How many carbs are you consuming?

Hi, I'm a Type 1 and after 40-something years of struggling I have realised that the only way I can control my sugar levels is with a ketogenic diet. If I eat any carbs, it will be no more than 40g/day and always in the morning.
One big thing to learn when newly diagnosed is honest and accurate carb counting.
My new love is cauliflower which is so versatile. I use it to make carb free naan bread, waffles, pizza base and tortillas.
Good luck with it.

@kim2023 : I think 120g carbs a day is not unreasonable, but as diabetics we need to find just how many our bodies will happily tolerate, so my advice for you is to use a glucose meter to test immediately before each meal and again 2 hours after this to see how various different foods (and amounts) might affect your glucose levels, and try to adjust your diet accordingly. But also be aware that other issues (such as health, pain, stress, some medications, exercise, etc) can also have an adverse effect on them, and for me these generally have a greater impact than my food tends to - unless I end up scoffing too many carbs.

Since my initial T2 diagnosis at the end of 2013. I've eaten a low carb full fat/ketogenic style diet and prefer to eat a maximum of, but sometimes much less than, 50g carbs a day. I've set this limit as it keeps my glucose at low pre diabetic levels. while allowing me the choice of a whole variety of low carb foods. I don't really have a "usual day" but have between 1 and 3 meals, though generally I don't eat breakfast, and occasionally I'll skip all 3. My meals consist of a wide range of protein and full fat food, and (where possible) in season suitably low carb vegetables, fruit, and nuts. I've not needed any diabetic medication since 2017, though I do take some for non-diabetic issues.

I don't count carbs, but I follow a keto diet and so try not to eat any. I have recently ventured into trying a small amount of food containing a small amount e.g. adding a tablespoon or two of cider vinegar to soups, casseroles etc. and for 10-15 days per month on average I will have a small glass of red wine or neat spirit. There are also tiny amounts of carbs that I get from a piece of cheese, full-fat plain yoghurt, spring onions and probably one or two other things such as (maximum of 5) nuts, but I don't ever have these in quantity. Many days I have no carbs at all. But that's me, and you might find differently. I am still exploring the effects of these new additions to my diet, having been strict keto for over a year and getting very good results. But this is a rest-of-yer-life arrangement not a temporary diet, so having reduced my blood glucose to a non-diabetic level, I'm trying this and that with the help of my meter, to see what happens.

kim2023 said:

Thanks the everyone’s replies as they are very helpful and informative.

Can you recommend a tester to buy? I live in the UK

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I bought the gluconavii as you can buy the whole starter kit which includes the meter, the lancing device , some test strips and some lancets plus a carry case for about 13.00 from Home Health. If you say you are diabetic you get it VAT free. Its easy to use and the test strips and needles are a reasonable price. You can buy through Homehealth via Amazon

If you order enough strips, they throw the starter kit in for free. I paid £30 and a few pennies for the kit and 250 strips.
Decided i'd treat myself to a new one, as i'd been using my mother in laws old glucomen areo.

I am really sensitive to carbs - I suspect the decades of being pushed to do low fat, low calorie high carb diets has got me here.
I eat under 40 gm of carbs a day to get normal numbers.
I only need to eat twice a day, which I do at 12 hour intervals as that is what my testing showed was the best option.
Today I have eaten a tomato and some mozzarella cheese, and I have some roast lamb in the fridge. I'll probably put some swede into the pressure cooker, with the lamb, cook on high for 5 minutes then simmer mixed veges in the result at normal pressure. That will keep my numbers normal and my weight and size gradually drifting downwards.

Honestly it’s a piece of string. Some type 2 cope with more carbs than others to maintain non diabetic levels without medication (Remission). Testing blood as described above helps enormously to establish your tolerance to foods and at least some counting for a short while will tell you the number of carbs that is. For a long time I kept mine aro7nd 30-50g a day and remained in the low 40’s hba1c. Since I let that slip I’ve hit mid 50’s on what I’d estimate to average 120g but is in reality quite erratic. Type 1 have different challenges and generally aren’t trying to deal with insulin resistance, manage on diet alone and obviously need medication, although some find great benefit in lowering carbs.

I started out after dx 5+ years ago with 75g carbs/day, then went to 50g and now aim for no more than 30g. I do have a real issue still with FBG which slows if I eat a piece of LC toast (7g) and tea. Lunch is mostly a small plate of variously chopped salad, cold meat, cheese, egg a few pickled silverskin onions maybe. Supper is protein (meat or fish) and LC veg. I had to give up snacking between meals tho I sometimes have a small handful of nuts with a gin & soda at the weekend. I don’t seem to be able to drop a meal but if we are away will often have cooked brunch of eggs, mushrooms, avocado and grilled tomato which gets me through to early supper. We are all different and after 5 years I’m just grateful to be able to still manage eating what I do.
@Resurgam I don’t know what it is but swede all buttery and peppery paired with lamb is a marriage made in heaven. If I think of one I think of the other.

kim2023 said:

Recently been diagnosed with type 2 . My current reading is 49 hba1c
My bmi is 26 and I consume an average of 120 g of carbs a day . I thought this was a healthy range but it’s clearly not

Could you please advise how how much carbs to eat to lower my reading ? What are you consuming per day ? What do you eat on an average day ?

