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Carbs or "Of which sugars"? - Clarity needed

J

joelcam

Well-Known Member
Hi all,

Can anyone shed any light on something that has confused me since diagnosis of T1 in August.

I am on 4 injections a day (Levemir and Novorapid) and am doing really well at managing my levels. I am not carb counting at present as I've not been shown how but am doing a week long course in March which will help. I use more of a trial and error method, so eat same breakfast, roughly the same lunch and 6 units at tea time seems to work...if not then I try more next time. As my diet is not very varied this is working out really well...BUT....

Snacks are confusing me....I always aim for low carb snacks but am confused as to whether to pay attention to carbs in general or just those that sugar....

Example - I love munching on cashew nuts (21g of carbs per 100g and only 3g of which sugars). Does this mean that it's only the 3g I should be concerned about? No that I am aware of such a food but let's pretend that a food existed that was 100g of carbs but 0g sugars, could I eat as much of it as I want...? Or is it carbs in general?

JC
 
hya,
it is the carb content altogether so the higher it is the worse for you, i never had a carb counting course and taught myself with advice from here and the collins gem carb counter book :D
 
As far as I am aware it is generally the overall carbs you need to be looking at, apart from baked beans according to DAFNE where you count the sugars.
 
meela83 said:
As far as I am aware it is generally the overall carbs you need to be looking at, apart from baked beans according to DAFNE where you count the sugars.
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WHAT !!! DAFNE....daft advice for no expense ? A half can of Branston Baked Beans (210g) contains 33.8g carbs. The sugars which are included in the total carbs figure are 12.4g.

So if you follow that strange advice you are ignoring 21.4g carbs which I would have thought could affect your Insulin dosage by a fair bit ? Confused....you bet I am. :?
 
Hi all, DAFNE taught me to count total carbs but in all foods, so even baked beans! which is handy cos I quite like them so eat them at least once a week :lol:

JC, I'm sure it will all be explained on your course and you will pick it up in no time! Hopefully they will tell you to get the little Gem books which are a big help and I have those in my bag with me at all times :D you will also get to learn how many carbs are in foods which don't have labels and how to measure portion sizes to suit yourself :P (come back and talk to me about what potato sized fist you have after you've been on the course, :lol: )

Thanks for the tip on Cashews however, who knew they were so 'carby' per 100g?!
 
ive never had DAFNE as there was a 8mnth waiting list so i taught myself,i dont eat beans anymore as id have to inject 3 units and thats without eating anything with it, if DAFNE does state that then its definately a mistake, :?
 
I think we need a thread dedicated to Baked Beans.

The only 2 high levels I have had over the last month have both been follwing a meal containing the little bug*ers! At least that explains that one for me....

I am now officially scared of beans.....I can add that to my list which now looks like this...

BEANS, bananas, grapes, corn flakes, biscuits, chocolate, cakes, white bread, naan bread...

How the hell are you supposed to get 5 a day by the way (Fruit and veg)? It's all sugary stuff...I get 2 fruit and usually 3 veg, does this equal 5 a day or is it 5 fruit and 5 veg? Might just throw it all in a blender together, see what Novorapid is needed to deal with it and have it every day!! Imagine a nice onion, carrot, peas, parsnip, cabbage, apple, orange, banana, grape and pear smoothy...Like to see the boys at 'innoccent' try and make that one taste nice...would buy it if they did tho!

JC
 
As a possible explanation, what do you think about this: the amount of undigestible fibre in a food also plays a part. This may be where DAFNE is coming from on the beans. They do have a fairly high carb content, but also have a high fibre content (just under half). The Collins Gem states that 200g of standard baked beans in tomato sauce contains 30.6g of carbs of which 13.8g is fibre, leaving you with 16.8g net carbs.

I've gone low after 'covering' the higher carbohydrate amount so now take the lower value as far as baked beans are concerned. Which is good, cos I love 'em. :D
 
shedges said:
As a possible explanation, what do you think about this: the amount of undigestible fibre in a food also plays a part. This may be where DAFNE is coming from on the beans. They do have a fairly high carb content, but also have a high fibre content (just under half). The Collins Gem states that 200g of standard baked beans in tomato sauce contains 30.6g of carbs of which 13.8g is fibre, leaving you with 16.8g net carbs.

I've gone low after 'covering' the higher carbohydrate amount so now take the lower value as far as baked beans are concerned. Which is good, cos I love 'em. :D
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now that is interesting, I can see what you are referring too in the Collins Gem but I would still count 30.6g as my DAFNE course leaders didn't mention anything about a reduction for fibre content? I have a DAFNE review next week (funnily enough!) so I will ask and feed back :D do you net off your carbs for all fibre rich foods?
 
I net off carbs for foods that are generally fibre rich and not part of my carb staples. I consider the staples to be pasta, rice, potatoes, bread, noodles, etc. Anything like beans, carrots, tomatoes... the vegetables that Bernstein considers to be high carb, and what I consider to be mid-carb, I net off. So the answer is yes. However - and this will sound contradictory - I don't net off fruit where there is an obvious sugar content... banana, apple, pear.

The main decider is personal experience. You don't forget going hypo after a plate of beans on toast which is traditionally thought of as a plate of stodgy, high-carb fuel!

Debloubed - I'll be very interested to hear what the DAFNE review comes back with. Having never been on the DAFNE course I feel like I'm learning bits and bobs about it from what everyone else reports back.

(p.s. I can't help reading your name as Doublebed! What does Debloubed mean?)
 
oooh what have I started with the beans!! Have to say I take the lower dose and come out fine, if I count the lot I go hypo!
 
We were never told to count carbs but the penny dropped a few days after leaving hospital... think we have done well, we were due to see dietician today for carb countin (better late than never) but had to cancel as son still ill after flu jabs, am concerned tho with previous posts about high carbs in carrotts :shock: how high? never checked as only veg he will eat without mashing up pretending he has eatin or accidently!! dropping on floor :evil:
 
shedges said:
Debloubed - I'll be very interested to hear what the DAFNE review comes back with. Having never been on the DAFNE course I feel like I'm learning bits and bobs about it from what everyone else reports back.

(p.s. I can't help reading your name as Doublebed! What does Debloubed mean?)
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lol! It's my real name (believe it or not!) but just a shorter version DEBorah LOUise etc, etc - honest guv! Will report back after my DAFNE update next week :D

NB: I agree with you and your comments re: certain fruit and veg, some can make you high and others you don't have to 'count' for, it's very personal! I don't have to count for bananas and apples for example, but defo do for cherries and grapes - I never count for any veg however, just have small portions, carb content doesn't register with me if I do that :lol:
 
sugarless sue said:
I don't have to count for bananas and apples for example,
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:shock: :shock:

One medium banana is 23 carbs!!One medium apple is 21 carbs. That is a lot of carbs to be NOT counted.
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Hi Sue, if you read above you can see we were chatting about how we are all different and how different foods/carbs effect us in different ways. I am aware how many carbs are in a banana and an apple, but if I inject insulin to counteract those carbs, I go hypo so I'd rather not, thanks all the same :lol: :lol: :lol:
 
cugila said:
Sounds like too much Insulin being used to me....... :?

:lol: :lol: :lol:
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perhaps, but then seeing as my ratios have been calculated and tried and tested and I can eat a banana without my BG going up, perhaps not :D
 
Yes. I suppose if you do cover what you eat with Insulin that would obviously be the case. Still, each to there own........ As for DAFNE I think it should be DAFNFE.....think about it. :lol:
 
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