Diabetics are Carb intolerant

jeanie99 said:

I had an e-mail today with the title Diabetics are Carb intolerant and the link sent me to a long thread which as totally confused me.

I was diagnosed pre diabetic some months ago and was put on a restrictive eating plan and now have a normal blood glucose level from my last blood test at the GPs.

There are some carbs which I avoid but I eat lots of vegetables so don't really understand this at all. I bought a metre and do prick tests on new foods within 2 hrs of eating
so keep my eye on what I eat.

Could someone explain in simple terms what this is all about.

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Hello jeanie, did you know who sent you the email, was it a subscriber, that you know? You do seem to be doing the right things. It can be very confusing with conflicting views and statistics. Simply ( how I have viewed it)is, are we intolerant of carbs because we have diabetes or are some people diabetic because of carbs? It can be very confusing Jeanie. Take care.

I haven't read up enough about it yet, but perhaps carb resistence / intolerance is a little like coeliacs (aka Gluten intolerance)?

Just a thought, considering the statistics that people with coeliacs are more likely to get diabetes than those who aren't gluten intolerant.

I think the automatic emails from this site often contain links to threads on the forum that have a lot of posts, so that's probably why the OP received the email.

I got the same email and checked it out on the forum. It was just a thread of someone commenting on their belief that diabetics are carb intolerant. And from all I have learned so far, it is certainly true that some carbs (starchy carbs) will raise our blood sugar levels so we best avoid them (whatever label we attach to them).

Well if we were carb intolerant then everyone would have be on a zero carb diet, it's pretty impossible to do as most veggies and salad ingredients have some carbohydrates in them.

This will be the thread that the email is referring to:

http://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/threads/diabetics-are-carb-intolerant.58287/

Can't believe this one is still going lol
It will never be satisfactorily resolved.

mo1905 said:

Can't believe this one is still going lol
It will never be satisfactorily resolved.

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Yes mo it's still going strong, with lots of theory's, lifestyles etc and what a fascinating read it has been. Hats of to the members on here for keeping the thread going with such interesting and varied views and with no mod intervention or being locked downWell done guys.

Carb intolerant is not a very good term as it makes it sound like an allergy. It's not, it's a metabolic disorder. You may not be producing enough insulin, or you may be producing it late, ie a delayed response, or you may be resistant to the insulin that you do produce. Type 2 diabetics rarely know what the actual situation is because all that is measured is the glucose in the blood.

The other big unknown is the type of carbs that will be OK for you. That's why you test. There are many different types of carbs and many different types of digestive enzymes. Not all humans produce all the same enzymes or in the same quantities. Carbs tend to end with 'ose' and the enzyme required to digest it tends to end in 'ase'. So for example, the carbohydrate in milk, lactose, requires the enzyme lactase to digest it. About 15% of adults in the UK do not produce any lactase and cannot drink much milk without getting sick. There is a huge list of different carb types and different enzymes.

The other aspect is the food preparation. In general terms, the more you mash, boil, pulp or pulverise food, the more you make it easily digestible which, for diabetics, means that the starches are converted more quickly and your blood glucose levels rise more rapidly.

Now, you don't want to be walking around with mathematical tables and a calculator working it all out so the easiest thing to do is just test and see what works and what does not work for you. You sort of get the hang of it.

Yorksman said:

Now, you don't want to be walking around with mathematical tables and a calculator working it all out

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Or a set of scales!

Yorksman said:

Now, you don't want to be walking around with mathematical tables and a calculator working it all out

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Although, you could always use your brain - except when hypo, otherwise 50g of bread @ 73g carbs per 100g = 42

(Because the answer is always 42.)

i m insulin resistant . I m obese around 100kgs. I m fed up with my weight .can someone help me reducing my weight. I have nerve compression and hashimoto as well . need to reduce weight badly .

sairanauman said:

i m insulin resistant . I m obese around 100kgs. I m fed up with my weight .can someone help me reducing my weight. I have nerve compression and hashimoto as well . need to reduce weight badly .

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Have a look around the forum for LCHF, low carb high fat. Many of us have found this is the best way to lose weight. If you restrict carbs your body won't produce so much insulin so that will help. It's important to restrict even so-called healthy carbs like wholemeal bread as these all turn to sugar in the body too. When doing this you need to have enough protein and fat so that you are not hungry. Fats should be the natural full fat ones like butter, cream, animal fats, olive oil etc, not the low fat manufactured products. The natural ones are healthier (despite what we have been told) and also satisfy the appetite more so that the diet isn't a chore, more a way of life.

Oh and welcome to the forum!

