Type 2 Carbs per day

[takararose]

I’ve been reading so much on diet and diabetes including calories and carb intake. For 1500 calorie it says to have 150g of carbs but reading post here it seems that people are having 30 or less grams of carbs. Am I wrong?

 

[ianf0ster]

Hi @takararose There is a whole world of confusion on the internet.

You are not wrong that some people in here do Low carb eating around 130gms of carbs per day right the way down to less than 20gms of carbs per day. It needs to be based on how the carbs affect each individual (eating to your BG Meter) and also how easily an individual can modify their eating habits.
Some things that Type2 diabetics (mostly) agree on:
The 3 dietary ways of controlling Type 2 diabetes are:
1. Low Carb way of eating (which is not a calorie reduced diet).
2. A very low calorie reduced diet (approx 800 calories per day) for 8 to 12 weeks maximum followed by a change of eating habits.
3. Various forms of Fasting.

imho Low carb is effective and easier than the others, though fasting gets easier once fat adapted.

Here is the blog entry which helped me to T2 Diabetes remission:

The Nutritional Thingy

There’s a few things you should know. 1. Practically all carbs turn to glucose once ingested , so not just straight sugars, but starches...

josekalsbeek.blogspot.com

 

[KennyA]

I’ve been reading so much on diet and diabetes including calories and carb intake. For 1500 calorie it says to have 150g of carbs but reading post here it seems that people are having 30 or less grams of carbs. Am I wrong?

Hi

I don't count calories at all and have no idea what my calorie intake per day is. What I have done for nearly four years now is to limit carbohydrate intake to about 20g/day - this is about the equivalent of one apple. It has worked very well for me. As well as the blood glucose reduction and the weight loss I've never been hungry during this time using this method.

A good number of people on this forum have had similar sorts of success with this approach. Not everyone needs to go as low as 20g/day - you just need to find the level that's right for you and what you want to achieve.

I'd strongly recommend using a glucose meter as part of this approach - testing before you eat and two hours afterward. You're not looking to see "how high you go". What you're looking for is how efficiently you came back to baseline.

This shows how well your system dealt with the carb in your food. What you're aiming for (at the two hour point) is a BG reading of under 7.8 mmol/l (140 mg/dl) and for your blood glucose to have returned to within 2mmo/l (36 md/dl) of the first reading. This indicates whether your system could cope with the level of carbs in what you ate.

 

[takararose]

Hi

I don't count calories at all and have no idea what my calorie intake per day is. What I have done for nearly four years now is to limit carbohydrate intake to about 20g/day - this is about the equivalent of one apple. It has worked very well for me. As well as the blood glucose reduction and the weight loss I've never been hungry during this time using this method.

A good number of people on this forum have had similar sorts of success with this approach. Not everyone needs to go as low as 20g/day - you just need to find the level that's right for you and what you want to achieve.

I'd strongly recommend using a glucose meter as part of this approach - testing before you eat and two hours afterward. You're not looking to see "how high you go". What you're looking for is how efficiently you came back to baseline.

This shows how well your system dealt with the carb in your food. What you're aiming for (at the two hour point) is a BG reading of under 7.8 mmol/l (140 mg/dl) and for your blood glucose to have returned to within 2mmo/l (36 md/dl) of the first reading. This indicates whether your system could cope with the level of carbs in what you ate.

Thanks for responding. I am not sure I could go as low as 20g/day of carbs. I'm not even sure what I could possibly eat then if I go that low. I have been keeping track of my calories and carb intake. I tested 2*post eating this morning after breakfast and my sugar was 117 so I was happy with that. What is an actual day of food that you eat with only 20g of carbs if I may ask? Thanks in advance

 

[VashtiB]

Hi @takararose - there's lots to eat on less than 20 grams of carbs a day

So breakfast think about bacon and eggs, can add cheese.

lunch you can have some smoked salmon with some spinach leaves, spring onion or chives, some feta cheese (or other cheese) maybe a little cucumber.

dinner- some steak, or roast chicken or other meat- maybe some mashed cauliflower.

Go to https://www.dietdoctor.com/low-carb/keto/recipes for some other ideas

Good luck

 

[MissMuffett]

I have to stick with under 20g of carbs a day even with medication or my BG is too high (in the teens).
Example of what I eat in a day:
I only have coffee with double cream in it for breakfast. Lunch will be eggs or cheese and ham on a slice of low carb toast. Dinner is meat like lamb or pork chops, steak or chicken thighs (with skin on roasted until crispy) with broccoli or roast cauliflower and a few green beans. Raspberries and a bit of full fat yogurt or cream.

