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Carbs and cals book

Diabeticger

Well-Known Member
Messages
116
Location
Ireland
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Dislikes
Bread, Potatoes, anything Carby
Which one is best , thought there was only one , theres quite a few
 
This is the latest:

https://smile.amazon.co.uk/Carbs-Ca...27537&s=gateway&sprefix=carbs+,aps,178&sr=8-1

The others tend to be one aspect - recipes, or low calorie meal plans.

Also you can get it as an app which I prefer. I bought the book but gave it to a T2 friend at work because he was munching huge meals of pasta, and lots of bread, pastry and cake...... He was shocked silly when he looked in the book at the carb count for his portions.
 
I know many people depend on Carbs and Cals. However, I found it a pain. The pictures of plates of food are unclear of the size of the plate and rarely represented the types of meals I ate. And I spent so long going through the book to find (or not) my meal, the food was cold.
I prefer to use Google and type "carbs in...".
Over time, I have got used to guestimating most meals and I am happy with this approach.
We are all different but, if you can borrow a copy, I would try it out before spending money on it.
 
One ruse I came up with when first diagnosed was to make a large chart which I stuck on the wall. I kept adding to it with each food I ate. Had sections- fruit/dairy/rice/pasta etc. I used the internet/backs of tins/carbs and cals (sorry @helensaramay love it, though agree pics are useless) The chart was good at imbedding it in my brain. It started out stuck to my kitchen wall and 5 years later is on the back of a cupboard door.
 
I have to admit that having given my copy away I'm not really tempted to get another - not really got much in the way of vegan foods in there.... But my friend at work is chuffed to bits with it and has it in his briefcase so he can use it all the time.

I use the net and Nutracheck these days, and between them they suit me fine.
 
The book was my bible when I first started. I found the weights of the food and amounts of carbs, protein, fibre and fats were excellent. I still use it occasionally. I find using the internet a bit hit and miss, except for the major supermarket sites.
 
Thanks for all the replies, just going to use this as a guide when preparing meals, still trying to find my feet so any and all help greatly appreciated
 
I agree that the app 'carbs and cals; was also my bible when diagnosed, I found it useful as it gives weights as well as images so you can visualise what's on your plate and compare it to the image, as a starting point it's very useful and as it's an app it's easy to use. If you're eating out then the restaurant should have nutritional information for the food it serves, however this isn't always accurate depending on the restaurant, so guessing does become second nature after a while.
 
The app is better I find.
 
I bought this book about five years ago and found it extremely useful. My husband looked through it and was astonished at the carbs he’d been consuming. It changed his eating habits and within three months lost three stone in weight.
 

Have to say the Nutracheck app, on the advice of someone here is amazing. The fact that it's instant, and can find almost any product you can throw at it instantly, with near 100% accuracy makes food planning and monitoring ridiculously easy. It's a paid subscription (at least is now / for me anyway), but worth it initially, to get to grips with the meals i would typically eat.
 
I've been using it for years - I always add our recipes in so that as the years have gone by the app gets ever more relevant to my life. Combining Nutracheck with Diabetes:M and I can get a carb value for my meal in no time, input it in the diabetes app and the app instantly tells me the insulin I need to inject, taking into account the time of day/ratio and exercise levels.
 
Another vote for the app. So much easier when you can type the weight in and let the app do the calculating for you! You can also keep updating the app.
 
I have the carb and cals app on my phone....
Pro's
pictures, I find it much easier to compare my meal to a picture.
Con's
I don't find it very actuarte, I have comapred what something is listed as on Carbs and cals to what something says on the packet and found there is often a big difference.

So I only use Carbs + cals as a last resort if I haven't got a clue how much carbs is in something and can't find anyother way of working it out.
 
I find ' Carbs and Cals' useful in default positions when I've got no package info, but the photo amounts are quite hard to quantify. It is a laudable attempt to help people assess their own diets.
What I found most difficult about the book, (and I haven't used the app), is the weight of the book itself, haha. Did anyone else notice this? It wore me out just picking it up!
 
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