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Hello, my husband is newly diagnosed or partialy diagnosed, he was at doctors this morning have more tests and more to go. We have not had information on which diet maybe most suitable but doctor ran through diet I started my husband on which is 130 g of carbs a day. At this point Dr thought this was good, my husband is not overweight he has a bmi of 24 but his stomach stands out and has no flexibility. He is 6ft 1in and 80 kg.
I don't know if 130 is ok or not at this stage the daily meal menu is coming in slightly lower like today it will be 125. The doctor seemed happy at this stage. Until all tests are carried out including heart tests he has not been given any meds.

kim2023 said:

Thanks the everyone’s replies as they are very helpful and informative.

Can you recommend a tester to buy? I live in the UK

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@Rachox has a very informative piece on different meters in the UK, I expect she'll share it when she's back online.

kim2023 said:

What do you eat on an average day ?

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You might like this thread in the low carb forum where people share what they eat: https://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/threads/what-have-you-eaten-today-low-carb-forum.75781/page-2754

Thanks for the tag @Antje77 , hi @kim2023, here’s some info on UK meters, and to be clear I have no commercial connections with any of the companies mentioned.



HOME HEALTH have the Gluco Navii, which is a fairly new model and seems to be getting good reviews if you use this link and select the meter plus 5 packs of strips, and then add the code dcuk (all lower case) at check out you may get money off, I’m not sure if this code is still valid.



https://homehealth-uk.com/all-produ...ose-meter-test-strips-choose-mmol-l-or-mg-dl/



Links to the strips for future orders:



https://homehealth-uk.com/all-products/glucose-navii-blood-glucose-test-strips-50-strip-pack/



There are also discount codes for when you come to buy more strips - "navii5" and "navii10" will give you 20% off purchases of 5 packs of strips and 25% off 10 packs of strips respectively. Again I’m not sure if these codes are still valid.



Then they sell the older SD Code Free, details to be found here!



https://homehealth-uk.com/all-products/codefree-blood-glucose-monitoring-system-mmoll-or-mgdl/



Discount codes for the Code Free strips, again I haven’t used them in a while.



5 packs 264086

10 packs 975833







SPIRIT HEALTHCARE have a meter called the Tee2 + which is quite popular:



https://shop.spirit-health.co.uk/co...e2-blood-glucose-meter?variant=19264017268793



The strips are to be found here:



https://shop.spirit-health.co.uk/co...py-of-tee2-test-strips?variant=19264017367097



Some members have got a free Tee2+ by phoning up to order, with a large order of strips they often throw the meter in for free:



Phone number 0800 8815423



If there is a choice of units of measurement then ‘mmol/L’ are the standard units in the UK, ‘mg/dl’ in the US, other countries may vary.



Here’s the link to the Freestyle Libre site, this is what I use these days, https://www.freestylelibre.co.uk/libre/products.html



Don’t forget to check the box if you have pre diabetes or diabetes so you can buy VAT free. (for all meters and strips)

It is very personal but after careful testing before and after every meal and carb counting I went down to below 85g a day and no more than 30g in a meal to get into remission.

I can def handle about 16g of carbs a meal and I have around that for 2 meals a day (32g) at this moment in time without any ill effects, haven't wanted to push it though to find out.

I know they contain carbs but I can eat as many leafy greens and most above ground veg (and onions) without any difference to my bgs so I have a "free" bowl of mainly veg with one meal or as my 3rd meal of the day, so not really calculating those into the equation which would push it up from 32g but I'm not sure how much as I'm lucky enough not to need to count those ones.

The only reason I know how I respond is measuring the response in my bg to what I've eaten, then check my fbg the next day

This all might change as I lose weight/age/life etc

abcanmore said:

Regarding your question about carb consumption, it's important to note that the ideal amount of carbs varies from person to person, depending on factors like age, gender, activity level, and medication use. In general, though, it's recommended that people with type 2 diabetes aim for a daily carb intake of around 45-60 grams per meal, with snacks containing 15-30 grams of carbs.

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This is indeed standard advice. And this is also the advice that has the expected outcome T2 diabetes is progressive and will involve more medications and complications over time.

Quite honestly I wasn’t eating that many carbs before diagnosis and to do so after would have accelerated deterioration. If it’s a noticeable reduction it’s worth a try but it should be considered a starting point not a cap on reduction.

I note you do not have diabetes yourself. What is your connection to the condition if I can ask please?

When I was first diagnosed, I limited myself to 30g a day. This brought me from 74 down to 41 in 3 months. Now I have returned to a vegetarian diet, I still limit myself to 50g a day. This seems able to keep my blood sugar levels at a reasonable level. Like Kenny, I still completely avoid bread, pasta, rice, and potatoes but have legumes a couple of days a week. The only way to be sure if you are eating too many carbs for yourself is to test before and two hours after meals. Don't worry about one-off readings but look what's happening over a week or two. You're looking for no more than a rise of 2 between the numbers. Keep a diary noting your ingredients and carbs for that meal. This was how I found that half a medium onion was manageable, but a whole one was too much. I also found spring onions and shallots weren't so bad. We are individuals, so our responses can vary.