 

[PenguinMum]

I’ve been reading so much on diet and diabetes including calories and carb intake. For 1500 calorie it says to have 150g of carbs but reading post here it seems that people are having 30 or less grams of carbs. Am I wrong?

I try to stick to sub 30g carbs daily because my meter tells me that is what is required but I certainly don’t go hungry. Take a look at the thread “What have you eaten today (low carb)” for ideas and chat.

 

[KennyA]

Thanks for responding. I am not sure I could go as low as 20g/day of carbs. I'm not even sure what I could possibly eat then if I go that low. I have been keeping track of my calories and carb intake. I tested 2*post eating this morning after breakfast and my sugar was 117 so I was happy with that. What is an actual day of food that you eat with only 20g of carbs if I may ask? Thanks in advance

117 is probably OK as a post-meal. How did it compare with before you ate?

Yesterday I had about a pint of coffee with double cream between 7am and 11am: a bacon roll at 11am 4 rashers of bacon in a 2g low-carb "bread" roll: and at 7pm I had some chicken curry, chicken/tomatoes/onion/a few chickpeas - probably about 12g for the bowlful. I think I also had a Coke Zero around 3pm, and a small glass of rum at 10pm.

Probably about 15-16g total?

 

[MrsA2]

I am not sure I could go as low as 20g/day of carbs. I'm not even sure what I could possibly eat then if I go that low

That's what your head (and years of food advertising) is telling you BUT what does your meter tell you?
Keep on testing and you'll soon see what your body needs, you may be surprised

 

[takararose]

I’ve been reading so much on diet and diabetes including calories and carb intake. For 1500 calorie it says to have 150g of carbs but reading post here it seems that people are having 30 or less grams of carbs. Am I wrong?

Don't you all get hungry during the day. I work as a nurse 3am-3pm three days a week and then usually pick up 3am-7am 3 days a week. At the moment, I have been on a leave of absence because I had ankle surgery so have been sedentary and perhaps this is why I can't even image only eating 20g carbs per day. I already feel like I am starving my self on 90g of carbs. I am thankful for all your comments.

 

[Margarettt]

Don't you all get hungry during the day.

Hi @takararose Its difficult to believe and I remember asking the same thing but you really really don't. I think for me it was realising its about carbs and not calories. At first I had three big meals a day because I couldn't believe I wouldn't get hungry. Nine weeks in you are lucky if I eat two meals because I am often too full to think about it. I also ate "so I wouldn't get hungry later" these days I take a boiled egg and a wee cube of cheese to work in a tub in my handbag and experience tells me that will be enough if I do get peckish.
That said, very late last night I had what I would always previously refer to as "a binge" (I wasn't hungry particularly but I'm trying to kick a nicotine habit and needed to put something in my mouth) I'm not recommending eating late at night. I had a big piece of Stilton, a big piece of Cheddar, two boiled eggs and a little keto chocolate brownie. It was ashamedly easily 1500 calories but only 2 or 3 carbs and didn't take me over 20g. ( I felt terrible today and didn't eat till 6pm but my point is 20g is no problem. Most days I am less than 10)

 

[MrsA2]

These 2 Australian doctors put it better than I can.

Being in ketosis vs being fat adapted

There is much confusion about these two concepts so let’s discuss these and do some myth-busting. In this article, Dr Lucy discusses what is ketosis, how to know if you are in ketosis, what is ketoacidosis, what is fat-adaptation, how to know if you are fat-adapted and taking exogenous ketones.

www.rlmedicine.com

Basically once your metabolism is fixed, you only want the nutrition you need, not the huge amounts of carby stuff we've been told to eat for years.
I didn't believe it either, when first reading about it but 3 years in I'm fitter slimmer healthier and eat much less and rarely feel hungry.

Give it time, trust your meter and your body will tell you what it needs

 

[Fenn]

Hi, I eat between 7 and 30g a day as a rule, I am currently playing around with intermittent fasting, I eat between 11am and 7pm at worst but am finding it super easy (like today) to eat in a much smaller window, I only ate once today so fasted for 23.5 hours, I’m not hungry and my blood sugars are beyond good.

I always recommend “Dr Jason Fung” on YouTube because he’s so clear and understandable but there are many others, I have found very low carb eating very useful at controlling my bg but this recent discovery of IF has literally been life changin.

