couscous, which is starting to get into the medium GI starches is about as high as I will go and in that case, I just don't have so much of it.

Rice is tricky. Long grain brown basmati rice is supposed to be OK but I find it does raise my BG. The Morrisons brown rice is a long grain parboiled brown rice and that's OK as I said. Pasta, although made from wheat, is coarsely ground and this too appears to slow down the absorbtion rate. Basically, you get so fed up of testing everything, you stick to a few brands that you can trust and which work for you but you have to try and test a lot at the beginning.

 

[pumppimp]

Hi,
As the other person said all rice is full of carbs as is all types of pasta, bread, corn etc. I don't quite do low carb I try to be below 100g a day as when I tried less than 50g I was constantly tired bunged up and felt rubbish. however when I was on a regular full carb diet I felt bloated high and tired as well so the compromise for me was doing lower carb trying to stick to low gi carbs when I do have them. A nice alternative to rice is couscous, It's really nice when you put in herbs and I usually make it up it stock for me it now tastes nicer than normal rice. another choice is bulgar wheat and qinuoa same sort of thing to couscous just slightly crunchier. Also I still have occasionally rice and pasta just in a lot smaller quantities usually topped up with a lot of veggies. Mcdonalds will never really be any good for blood sugars but if you ever do fall off the wagon why don't you just have a diet or coke zero instead of the full sugar one that will help half the damage. Also exercise, if you increase the amount of daily exercise you do you may be able to handle slightly more carbs. Hope that helps a little

 

[Q007]

Thank you all, so BROWN rice is slow release and slow release is ok yes? I'm I reading this right? Basmati rice tastes quite sweet so I'd like that and, to confirm this rice is ok? Sorry to sound stupid but I'd like to get this one right.


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[janeecee]

I can tolerate a small portion of brown rice but everyone is different. Portion size is crucial when it comes to carb control. You need to eat to the meter to learn what you can and can't tolerate. It may well be that it won't spike your numbers with certain foods. I can have a small amount of brown rice with chicken with no serious damage but with a chick pea curry I'm spiking high. Obviously there are carbs in chick peas and next to zero in chicken or a piece of salmon, so bear in mind what you eat with the rice.

OK. Tough love time. You aren't doing yourself any favours if you drink 'normal coke'. There's something like the equivalent of 12 spoons of sugar in one can. No, no, no, no, no! If you must have Coke have a Diet Coke. I don't know what's available at McDonald's these days but anything in a burger bun is bad news. Throw the bun away! It's made of white flour and some added sugar to sweeten it up and make it nice and cake-like but those refined carbs will raise your blood glucose like a rocket! Naughty Q!

I know it's tough. I'm coming to terms with all the stuff that's off limits now—noodles, pasta, even bananas. Even a lot of 'healthy' food is now off the menu for me. If you're controlling your blood glucose levels by diet only—I'm pre-D, I have no choice it's either diet to bring those numbers down OR get worse—then you've got to develop a willpower like steel. It's the hardest thing in the world just to keep motivated and keep going. But you can do it! Lots of people can and do. So draw a line under your McDonalds-fest and get to it!




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[Yorksman]

Thank you all, so BROWN rice is slow release and slow release is ok yes? I'm I reading this right? Basmati rice tastes quite sweet so I'd like that and, to confirm this rice is ok? Sorry to sound stupid but I'd like to get this one right.

In theory yes, but you'd have to test two or three times with each type. Morrison's brown rice works for me but long grain basmati does raise my BG levels, but nothing like as much as white rice.

The two problems are firstly, it's not wise to trust what it says on the packet. Producers know if they stick the word 'wholefood' on the pack, people think its healthy. The law is not very good at stopping this. Secondly, you have your own digestive system which produces, or may not produce at all, or produce in different proportions any of the following very much incomplete list of starch digesting enzymes, amylase, lactase, glucoamylase, invertase, carbohydrase, isomerase, maltase, alpha-glucosidase. They all have their specific jobs to do.

 

[Yorksman]

I can tolerate a small portion of brown rice but everyone is different. Portion size is crucial when it comes to carb control. You need to eat to the meter to learn what you can and can't tolerate. It may well be that it won't spike your numbers with certain foods. I can have a small amount of brown rice with chicken with no serious damage but with a chick pea curry I'm spiking high.

Just to underscore the point about the differences in people, I can eat chick peas and drop my BGs. Last night my pre meal BG was 5.5 and two hours after said chickpea curry, it was 4.9. It was as if I hadn't had anything to eat. And, I had it with two Sounas wholegrain chappatis, a brand I can generally trust. Not only are the foods and enzymes involved different, but there is a sequence of events that takes place which varies according to the mix of foods eaten. Not all digestion takes place at the same time all at once. 'That didn't agree with me', 'those keep repeating on me', 'that lies heavy on me' are often the sort of things people say after a meal.

 

[Yorksman]

I know it's tough. I'm coming to terms with all the stuff that's off limits now—noodles, pasta, even bananas.

I'm off on mi hols in a couple of weeks and the sugar bakery in Rothenburg is somewhere my wife wants to go:

I may have a lie in on that day.