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How many carbs do you have a day?

Wow, I didn't realise how little carbs where required for low carb diets. I've been slowly reducing my carb intake over the last few months whilst exercising so I think i'm around 150g carbs per day. I'm trying to keep it low, typical day of carbs for me is readybrek for breakfast, maybe a sandwich at lunch and then a very small 40g portion of pasta/rice for tea. It definitely helps with the blood sugars though, I don't have as many spikes as I used to, although a few extra hypos (probably exercise related).

Do you feel tired at first when you low carb?
 
xyzzy

You say that on special occasions you have up to 125g carbs and can get away with it for one day - in what respect can you get away with it - do you mean your bg levels? Are you losing weight on your regime or do you not need to?

Many thanks, Judith
 

Hi Judith

I was diagnosed Dec last year and lost 4 stone on my low carb regime the first 3st in the first 6 months. I currently weigh 12st 13lbs and have a BMI of a fraction over 23. I started with a BMI just under 30. I have also reduced my cholesterol levels to normal and have come of the statins I was prescribed with my GP's consent. Finally I have also normalized my blood pressure but do take Ramapril daily. I also take 1500mg of standard Metformin (one tablet at breakfast and two at dinner). I follow a classic low carb high fat diet that many on this forum have used successfully to control T2 for years. What that means is I eat hardly any sugar, and remarkably few starchy foods (rice, pasta, bread, potatoes, cereals and flour). I get most of my carbohydrate intake from green veg and eat more cheese, eggs, meat, fish etc. I have no problem eating saturated fats (dairy, the fat on meat etc). Most days I consume double cream so that I eat enough calories! The best way of describing what I avoid is anything processed that comes in a cardboard box and anything made from grain. I bend the rules on grain a bit as I do eat a biy of Burgen soya bread and still have a bit of rice with my Indian takeaways.

You may hear from some that your brain needs carbohydrates to function. I run a small computer business where I constantly have to solve quite complex logic problems. Dropping carbs from my diet has made no difference to my thinking capability if it did my clients and customers would soon be complaining about it.

I run my BG's levels very strictly as they are my main "worry" so I try and keep below 5.5 for the vast majority of the time even my 2 hour readings are normally under that 5.5 level although occasionally they will go a bit higher. I started at diagnosis with BG levels in the 20's. My theory is even though my BG's can be seen as strict they are not really any better that what three quarters of the non diabetic population achieve. At those non diabetic levels I am hoping to avoid the progression onto stronger meds that so many people end up on. If I run my levels at those of a non diabetic why should I have anymore chance of disease progression than a non diabetic. Its high levels that kill off more and more of the beta cells that then causes the disease to progress.

When I say I occasionally do 125g then it would normally be a single meal out , special occasion kind of situation i.e at no more than a once a week in frequency. In those situations I would still hope to register under 8 after 2 hours although very occasionally I have found myself higher than that. On a high carb 75g or greater meal then I can normally get away with it once. If I do a similar thing the next day then invariably the spike is far higher so it is not in anyway sustainable.

Hope that helps

Steve
 
xyzzy

You mention having Indian food ..I thought it was off limits (admittedly
that was a presumption) what dishes do you have?
I agree with you I try to aim at around 5.5% for my BG levels with plenty
of green veg, cheese, chicken, and more fish than a dolphin
I have the start of complications so I tend to focus on keeping them levels down.

Gary
 
My "special occasions" are very like Xyzzy's - they have to be only occasionally, surrounded by lots of strict days, or my BGs start slowly creeping up. On the other hand I find meals out are not difficult - yesterday I was taken out to dinner and had pigeon breast starter and venison main course. Very few carbs, except for 2 new potatoes. No pudding, but I couldn't have crammed one in if I'd tried! :shock: 5.6, 2 hours later. I had 2 glasses of red wine, which will have helped a bit.