I hope you find a path that suits you, I reckon as long as you are trying, that’s good enough.

 

[Antje77]

Don't you all get hungry during the day. I work as a nurse 3am-3pm three days a week and then usually pick up 3am-7am 3 days a week. At the moment, I have been on a leave of absence because I had ankle surgery so have been sedentary and perhaps this is why I can't even image only eating 20g carbs per day. I already feel like I am starving my self on 90g of carbs. I am thankful for all your comments.

If you're hungry, why not eat more?
Not more carbs but more food?

 

[KennyA]

Don't you all get hungry during the day. I work as a nurse 3am-3pm three days a week and then usually pick up 3am-7am 3 days a week. At the moment, I have been on a leave of absence because I had ankle surgery so have been sedentary and perhaps this is why I can't even image only eating 20g carbs per day. I already feel like I am starving my self on 90g of carbs. I am thankful for all your comments.

No, I don't. The sensation I used to think of as "hunger" - must eat something NOW! - has completely gone. I eat when I feel I want to, which means one meal a day, usually in the evening, and often something smaller in the early afternoon. Today I had the usual coffee in the morning, played an hour of football, did some shopping and had "breakfast" at 3pm - olives cheese and ham. Tonight I fried some chicken and we had (low-carb) wraps with some cream cheese, salsa, lettuce and peppers around 7.

There's always a supply of ham, Polish sausage, and Italian salami in the fridge, with several cheeses. If I want anything I have it, but it's very rare.

 

[JenniferM55]

Carb addiction is horrendous. It's amazing that after a couple of days of really low carbing, that addiction mostly melts away. It's not like giving up other addictive substances. You just need to step off the carb merry-go-round.

It's not always plain sailing though, there's always a temptation that creeps up, just like people who are addicted to cigarettes and alcohol, you've just got to be aware. Friends and family give you the worse temptations, they mean well, telling you things like 'oh a little bit wont hurt' - that's lie cos it can only take a little bit to get you back on the track to carb addiction again. Tell them you're diabetic and that you daren't. that soon stops them tempting you.

Give it a go for a week, but make sure low carb foods are readily available, and carb heavy ones are in the bin.

 

[Outlier]

I used to get bitterly hungry when eating so-called "healthy" carbs. Now I aim for as few carbs as possible (e.g. the tiny amount in leafy veg., the smidgen in full-fat yoghurt) effectively hardly any at all, and hunger is not a problem. I usually eat a late brunch, but if not hungry just the evening meal. I've been doing this for just over 2 years, never felt better, never count calories (did decades of that!) wish I'd known about it years ago.

 

[ajbod]

Once you are properly fat adapted, your body seamlessly switches to burning body fat, so there is no hunger as energy is readily available.
When i did full on Keto to lose weight, i lost approx' 25 Kg = 55 lb. Body fat is estimated to be between 3436 to 3752 calories per 1 lb, so i was carrying around with me at the start nearly 200,000 calories of stored energy, that is the equivalent of 709 Double cheeseburgers , which i used up over 4 months.

 

[Dancing Badger]

These 2 Australian doctors put it better than I can.

Being in ketosis vs being fat adapted

There is much confusion about these two concepts so let’s discuss these and do some myth-busting. In this article, Dr Lucy discusses what is ketosis, how to know if you are in ketosis, what is ketoacidosis, what is fat-adaptation, how to know if you are fat-adapted and taking exogenous ketones.

www.rlmedicine.com

Basically once your metabolism is fixed, you only want the nutrition you need, not the huge amounts of carby stuff we've been told to eat for years.
I didn't believe it either, when first reading about it but 3 years in I'm fitter slimmer healthier and eat much less and rarely feel hungry.

Give it time, trust your meter and your body will tell you what it needs

Thank you for posting that. I found the link in the article to the "Woodshed" very informative - not only for us, but for any "healthy" person fighting obesity.

 

[LivingLightly]

I have a healthy appetite, but never feel the need to snack between meals these days.

I really enjoy my food, it must be said, and don't feel deprived with a low-carb-healthy-fat lifestyle. It helps to focus attention on the many delicious foods we can safely eat, and not dwell too much on those high carb 'goodies' that we really shouldn't have.

Keeping BG levels in check is a daily challenge at first, but well worth the effort. Eventually, the LCHF way of eating becomes second nature.