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How can I work out the Carbs in this meal?

cazza54

cazza54

Well-Known Member
Messages
136
Location
UK
Type of diabetes
LADA
Treatment type
Insulin
Dislikes
Turnips and Tuna fish!
Hubby is cooking savory mince for supper, which contains minced lamb, carrots, onions and tomato puree. Can anyone tell me how on earth I work out the carbs? Would I count up all the ingredients and then divide it by the servings? What if the servings do not have equal quantities of all ingredients? One plate may have more carrot than another for example. Is it important to be accurate in this?

Regards,

Carol
 
You got it. When it comes to more carrot/gravy, or whatever, I'd say it'd be swings and roundabouts.

That may not be accurate enough for those on insulin, but for the rest of us, I'd think it would be ok.

Toy can use myfitnesspal to do the sums for you in the recipes section, if it's something regular. It walks you through the stages and invites you to nominate the number of portions. For recipes from the web, there is an port option too, although sometimes that goes a bit wrong.
 
The only thing in that meal that would register on my (type 2) BG would be the carrots. But not everyone has a problem with them. And then I get different reactions to cooked and raw!

So I would suggest two, quite different approaches:

  1. Unless there are huge amounts of carrot in the meal, don't worry. Test as normal, before and after. Note the rise in BG, and add that info to your overall knowledge.
  2. At some point, when you have your scientist hat on (and plenty of carrots available), eat a bunch of raw ones. Test. Record results. On another day, do the same with cooked ones.
Both give useful info. One makes you look and feel like a nerd (hats shouldn't be worn while eating!) but, in my opinion, knowledge is GOOD.

You never know - carrots may not spike you at all.
 
Like Brunneria, I wouldn't have counted anything in that meal. Carrots are so fibrous that it seems to take my body ages to get the carb from them :)
 
Thank you everyone. Brunneria, I will conduct that experiment. :)

Regards,

Carol
 
My husband makes delicious steak, kidney and diced potato pies with a thin pastry top but no bottom layer, so its more like a stew with a top than a pie. I worked out the carbs and other nutrients (fat, protein, fiber etc) by calculating the total for the whole pie and then divided by 4 because I only ever eat a quarter of it. OK I may get more potato or pastry one day, and less the next time. Swings and roundabouts. Its accurate enough for me. I was horrified the first time I tested it so I cut down the portion size meal by meal until I was happy enough. I'm still not totally happy so I will keep reducing the pastry until I am. A glass of red wine seems to help!
 
I wouldn't use tomato puree, its full of sugar.
 
Lenny3 said:
I wouldn't use tomato puree, its full of sugar.
Click to expand...

Sugar sugar? As in 'added sugar'?

Or 'naturally occurring sugars'?

What brand so you buy, if it is full of sugar?

The brand I get is tescos and 100% tomato, so definitely no 'added sugar'.
It is also so concentrated that, mixed with mince, onions and carrots, any 'naturally occurring sugar' impact is minimal.
 
I would probably put all the ingredients into My Fitness Pal as a recipe and let that work out the carbs in the portion I have.

As to tomato puree, we make our own. Well, when I say 'we', I actually mean my husband. He boils down big batches of toms when they are being sold off cheaply and freezes them in small amounts. Mind you, my husband is part eco-warrior, part Scrooge, part anti-large food supermarket - so we tend to shop locally in veg shops or markets and they often sell stuff cheap at the end of the day.

He has only partly trained me into his ways over the last 30 odd ears!
 
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