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Carbohydrate Consumption

Lmcfall

Member
Messages
7
Living in the U.S. a diabetic gets a lot of confusing information about everything to include the limit of Carbs Per Meal (CPM). It is normally recommended that a diabetic should limit to 60g-75g CPM for men and 45g-60g for women. Personally that seems a lot of carbs to consume in a short period of time of course putting an extra demand on the pancreas for insulin to put out the fire. I know that circumstances can make all the differences primarily in activity to burn up excess sugar.

My question to the Diabetes Community in England is, is this quoted limits for CPM realistic and does the very attuned English Health Professionals see this as reasonable? All figures/quotations Measured in grams.

Thank you for your assistance as the community for diabetes needs to be united in this dreaded

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The answers will be influenced by what type of diabetes someone had, and the medication they are on.
 
As a T2 starting with a very high number to begin with, I went keto less than 20gm per day. You don't carbs for energy.
 
If the CPM is a limit rather than a recommendation then there is no reason not to eat much less. You don't have to drive at the speed limit even if a lot of people do.
 
The last official diabetes course I went on, an educator stated a minimum of 90 grams per day if lowering carbs. Presumably this means 30 grams per meal.
 
Perhaps if people would test their blood sugar after consuming carbs then each person would know how many carbs per meal they personally can eat.
Also not all carbs are created equal. For me anything with grains and legumes spikes my BG no mater how little. But the same amount in about ground vegetables hardly moves it.
This is not a easy condition because everyone is different and that makes it difficult to treat is a one size suits all way.
 
Hi @Lmcfall, welcome to the forum.
Universally, the average diabetic specialist will disagree with those who have put their (T2) Diabetes into remission and also with those Type1 diabetics who have the tightest Blood Glucose control (so never have a hypo).

From your question I can see that you realise that Diabetics have a problem with carbs. T2 diabetes is basically carb intolerance.
But the problems are:-
1. Carbs are almost impossible to avoid.
2. Everyone's carb tolerance is different, so some can eat over 100grams of carbs per day and still control their blood glucose where others need to eat less than 20gms of carbs per day to achieve that. Also some can eat a fair bit more whole grains than they can of refined ones or eat certain fruit or root veg that others could not. The only way to find what works for you is to get a Blood Glucose Meter (doesn't have to be a CGM) and test the effect of foods and meals on yourself.
 
Thank you, Appreciate your response.
 
@Lmcfall there is a huge difference between our US carbs and those everywhere else except maybe India. Our nutrition labels list TOTAL carbs, then indented under that are fiber, and sometimes sugars. We have to subtract the fiber from the total to get the same carb figures that all the UK folks here use. My PCP told me 45-60 and I could have 2-3 apples or the like per day. Then I found this forum, and turned my thinking.
I'm a "partly vegetarian" for 45 years, haven't eaten red or mammal meat in that long. So I get more Net Carbs than a carnivore, of which there are several on here. I do need my "roughage" very much, but there are low carb foods that do it for me-- primarily spinach and flax meal.
So when you see someone here say "under 20 carbs", they mean "under 20 Net Carbs=total carbs minus fiber carbs".
 
I agree, and wish to add that carb tolerance can fluctuate, even daily.
 
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