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A scary calculation

hanadr

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Looked into the current edition of the Diabetes UK magazine "Balance" and did a calculation on the blood glucose raising potential of their lentil soup recipe.
Given that there are 180grams of carb in 1000 mmol, and 35.3grams per portion that means that each portion of soup contains 196mmol. Given that the average blood volume of an adult is about 5 litres the potential for raising blood glucose, of that portion of soup is 39.2 mmol/l. this result is so scary, I'd be delighted if someone could find a flaw in my sums.
this argument supposes that all the carb turns to glucose [which it usually does] and that none is mopped up by insulin [as in T1 diabetes]
And this recipe is for diabetics!!
Hana
 
Thanks Hana !?! Try the Spaghetti recipe on p. 50 - 82.5 g per portion !shock horror!
 
Don't be silly - if you follow the DIabetes UK diet you could eat the soup and the spaghetti and still have room for a 100g carb desert - a huge slice of Benoffi Pie should just about do it. :***:
 
Wot..no Hob-Nobs? 8)
 
Sorry I can't follow your reasoning.
First I assume that you mean that there are 180 carbs in 1000ml (not mmol)
There are 35. 3 grams carbs in each portion. The 1000 ml makes about 5 portions of 250ml each.
If someone had absolutely no insulin, all bets are off since they would using fat/protein whatever in a futile attempt to fuel the cells(This is not what happens after diagnosis since all of us treated T1 or T2 have some insulin on board either injected or natural... even most T1s have a little according to the latest research).
According to me 1g of carbs will raise my hypoglycemic self by about 4.5mg/dl. Bernstein says http://www.diabetes911.net/readit/chapter7.shtml
'if you're a nonobese Type I diabetic who makes no insulin, 1 gram of carbohydrate will raise your blood sugars by about 5 mg/dl so lets use that.
35.3g x 5 = 176gmg/dl (/18) = 9,8mmol/l.
But of course most of us sensibly use some insulin and at about this time of day I will require about 3.3 units to deal with it.
 
catherinecherub said:
How about reading up on the digestive process of resistant starches. Lentils come into this category.
http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/nutrit ... starch.htm
http://www.livestrong.com/article/30555 ... nt-starch/
http://www.vivo.colostate.edu/hbooks/pa ... index.html

They don't use the same digestive route as other foods.

Yeah, maybe, but as with all things nutrition based it isn't just as simple as that:
http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/meta ... nt-starch/

As usual, I guess all you can do is eat some and test your blood. It'd be a bit of a pity to empty a whole pan full of uneaten lentil soup down the toilet though wouldn't it?

I'm not clever enough to do all this GI stuff, I work on the principle that all carbs are bad carbs. That might not be true, but I don't get caught out by mistaking a high GI carb for a low GI carb.
 
I didn't describe the route by which lentils are digested, just used the fact that digestible starches are polymers of glucose and thus the final digested product is glucose. As to the 180. The gram molecular weight of glucose is 180 therefore one mole of glucose weighs 180grams I mole is 1000 millimoles. those data are not in question
Ian,
by simple proportionality, if 35.3g of carb causes a potential for bg raise of39.2mmol/l, the figure for 87.5grams is is 97 mmol/l!!!
I wasn't writing what WILL happen, just what the potential is.
It's not possible to get away from the fact that digestible carbs are polymers of glucose. It doesn't matter by what route or how fast you break them down. that's the final outcome.
Hana
 
phoenix said:
Sorry I can't follow your reasoning.
...
Bernstein says http://www.diabetes911.net/readit/chapter7.shtml
'if you're a nonobese Type I diabetic who makes no insulin, 1 gram of carbohydrate will raise your blood sugars by about 5 mg/dl so lets use that.
35.3g x 5 = 176gmg/dl (/18) = 9,8mmol/l.
But of course most of us sensibly use some insulin and at about this time of day I will require about 3.3 units to deal with it.
Those numbers make more sense, surley it's carbs/portion that matters.
 
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