carb counting

Hi.

It's total carbohydrate you need to check, because all carbohydrate turns to sugar in the body.

You'll see on here that some people can tolerate more carbohydrates than others. Don't worry, you'll soon get used to it.

Both types of carb are important to diabetic, type 1 or type 2. The sugar carbs are always bad, though most of us blow out now & again. Starch is absorbed into your blood stream much more slowly than sugar, so a meal with 24 grammes of carb of which only 3 grammes sugars, is much better for you than one with most of the carb being sugary carb. The proper term is complex & simple carbs, complex being the better ones, simple being bad ones.

Most diabetes try to remove simple carbs from their diet to some extent, but it's impossible to do so completely. Brown bread is better than white; steamed potatoes better than baked etc.

You may have heard of a low GI diet. This is good for diabetics as it encourages foods which absorb slowly causing a slow rise in blood sugar.

If you love dark, bitter chocolate, pop down to Aldi! They sell an 85% cocoa chocolate bar pack called Moser Roth which comes in a pack of 5 mini bars with only 7 grammes of sugar per bar. I'm addicted! & usually share a mini bar in the evening with my partner which quells my chocoholic craving.

The great thing about the carb counting thing is that it isn't a diet, you can eat as much as you like, as long as it isn't full of carbs.

I wouldn't worry about the sugar, just count the total carbohydrates. Things made of flour have very little sugar in them, but can be worse for your BG than eating sweets. I'd rather eat a Kit-Kat than a slice of white bread (although I shouldn't really eat either).

The only real way of telling, is testing your BG a couple of hours after you eat, you'll soon work out what you can eat and what you can't.

If you take this approach, then you can have a bar of chocolate now and again, just wait until your BG is low enough that you can handle the spike. It's best not to make a habit of it, but if you do it infrequently then you'll enjoy it even more.

As a Type 2, I find the best thing to do is to simply ignore "sugars" on labels and just judge a food by the "total carbs". Reading labels is a 'must' now - it becomes automatic. I try to aim for foods with 5g carb or less per 100g.

I'm on a very low-carb diet as I'm losing weight as well; my daily total is around 25g/30g of carb, never more than 70g (except on my odd treat occasions ! ). This level may be too low for you.

Get yourself a carb counter book (Collins Gem series have a good pocket-sized one), eat what you would previously have called a 'normal' diet for a day or two, and count all your carbs. You may be surprised at how many you take in during a day!. Then decide where you can cut down, and look for lower-carb alternatives. Decide what you think is a reasonable amount of carbs, and alter your diet accordingly. Unfortunately some things may be out of your diet for good! for me, grapes and bananas are a 'never again', but I can eat a small apple, or some berry fruits. We are all different.

I can eat a couple of slices of Tesco Multigrain wholemeal bread every now and again; some people are fine with 'Burgen' bread, which is in most supermarkets now. I can eat about 40g of Lizi's Granola for breakfast - occasionally! Normally I have a 2-egg omelette. Occasionally I'll have a ttreat day and maybe eat fish and chips or a curry - but those are very rare, maybe once every 3 months or so. A treat once a week is not a treat any more, it's a habit :roll:

Get yourself a blood glucose meter, and test before each meal and 2 hours after, making a note of what you've eaten. You're aiming to have your blood sugar level about the same after 2 hours as it was before you ate. This way you can see what foods spike you, and what you're okay with. It doesn't take long to work a diet out, and it's really not difficult - just a bit overwhelming to start with! :shock:

If you can exercise, try to do 20 - 30 mins exercise every day - a walk, cycling, swimming - whatever suits you. You don't need to start circuit training - every little helps!

A tip for your chocolate fix - apart from the dark chocolate brands, try some of the powdered drinking chocolates. Some of those are quite low in carbs, and so comforting! But keep them for treats, not 5 times a day! :lol:

The main think about diabetes, particularly Type 2, is to know and accept you've got it, and take charge of it. It's not going to kill you tomorrow - take time to know what you can and can't eat, look after yourself, and take charge. With any luck you'll live a full and happy life with no complications whatsoever!

Ask any questions you want - there's always someone happy to help

Viv 8)

PS Borofergie and I are singing from the same hymn sheet . As for crisps - potato in any form is very easily digested and the glucose hits your blood very quickly. Jacket potatoes act quicker than sugar :shock: . You really are going to have to re-think your diet, I'm afraid. Get that carb counting book and just have a look at what you're eating.

A pack of Golden Wonder ready-salted (34.5g pack weight) has 17.2g carb, 12.2g fat, and 186 calories. It's the most fattening and most expensive way of eating potatoes! A 4-finger bar of Kit-Kat weighs 25g, of which 15.4g is carb, 6.9g is fat, and contains 127 calories. Either of those contains about half my daily carb allowance, and would spike my blood sugars :shock: I don't eat either any more - I find the only way I can break a habit is to stop it cleanly :lol:

Good luck! :wink:

Jacket potatoes act quicker than sugar

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Really? How come we are told to carry glucotabs/orange juice and not jacket potatoes then?

Jacket potato has a GI of 84 and is marginally slower than sugar (nominally 100).
Note that in practise GL is more relevant, and potatoes may have higher GL (50ish?) than, say, orange juice (20ish?)

AMBrennan said:

Really? How come we are told to carry glucotabs/orange juice and not jacket potatoes then?

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Jacket potatos are a bit messy in the pocket

chocoholicnomore said:

So keep me right here-if I test before dinner then have dinner and a bar of chocolate and then test again 2 hours later and if it's much the same reading then I am OK to do it again??

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Sorry, don't think that was QUITE what was intended, although as a chocoholic myself I sympathise with you. Fact is, chocolate isn't as bad as some things for blood sugar spikes. Dark chocolate doeasn't have nearly as many carbs, but I don't like it so no good to me! Milk chocolate has many more carbs but the fat content (from the milk) slows down the release of sugar a little and makes it relatively low GI. I have just 2 or 3 squares of milk chocolate now and again. Not much, but at least it means I avoid the thought that "I'll never eat it again". By the way, this means milk chocolate, NOT milk chocolate stuffed with orange cream or caramel etc. That stuff is pure glucose and will send me sky high. Milk chocolate with nuts is good, because again the nuts lower the GI of the whole.
On a wider note, you do need to test before and then 2 hours after VARIOUS different food/meal types. We're all a little different in how we react to things, and only with testing will you find out what you can tolerate and what you can't