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Calculating my Carbs

SugarPossum

SugarPossum

Active Member
Messages
42
Location
Yorkshire Dales
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
Still a learning new guy here.
I think I have it right but confirmation would boost my confidence. :)
This was last night's consumption:
upload_2016-4-14_8-16-8.png
This is correct or have I made a gaff somewhere?
 
SugarPossum said:
Still a learning new guy here.
I think I have it right but confirmation would boost my confidence. :)
This was last night's consumption:
View attachment 18527
This is correct or have I made a gaff somewhere?
Click to expand...

I haven't actually checked your figures...but if I were to eat those, my estimate for total carb content would be around that figure.
You've done well there. It is bit of bother to do all the calculations...but once you start doing it, carrying on for a while...you'll soon learn to portion your choices and don't need to count intake anymore or at least not so regularly.
Well done! Btw.....how did you food choices worked for you...did you feel sated/was the food enough?
 
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Frisky, oddly enough my diet hasn't changed very much from pre-Type 2 diagnosis.
I live alone so my evening meals tend to be pretty much as my initial post.
Special Friday night steak, some roast potatoes, shrooms 'n' onion.
I've decreased the potatoes some and increased the brassica content so with some cheese 'n' tomatoes for afters I do feel sated.

Nice to know my calcs aren't a mile off. Now to see if I can lose this beer belly (though I almost never drink beer :) )
 
I think we all have slightly different reactions to carbs... by that I mean the numbers are the starting point, rather than the whole story.

For instance, I can tolerate 10g carbs in grains far worse than I can tolerate 10g carbs in root veg. Other people find the opposite.

So if you start seeing unexpected rises or non-rises, just make a note, and you will soon see a pattern appearing.

Hope that helps.
 
Brunneria said:
I think we all have slightly different reactions to carbs... by that I mean the numbers are the starting point, rather than the whole story.

For instance, I can tolerate 10g carbs in grains far worse than I can tolerate 10g carbs in root veg. Other people find the opposite.

So if you start seeing unexpected rises or non-rises, just make a note, and you will soon see a pattern appearing.

Hope that helps.
Click to expand...
I seem to be same, carbs from grains will spike me up. Though I noticed that if I have 4 or five grapes with chunk of brie...sugars in those grapes don't affect me at all! What a nice treat that is!
It seems that our bodies change how their handle different sources of carbs over time....what might not be appropriate now can do later on and it works other way round too.
That's why I still carry on writing everything I eat down...not necessary counting anymore as such, but able to go back and see 'what it was that did that' is important.
 
SugarPossum said:
When you say 'tolerate', Brunneria, can you explain what you mean?
More weight?
More blood sugar?
Feel bloated? Hungry?
Click to expand...

Depends entirely on you and your body.
Sorry to be so vague, but these things vary so much from person to person. I can describe what happens for me, but your experience may be different.

For me:
10 g carbs in grains (particularly rice and wheat) results in a higher faster rise in bg, and a slower return to normal
10g carbs in root veg results in a lower, slower spike.
10g sugar is even lower and slower

I know that this feels counter intuitive, but it is how my body works.

I can speculate that I have food intolerance to grains, because grains also cause me to retain fluid and get some joint inflammation. But I have never had a food intolerance test done through a lab, so it is just speculation.

My general response regardless of type of carbs is that the harder and faster the spike, and the quicker it drops after (a short sharp spike stimulates a faster insulin response) the hungrier I get, and the quicker that hunger strikes.

Regarding weight, I don't gain weight any more - providing I fulfil two specific conditions -
1) I keep my carb intake below my personal carb threshold (again, this is personal and can only be discovered by self-experimentation. Mine is around 30-40g of grainless carbs a day), and
2) I fill up on foods like veg, protein and fats which prevent the rapid rise and rapid drop mentioned above. Avoid that, avoid carb cravings, and I personally can eat huge quantities and not gain a pound.
 
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SugarPossum said:
Sorry Finsky, got your name wrong last time :(
Your 'spike'. Immediate?
How does it show itself?
Click to expand...
Well..I test my blood sugar levels before I eat...and after an hour (that's my 'immediate') I re-test..if the reading has jumped drastically(say from 6 to 8..to me that is big'ish jump)...I then test again after another hour. If that second reading has gone up again, that will tell me that my body has had more than it can handle. And particularly if hours later when I'm ready for my next meal, blood sugar levels are not where they are supposed to be. I definitely know by then that what ever it was that I had eaten previously wasn't 'suitable' or my medication level is not correct or it is not working properly...:rolleyes: Yes, I know...too many 'if's'
You might come across on the forum the term 'eat to your meter'...and that's what it basically means. You test before you eat and test few times after at certain time scale to see what happens to those readings. If they stay under 8 all the time, that is good job. When the readings start to go into double figures...getting them down again is getting harder, so better to keep them 'acceptable' in first place.
I eat fair bit of fat...from all different sources..fat don't raise blood sugar levels, but to compensate I am skimping with carbs...and that helps me with VERY slow weight loss as well...AND I rarely go hungry...good bonus!:D

I don't stress myself with quite that amount of testing now..as I more and less have learned the basic 'diet' that my body is happy with. But when ever I have something 'different'...then I will do my blood tests to see what happens.
I do all this 'hard work' because I'm trying get rid of the need for medication..or at least keep it into minimum. Getting there but still some work to do!

