Carbs V sugar question

[mancunian61]

Hi all,

I'm a Type 2 on insulin from about 5 weeks ago, on Novarapid and Lantus.

I'm reading avidly much of the info on this forum and now having info overload. My question is to have a low carb diet does that mean I take note of just the carbs amount and ignore the sugar content in foods. Or do I still have to take note of the sugar content and the saturated fat levels

I think I understand that to begin with I could have a moderate top range of 130-170g carbs per day, with a target individual food carb content of 10g.

Am I on the right lines?

TIA

Ann

 

[bulkbiker]

Hi Ann
Yes you should just look at the total carb content. The “of which sugars” part is irrelevant as all carbs are converted to glucose when eaten.
A “low carb diet” is usually though of as being less than 130 g of carbs per day.
A very low carb diet fewer than 30g.

Edit to add
As you are taking insulin you should be careful when reducing carbs as the reduction can have a significant impact on blood sugar levels so you should maybe monitor more than usual.

 

[Resurgam]

It is the net carbs which are important - that is carbs without the fibre. US sites include the fibre, even though it is not digested, UK sides and labels give the net carbs.
Sugar is just part of the total amount of carbs, so not all that important.
Saturated fat is totally irrelevant - we need to replace the carbs with foods which do not elevate BG and protein and fat are the things to go for. We can break down fats to ketones in order to get energy from it, though at the level of carbs you intend to eat that might not happen.
You do need to balance the amount of insulins you take on board to the carbs eaten - a low carb diet is a very effective way to reduce BG and also weight in my case, so you do need to adjust down slowly or risk hypos.
To have normal numbers without medication I am down to about 40 gm of carbs a day, as I am trying to get weightloss even though I am trying to increase muscle mass, but I got BG control and Hba1c of 41 on 50 gm of carbs as a max.

 

[ringi]

The worse type of carbs is fructose (as it is directly converted into liver fat), remember most sugar is 50% fructose. Hence the first step is to avoid all added sugar and most fruit.

However, most of us have found that we need to reduce all the carbs we eat to get great results. Personally, I aim for less than 50g of carbs most days, with never going over about 80g in a day.

To give you some ideal, my BG levels 2h after meals have been below 5.5 for many months, but when we went out for a meal (set-menu) that included rice, my 2hr BG level was nearly 9. Start recording your BG before you eat, and 2hr after starting eating along with what you have eaten, then you can see the patterns for yourself. (The first meal I changed was breakfast, going from eating bread to having eggs with a little cheese.)

Your aim should be to use as little insulin as possible to get reasonable BG levels, as otherwise, you are likely to on a never-ending cycle of increasing insulin usage and weight. Remember that as you reduce carbs you will need a lot less insulin, therefore measure BG often, and be careful.

 

[Jaylee]

Your aim should be to use as little insulin as possible to get reasonable BG levels, as otherwise, you are likely to on a never-ending cycle of increasing insulin usage and weight. Remember that as you reduce carbs you will need a lot less insulin, therefore measure BG often, and be careful.

Hi Ringi,
Did you not find personally when adjusting your insulin dosage, that checking & appropriately tweaking the basal dose first with a basal test (link here. https://mysugr.com/basal-rate-testing/ ) help you, before working on adjusting the diet & what was bolused for?? (Carb or protein wise.)

Forgive me. i can't remember your insulin regime...

Though i'm not a T2. I do Lantus & novorapid. (For many years...)

 

[mancunian61]

Thank you all for your replies - they were helpful!

At the moment, rather than go on a full blown low carb diet, I'm aiming to reduce my carbs and adjust my diet according and see how that goes. I'm a very fussy eater and always eaten my fair share of bread, potatoes, pasta etc

thank you!

Ann