• Guest - w'd love to know what you think about the forum! Take the 2025 Survey »

Carbs in sardines???

helensaramay said:
How did you come to decide your body can tolerate 20g carbs per day?
Click to expand...
Not by any tests as precise as you suggest. It is rather that consuming ANY carbs already gives me readings that are higher than I want, especially in the afternoon and evening, and probably generous portions of protein also raise my bg. But I have to eat SOMETHING! At one time I did weigh and record everything and did lots of sums, and to my dismay I found that <30g was not low enough. Nowadays I mostly just adjust what I eat according to the readings I'm getting each day, but also I now know that eg 100g low carb vegetable twice a day is usually OKish. One of the difficulties is not that my bg goes so very high, but that once up it tends to stay there for hours.

My theory is that I am actually pre-LADA and my biggest problem is not insulin resistance but insulin insufficiency. So once my little store of insulin is exhausted, I probably won't have much available til the next day.
 
Alexandra100 said:
I have always believed that fish are totally carb free, so I was shocked to see that Sainsbury's Portuguese sardines in spring water contain 1.2 carbs per 100g. Is this because one eats the stomach contents? Please can anyone comment?
PS I have just checked, and Sainsbury's sardines in olive oil only contain 0.5g carbs per 100g, and in brine 0.8g carbs. So it can't be the stomach contents. And then, Sainsbury's also sell Riga Gold sardines which claim 0g carbs.
Click to expand...
Interestingly and probably equally rubbish Sainsbury list fresh sardines as having 1.2g of carbs per 100g too...
https://www.sainsburys.co.uk/shop/gb/groceries/sainsburys-cornish-sardine-fillets-180g
I'm guessing that they have just copied the values erroneously from one product to the other thus making both incorrect.
Maybe drop them a line and ask?
 
bulkbiker said:
Interestingly and probably equally rubbish Sainsbury list fresh sardines as having 1.2g of carbs per 100g too...
https://www.sainsburys.co.uk/shop/gb/groceries/sainsburys-cornish-sardine-fillets-180g
I'm guessing that they have just copied the values erroneously from one product to the other thus making both incorrect.
Maybe drop them a line and ask?
Click to expand...
I have just Googled "are sardines carb free?" and in a whole page of results, everyone just parrots that tinned sardines are a wonderful carb-free food. Does no-one read labels? Yes, I do intend to ring Sainsbury's about this, but I know fine well I'll waste a long time explaining to someone who has no idea and then if I'm lucky they'll refer my query to someone else who will email me in about a week to say nothing helpful.
 
I eat a lot of sardines all different makes and have never worried about the carbs in them because fish is a low carb food I never eat the ones in tomato sauce though that spoils them
 
Alexandra100 said:
Not by any tests as precise as you suggest. It is rather that consuming ANY carbs already gives me readings that are higher than I want, especially in the afternoon and evening, and probably generous portions of protein also raise my bg. But I have to eat SOMETHING! At one time I did weigh and record everything and did lots of sums, and to my dismay I found that <30g was not low enough. Nowadays I mostly just adjust what I eat according to the readings I'm getting each day, but also I now know that eg 100g low carb vegetable twice a day is usually OKish. One of the difficulties is not that my bg goes so very high, but that once up it tends to stay there for hours.

My theory is that I am actually pre-LADA and my biggest problem is not insulin resistance but insulin insufficiency. So once my little store of insulin is exhausted, I probably won't have much available til the next day.
Click to expand...
Given that you are not even officially pre-diabetic why are you maintaining this very strict low carb diet? Why not live a little and risk 1g of carbs in your sardines.
 
I think I may have solved the mystery of the variable carb content of sardines. Fish roe does contain carbs, and I imagine that sardines sometimes do contain roe, but sometimes don't, according to gender and time of year. If this is it, from the point of view of low carbing one would do better to buy the boneless sort, as I imagine the roes are taken out with the bones. However I have always preferred the sort with bones in, as being more nourishing (source of calcium) and also cheaper and also less wasteful. Quite honestly, I think I'll just stick to Alaskan salmon and pollock in future. I have always felt a bit dubious about fish caught in the highly polluted Mediterranean.
 
Mr_Pot said:
Why not live a little and risk 1g of carbs in your sardines.
Click to expand...
If I wanted to go in for a mad carb-splurge, I would not waste it on sardines. Much better IMO to indulge in some of Montezuma's Absolute Black 100% cocoa dark chocolate @ 8g carb per 100g. But whatever turns you on ...
 
Spring water...
0y4h3.gif
 
Unadulterated fish (prefer tuna in brine myself) and a lot of cream with mushrooms and pasta (which I happen to tolerate) Filling and good. Sardines? No big deal, but oil is a must
 
Back
Top