Edit to add...LOL...and that's where my body is different to Brunneria's...if my blood sugars go up, they GO up and won't come down in a hurry (my kind of spiking). But the level will settle naturally over couple of hours time if there haven't been a tricker in first place.
I don't know without testing if I have high blood sugar levels going on...only if the levels been REALLY high for LONG time, then yes....but other than that, I don't feel any different during day time.
If mine is high during night/in the morning (that's in double figures) then I feel really tired and reluctant to get up and usually then the rest of the day is like I need jump starting...no go in me at all.
Like you see...individual thing.
 
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SugarPossum said:
Still a learning new guy here.
I think I have it right but confirmation would boost my confidence. :)
This was last night's consumption:
View attachment 18527
This is correct or have I made a gaff somewhere?
Click to expand...
That looks like a lot of work. I use an app called fitness pal that calculates the macros for you. Saves me a lot if time.
 
Bluebell, I looked up MyFittnessPal(.com). Looks good but seems only to be in US quantities.
I struggle somewhat with US recipes already so it would take some getting used to.
I don't find the calculations I do now to be that tedious, especially as it makes me look at portion size.
Thanks for the tip though.

The spike and tolerance effects seem to need blood monitoring?
I don't yet and hope never to have to draw blood to test.
I also do not show any physical signs of Type 2 that I am aware of though getting out of a warm bed takes effort some mornings :)
 
SugarPossum said:
Bluebell, I looked up MyFittnessPal(.com). Looks good but seems only to be in US quantities.
I struggle somewhat with US recipes already so it would take some getting used to.
I don't find the calculations I do now to be that tedious, especially as it makes me look at portion size.
Thanks for the tip though.

The spike and tolerance effects seem to need blood monitoring?
I don't yet and hope never to have to draw blood to test.
I also do not show any physical signs of Type 2 that I am aware of though getting out of a warm bed takes effort some mornings :)
Click to expand...

Yes, too many cups and not enough grams. However, if you often have the same meals, you can save your own recipes which makes life a bit easier.

Part of the problem with Type 2 is that a lot of damage can be done before you start experiencing symptoms. I, like many on here, do not accept that this is a progressive disease and am determined to reverse it not just manage it. That requires understanding the effect of different foods on bg which can only be done by drawing blood (only a drop though!) and testing.
 
Seems it's accepted that blood drawing is the only way to monitor bg.
However, when to begin?
If symptoms don't show that could mean no problems so to begin blood testing seems over anxious.
On the other hand .....
 
SugarPossum said:
Seems it's accepted that blood drawing is the only way to monitor bg.
However, when to begin?
If symptoms don't show that could mean no problems so to begin blood testing seems over anxious.
On the other hand .....
Click to expand...

You can test a few times, see if there is a problem, and only carry on if necessary. :)

I must say, testing has been a revelation to me. I had no idea that my body reacted to some foods with such melodramatic flair, and to others with such comfortable tolerance.

For me, the test meter is the single most useful tool in managing my D - and it doesn't hurt at all. :)
 
The 'drawing blood' is only a teeny weeny drop from a finger...it really is no more than that. If you've ever pricked you finger with needle or drawing pin, you have quite likely resulted getting more out of that misfortune than what is needed for blood testing. Once you applied teeny speck of blood on the meter (or on disposable testing strip), it takes few seconds to get the 'magic' number ;)
It really is worth it...even if you don't have symptoms, you don't know what is going on in the backround. And even if you don't have nothing going on at this time of life, having piece of mind because everything..at least from that point of view is ok.
Our bodies do so many things without us being aware of it..and things can change very quickly. Nipping those changes in bud early on can result them not progressing any further or even getting rid of them is possible and much easier done.
 
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SugarPossum said:
Bluebell, I looked up MyFittnessPal(.com). Looks good but seems only to be in US quantities.
I struggle somewhat with US recipes already so it would take some getting used to.
I don't find the calculations I do now to be that tedious, especially as it makes me look at portion size.
Thanks for the tip though.

The spike and tolerance effects seem to need blood monitoring?
I don't yet and hope never to have to draw blood to test.
I also do not show any physical signs of Type 2 that I am aware of though getting out of a warm bed takes effort some mornings :)
Click to expand...
I use the "carbs and cals" app. It's not as precise as you don't weigh foods, you just go by the pictures the app has of portion size, but I find it very useful. So, you start creating a meal in the app, and when you go to add, say, carrots it gives you pictures of varying amount of chopped carrots (it does give weights as well) , and you add the one that is the closest match to your real-world meal. It is very visual, which I like. There are running totals of carbs, calories, protein and fat.
 
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