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Carbs

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gaz1971

Well-Known Member
Messages
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Following on from my first thread about sugar, Ive been reading up on carbs in the diet section. If carbs raise glucose levels, why are they recommended as things to eat plenty of?I am looking at a dietary advice sheet given to me by my GP and it lists things like rice and pasta etc as being good foods to eat and raising glucose levels the least, which I see isnt true.

It looks like Ive been getting duff advice all round!
 
Think we all got duff advice to start! We all do different things, and it depends to a degree what meds you're on. The "eat loads of carbs" advice is generic and "safe" in that people on insulin and other strong meds won't get hypos that way, but many of them have less cArbs so they can have lower medication. I'm on about 150 to 180 grams of low GI carbs a day - not low. But moderate. I eat a bit of wholewheat pasta on e a week, and a bit of basmati rice. I have a few new potatoes with meals and lots of other veg but not parsnips. I have one apple And one satsuma a day, but never bananas. I snack on nuts, have salads, loads of meat and fish and cheese. It suits me, but others will have their own diets
 
Forgot to mention, I also enjoy my red wine, single malt whiskey and beer (not so much beer these days!)
 
Hi gaz and welcome to the forum.

Grazer is right. You have been given the advice from NHS that we all got on diagnosis. All the HCPs and all the literature re diabetes advises to eat carbs and "base every meal around carbs". It's only since reading all the info in this forum that I have learned otherwise. I have tried to cut carbs and am currently having approx 140g per day. I would like to cut it down more.

I have been attending the X-pert course run by NHS and they have been discussing carbs in depth. They do state that it is carbs that increases BG levels but they advise to eat a steady amount of carbs to maintain a steady BG level. They do promote low GI foods but encourage you to eat a variety of foods in moderation and no food is banned. (dietician told me the only banned food is full fat sugary drinks and sugar in hot drinks). I still find it all very confusing but think I am slowly getting there.

Good luck with it all and I promise you'll find loads of great advice on this forum.
 
Slightly more charitably, one could notice that there's is bit more to it than that. Specifically, low BG is not the only condition for a diet to be suitable - it's a compromise between minimising long-term complications, short term complications (hypos) and risks unrelated to diabetes ; the current medical opinion is that a carbohydrate metabolism (i.e. absence of ketosis) is healthiest and dietary recommendations reflect that.

Figuring out the best diet is complicated, and the recommendations may not be ideal - but that doesn't make them wrong.
 
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