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

Controlled carb diet

Hi and welcome,

Your profile doesn't say whether you are taking medication, or not. That affects the amount of carbohydrate you can tolerate.

So my best suggestion is that you use a blood glucose meter to assess your current diet, then start reducing your carbohydrate intake until you hit the blood glucose levels you need to reach.

This is different for everyone.
 
Brunneria said:
Hi and welcome,

Your profile doesn't say whether you are taking medication, or not. That affects the amount of carbohydrate you can tolerate.

So my best suggestion is that you use a blood glucose meter to assess your current diet, then start reducing your carbohydrate intake until you hit the blood glucose levels you need to reach.

This is different for everyone.
Click to expand...
Ty for the warm welcome! I'm on Metformin twice a day. When I was diagnosed my a1c was 7.4. Now down to 5.2. Could you recommend a starting point?
 
The low carb high fat diet seems to be helping me. I am not medicated.
It was just under 2 weeks ago when I got a glucose meter. I found out very quickly I can not tolerate even low GI carbs, so I am now doing a ketogenic diet. In just over a week my numbers (off carb rich foods) have gone from mostly 8's to mostly 6's. Not to mention losing 6.5 lbs in a week.
I know that this diet isn't for everyone, and also you need to talk to a medical professional before doing it if you are medicated as levels can go to low.
Getting the glucose meter was the best thing I have done... I can't recommend it enough.
Only then will you know how many carbs you can have. Everyone is different, so there is no definite answer to that.
Good luck.
 
While we are all- indeed - different variations on a theme (in life and in physical systems), there are some loosely general lines you could think about...unless you are on insulin or very strong meds, there is no real reason why you shouldn't cut your carbs right down. Having been diagnosed with Type 2 after steroid treatment following a kidney transplant, I was on gliclazide (which was doubled due to lack of impact) and lots of other meds, when I started cutting carbs right down - not only were there no ill effects - everything improved..blood sugar plummeted, came off the Gliclazide, kidney function improved etc etc. I now take in about 1500-1800 calories a day (I'm around 12 stone and 6 ft tall) and eat usually less than 40g carb a day, and feel good. If you are hesitant - understandable - test and record and experiment, but a good guide is to look at labels and aim at low carb foods (less than 10g carb in every 100g) - and see for yourself. Good luck.
 
Agreed, I am Type 1 and I have cut my carbs in the day. I split my Lantus and take the morning shot at 6am. I can keep an almost level line between 9am and 3pm after this my so called 24 hour Lantus runs out and I use humalog every couple of hours to keep any sugar down. I also have lost weight. I am eating eggs and chicken in the day. No breakfast as cereal and breads put my levels up. I eat low carbs at night.
 
Qfingers_ said:
I'm on a 1800 calorie diet. What should my daily carb intake be?
Click to expand...
No straight answer to that!
if you were Mr Average then in theory about 600 calories worth. Again in theory if you are an average person you'll be eating about 250 gms of carb a day. As a type II diabetic, how many carbs do you want to eat? The more carbs, the more medication to process those carbs without your BG going up.
By keeping my carbs to about 80gms a day I threw away Gliclazide, Januvia and Atorvastatin. Other people will not have the same results, some better, some not so good.
Eat to your meter but bare in mind that if you are presently taking a drug which either makes the pancreas produce more insulin or taking insulin, as you cut carbs your BG will reduce, beware of hypos.
 
Qfingers_ said:
Ty for the warm welcome! I'm on Metformin twice a day. When I was diagnosed my a1c was 7.4. Now down to 5.2. Could you recommend a starting point?
Click to expand...


I would say with an HbA1c of 5.2% (33 in new money) whatever you are doing now sounds perfect, to me.
 
As others have said it is up to your meter. I thrive on a ketogenic diet and less than 20 carbs a day. I have great bs ( mostly in the 4's) numbers and keeps my weight where I like it.
We all have different bs goals but your A1C looks great

Tes78 said:
The low carb high fat diet seems to be helping me. I am not medicated.
It was just under 2 weeks ago when I got a glucose meter. I found out very quickly I can not tolerate even low GI carbs, so I am now doing a ketogenic diet. In just over a week my numbers (off carb rich foods) have gone from mostly 8's to mostly 6's. Not to mention losing 6.5 lbs in a week.
I know that this diet isn't for everyone, and also you need to talk to a medical professional before doing it if you are medicated as levels can go to low.
Getting the glucose meter was the best thing I have done... I can't recommend it enough.
Only then will you know how many carbs you can have. Everyone is different, so there is no definite answer to that.
Good luck.
Click to expand...
Congrats! Job well done on all counts
 
Back
Top