If I'm working on site, which is rare these days, I can manage a sandwich made of 2 slices of Tesco Finest Multigrain, with ham salad, butter and mayonnaise, without any problems. But if I ate 2 slices of bread every day, my BGs would likely be in the 6's again. I do need to be below 50g carb and preferably nearer to 25g to keep tight control.

I'm going out to dinner tonight too! 8) Sorry to be so smug, but it doesn't often happen these days!

Viv 8)

Gary - like all restaurants, Indians are okay if you choose carefully. No rice, no bread, go easy on the batters. If you're worried about hidden sugar in the sauces, just ask! I find Chinese ar worse cos' there do seem to be lots of hidden sugars.
 

mmmm curry...

I usually buy a curry with a thick sauce then add a couple of onion bhajis, spinach and garlic bhaji or a mushroom bhajii. I'll eat no more than a couple of level tablespoons of pilau rice (pilau is fried rice and isn't as bad for levels as boiled). No Nan bread. If I'm really starving I'll add a chicken tikka starter to up the meal content. I usually have a curry once per week and on average end up around 6 to 6.5 after two hours depending on how level the tablespoons of rice were
 
Gah now I really want a curry. Of course I will need to go all out and have the poppadoms and naan bread too. This is not helping the diet
 
viviennem said:
I find Chinese ar worse cos' there do seem to be lots of hidden sugars.
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Try chicken green pepper and black bean sauce as I find that's workable with a couple of level tablespoons of pilau rice and a similarly small quanitity of chow mein (**** those noodles) but I agree Chinese is far harder than Indian
 
Elc1112 said:
Gah now I really want a curry. Of course I will need to go all out and have the poppadoms and naan bread too. This is not helping the diet
Click to expand...

Ah but if you order a delivery you don't get what you haven't ordered :lol:
 
Can I just thank all of you. Reading your posts has helped me learn a little bit more about how the low carb diet helps your sugars and i've been seeing the differences over the last few months which is good. I've still a long way to go but it's inspiring to know it works.
Thanks all
 
insanity said:
typical day of carbs for me is readybrek for breakfast,
Click to expand...

If you really fancy a hot oat breakfast, you'd be better off buying some rough cut porridge oats instead. Readybrek is finely ground oats packaged in a fancy box and costs ten times the price. Trouble is, because it is so finely ground, it will hit your blood stream much faster that ordinary oats. Lots of us here don't eat it at all or eat a very small portion and add things like coconut, ground almonds, berries, nuts, cream and ground flax.

I love porridge but it creates a fearsome hunger in less than an hour later and used to have me eating all flipping day. I last ate it four years ago
 


And to slow down the absorption of the rough cut oats further try adding some seeds and yogurt to your porridge.
 

I agree. Whole rolled oats are really nice as well.
 
I think I'll have to give it a go, I carb count the readybrek oats and it doesn't work, I usually have to give more insulin than I've worked out. This morning I've stupidly poured it out forgetting to weigh it all, given my usual dose of insulin and am now battling to get my sugars back down to normal having shot all the way up to 20.6. I'm slowly coming down though. Not impressed seeing I was a perfetc 8mmol this morning (I aim for between 5-8 so I keep my hypo awareness). Aaaargh!!! Diabetes you are a pain!!!

What other foods do you have for breakfasts? I used to have toast but got hungry to quickly.
 
A 2-egg omelette cooked in butter, almost every morning. Sometimes with cheese or mushrooms, if I can be bothered. Occasionally I have a small serving of Lizi's Granola, if I feel I need the fibre. If really pushed for time I have an Atkins Daybreak bar, but that's not often - too expensive and a bit chemically .

Viv 8)
 

I love omelettes! Ok i'll try something new for a while and see what happens
 
insanity said:
I love omelettes! Ok i'll try something new for a while and see what happens
Click to expand...


Might sound a bit odd but I like them cold too
 

Haha I prefer them hot but I can see what you mean, it's not too bad cold lol. I love these cheese and ham ones we have after our runs on saturdays. There absolutely gorgeous
 
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