fitzjohn1001 said:
Newley diagnosed 7 weeks ago,and im finding very misleading reading books and websites which all seem to contradict each other.
What im trying to understand newley diagnosed type 2 the number of carbohydrates i can have in a day.
I am 54 and weigh 58kgs.
Thanks for your help
Allyson.
Hi Allyson, I see you're not overweight so it's not about losing weight, it's about maintaining good Blood Sugar levels. The amount of carbs you can have is really down to you and your level of diabetes. You're not on medication (same as me) so you need to find out what you can and can't eat, bearing in mind it's not just about the amount of carbs, but also the type of carbs.
Some people take the route of eating what they want to a large degree and allowing medication to control their sugars. Others use diet and a restricted number of carbs to control it. I use the latter, but neither is right or wrong, it's down to what suits you.
I eat about 150 to 180 grams of low GI carbs a day, about 50 - 60% of the norm for a male. That equates to about 125 - 150 for a woman. On that, I've got my HbA1c down to 5.9 from 8.2, and currently it's about 5.5 I'm lucky, others might need to eat much less carbs to get down to that. The only way you can find out what you can deal with is by testing.
You need to allow for the fact that it takes a week or two for your sugar levels to settle down after you start a reduced carb diet, then TEST. Test just before you eat, then again 2 hrs later. If you've had a big rise, don't eat that again! Or moderate what you've eaten. Initially, I aimed for readings of less that 10 2 hrs after eating, then I aimed for less than 8. Now I hope for less than 7, but settle for less than 8. You'll soon get to see what you can eat in terms of quantity of carbs. Perhaps start on about 120, and see how it goes. You can up it or lower it after a while if you don't get the readings you want - but give it a while to settle as I said. Some go on VERY low carb diets, perhaps you could start more moderately first
For low GI (glycaemic index) I avoid the starchy carbs, like white flour products, white rice and pasta (I eat small amounts of Basmati rice once a week, and wholewheat pasta once a week), avoid boiled or mashed "old"potatos (very starchy) and have boiled new pots, no pastry and of course no "sweet" things. Remember to read the nutritional info on all you buy - you're not looking at sugar content alone, but CARB content
There's loads more you can learn about scrummy self made desserts on here that are low carb, and loads more about diet in general, but hopefully this is something to start you thinking
Good luck!