Sorry to throw a spanner in the works, but I consider myself Carbohydrate intolerant! I am taking meds, so that I can eat some low GI foods!
I flush insulin which drastically reduce my BSLs and I go hypo!
There is some ideas out there that, you only need a varied meat, vegetables (above ground), fruit,(not tropical) , with the way you prepare your food, that it is a healthy diet! You don't need the BAD carbs!
It all depends on the individual though and what you can tolerate!

Nosher said, "It all depends on the individual though and what you can tolerate!"

That's the trouble here. People who cannot tolerate some starchy carbs cannot seem to understand that there are others who can eat some of them, usually in a reduced portion size.
Telling people that they must not eat bread, potatoes, cereals, rice and pasta means that people never experiment with these foods. I often wonder how the person who supplies this information knows the person they are giving advice to will get the same result as them. They only know what they cannot tolerate.
The secret is a well known one, test, test and test some more. You might have other things going on which will skew your results, lack of or too much exercise, other medications not diabetes related, stress,infection brewing etc.... We are all individuals and our eating plan has to be suitable and sustainable for the foreseeable future.
Even Southport G.P. accepted potatoes in his LC diet that he promoted.

nosher8355 said:

Sorry to throw a spanner in the works, but I consider myself Carbohydrate intolerant! I am taking meds, so that I can eat some low GI foods!
I flush insulin which drastically reduce my BSLs and I go hypo!
There is some ideas out there that, you only need a varied meat, vegetables (above ground), fruit,(not tropical) , with the way you prepare your food, that it is a healthy diet! You don't need the BAD carbs!
It all depends on the individual though and what you can tolerate!

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That's not throwing a spanner in the works as far as I'm concerned......I agree that diabetics are carb intolerant and that it depends on the individual! A no carb diet is virtually impossible and I agree with you that you don't need the bad carbs, that's why I mentioned LCHF to the new member who posted before me and was asking about weight loss.

catherinecherub said:

Nosher said, "It all depends on the individual though and what you can tolerate!"

That's the trouble here. People who cannot tolerate some starchy carbs cannot seem to understand that there are others who can eat some of them, usually in a reduced portion size.
Telling people that they must not eat bread, potatoes, cereals, rice and pasta means that people never experiment with these foods. I often wonder how the person who supplies this information knows the person they are giving advice to will get the same result as them. They only know what they cannot tolerate.
The secret is a well known one, test, test and test some more. You might have other things going on which will skew your results, lack of or too much exercise, other medications not diabetes related, stress,infection brewing etc.... We are all individuals and our eating plan has to be suitable and sustainable for the foreseeable future.
Even Southport G.P. accepted potatoes in his LC diet that he promoted.

Click to expand...

I agree with you but in many type 2's there is the problem of diabetes, insulin resistance and obesity. Cutting out/reducing the high calorie carbs has to be sensible when you are dealing with these 3 things and then when you have reached your ideal weight you can test and add back what your individual BG's can tolerate. The 'eat well' plate fails this group of people and they become miserable because they don't know how to lose weight and society looks down on them because of it. I would have the occasional meal with potatoes if I was anywhere near my goal weight. I'm not, so I don't. It isn't always simply a case of maintaining good BG control. I did this for 2 years and only lost half a stone.

I do think that individuals need to test and eat to their own meter results , as some folk may well be able to eat the likes of rice, potatoes, slice if bread. I've not tried these items yet as I have a lot of weight to lose and I know that it would be all too easy to slip back into old addictions. My GP did suggest for best weight loss to avoid such things so for the time being I'm seeing them as a future occasional treat.

Yorksman said:

Carb intolerant is not a very good term as it makes it sound like an allergy. It's not, it's a metabolic disorder. You may not be producing enough insulin, or you may be producing it late, ie a delayed response, or you may be resistant to the insulin that you do produce. Type 2 diabetics rarely know what the actual situation is because all that is measured is the glucose in the blood.

The other big unknown is the type of carbs that will be OK for you. That's why you test. There are many different types of carbs and many different types of digestive enzymes. Not all humans produce all the same enzymes or in the same quantities. Carbs tend to end with 'ose' and the enzyme required to digest it tends to end in 'ase'. So for example, the carbohydrate in milk, lactose, requires the enzyme lactase to digest it. About 15% of adults in the UK do not produce any lactase and cannot drink much milk without getting sick. There is a huge list of different carb types and different enzymes.

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Actually there arn't that many.
Dietary carbohydrates would be glucose, fructose, galactose, maltose, sucrose, lactose, maltodextrin, galactan, amylose & amylopectin.
On the enzyme front there is alpha-amylase, glaucoamylase, sucrase & lactase.