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

How many carbs per meal?

W

Woee

Member
Messages
8
Type of diabetes
Prediabetes
How many carbs per meal do you currently eat and what numbers you get with that amount of carbs?
 
Usually between 20 and 35. I get low to mid 5s mostly. But everyone is different. I know I am lucky to cope with that much.
 
Hi @Woee .. and welcome
First of all, I'm not sure that this is an entirely appropriate question .. everybody is different and what works for one person may well be less than ideal for others. Having said that, this is what I do ..

I follow an LCHF lifestyle which includes 16/8 intermittent fasting. For me, this means that I eat only between 11.am and 7.pm because this is what I choose to do.
Carbs are <40g daily and I follow the LCHF advice as described on the Diet Doctor website ..
# only eating real food
# only eating when hungry
# stop eating when full

On many days, I don't have breakfast .. just lunch and dinner. On other days, I may have a breakfast but then I'll have only a light lunch and/or small (ish) dinner. I do not eat snacks very often and when I do it will actually be instead of one of the meals within my 8-hour eating window .. the snacks that I do eat are: boiled egg mashed up in mayo, cold cuts of meat, cheese or celery sticks.

Exercise is three rounds of golf each week, walking everywhere I can (rather than car or bus) and a two mile jog three or four times a week

I take 2x500mg Metformin and 1x10mg Atorvastatin every day and no other meds

From diagnosis on 7th Feb to readings on 4th April ..

HbA1c : 98 down to 33 (calculated}
BG : 12.5 down to 5.6
Weight : 106.1k down to 92.2k
BP : 149/101 down to 121/74

I have also tagged @daisy1 who will soon send you a wealth of valuable information
 
Hi and welcome.

I'm not sure that quoting actual numbers is all that useful. The thing is that people will start (quite naturally) comparing themselves with each other. But because we all have different lifestyles, bodies, activity levels and medical histories, those comparisons become meaningless.

I very low carb, so I am at the lower end of carb intake, but I won't mention the numbers.

What I WILL say is that it has taken me several years, a lot of blood testing, investing in a part time Libre and a heck of a lot of experimentation to get to this point. And my blood glucose levels have improved a lot from where I started. Probably best to call it 'fine tuning'

- it seems to be working at the moment. If anything changes, I will start tweaking the tuning again.
 
I gave up carb counting when I stopped using insulin 7 years ago and the only reason I counted them then was to know how much insulin I needed to inject.

To know what amount of carbs I could eat I simply tested every meal lots of times so I knew instinctively what sort of portion to put on my plate at every meal.

Its no use at all knowing how many carbs you can eat as different carbs affect me differently ie I can eat more carbs in basmati rice than I can in bread. If I put vinegar on chips I cab eat more than I could without vinegar, so its not about how many at all.

IMHO its better to know what I can eat than how many carbs I can eat, unless I want to brag that my carbs are bigger than your carbs.

Test, test and test again, and did I mention testing as a good way to gain control?
 
The answer to the OP's question is IMO "as few as possible"

There is no real need to consume Carbohydrates at all, and although some are unavoidable such as those in vegetables or salad anything else, especially foodstuffs with a lot of Carb, can be safely avoided.
 
Agree 100% that's my method..
 
@Woee

Hello and welcome to the Forum Here is the Basic Information we give to new members and I hope you will find it useful. Ask as many questions as you need and someone will be able to help.


BASIC INFORMATION FOR NEW MEMBERS

Diabetes is the general term to describe people who have blood that is sweeter than normal. A number of different types of diabetes exist.

A diagnosis of diabetes tends to be a big shock for most of us. It’s far from the end of the world though and on this forum you'll find well over 147,000 people who are demonstrating this.

On the forum we have found that with the number of new people being diagnosed with diabetes each day, sometimes the NHS is not being able to give all the advice it would perhaps like to deliver - particularly with regards to people with type 2 diabetes.

The role of carbohydrate

Carbohydrates are a factor in diabetes because they ultimately break down into sugar (glucose) within our blood. We then need enough insulin to either convert the blood sugar into energy for our body, or to store the blood sugar as body fat.

If the amount of carbohydrate we take in is more than our body’s own (or injected) insulin can cope with, then our blood sugar will rise.

The bad news

Research indicates that raised blood sugar levels over a period of years can lead to organ damage, commonly referred to as diabetic complications.

The good news

People on the forum here have shown that there is plenty of opportunity to keep blood sugar levels from going too high. It’s a daily task but it’s within our reach and it’s well worth the effort.

Controlling your carbs

The info below is primarily aimed at people with type 2 diabetes, however, it may also be of benefit for other types of diabetes as well.

There are two approaches to controlling your carbs:
  • Reduce your carbohydrate intake
  • Choose ‘better’ carbohydrates
Reduce your carbohydrates

A large number of people on this forum have chosen to reduce the amount of carbohydrates they eat as they have found this to be an effective way of improving (lowering) their blood sugar levels.

The carbohydrates which tend to have the most pronounced effect on blood sugar levels tend to be starchy carbohydrates such as rice, pasta, bread, potatoes and similar root vegetables, flour based products (pastry, cakes, biscuits, battered food etc) and certain fruits.

Choosing better carbohydrates

The low glycaemic index diet is often favoured by healthcare professionals but some people with diabetes find that low GI does not help their blood sugar enough and may wish to cut out these foods altogether.

Read more on carbohydrates and diabetes.

Over 145,000 people have taken part in the Low Carb Program - a free 10 week structured education course that is helping people lose weight and reduce medication dependency by explaining the science behind carbs, insulin and GI.

Eating what works for you

Different people respond differently to different types of food. What works for one person may not work so well for another. The best way to see which foods are working for you is to test your blood sugar with a glucose meter.

To be able to see what effect a particular type of food or meal has on your blood sugar is to do a test before the meal and then test after the meal. A test 2 hours after the meal gives a good idea of how your body has reacted to the meal.

The blood sugar ranges recommended by NICE are as follows:

Blood glucose ranges for type 2 diabetes
  • Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
  • 2 hours after meals: under 8.5 mmol/l
Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (adults)
  • Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
  • 2 hours after meals: under 9 mmol/l
Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (children)
  • Before meals: 4 to 8 mmol/l
  • 2 hours after meals: under 10 mmol/l
However, those that are able to, may wish to keep blood sugar levels below the NICE after meal targets.

Access to blood glucose test strips

The NICE guidelines suggest that people newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes should be offered:

  • structured education to every person and/or their carer at and around the time of diagnosis, with annual reinforcement and review
  • self-monitoring of plasma glucose to a person newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes only as an integral part of his or her self-management education

Therefore both structured education and self-monitoring of blood glucose should be offered to people with type 2 diabetes. Read more on getting access to blood glucose testing supplies.

You may also be interested to read questions to ask at a diabetic clinic.

Note: This post has been edited from Sue/Ken's post to include up to date information.

Take part in Diabetes.co.uk digital education programs and improve your understanding. They're all free.
  • Low Carb Program - it's made front-page news of the New Scientist and The Times. Developed with 20,000 people with type 2 diabetes; 96% of people who take part recommend it... find out why
  • Hypo Program - improve your understanding of hypos. There's a version for people with diabetes, parents/guardians of children with type 1, children with type 1 diabetes, teachers and HCPs.
 
I often try to keep mine below 20g per day, but that can get a bit monotonous . If I'm pushing for weight loss I'll do it for a while.
I am always below 50g daily, even with treats.
This is classed as very low carb and may not suit everyone.
It works well for me. I stay in the 5 , 6, 7 range whenever I test now.
Testing is what got me to my personal level and it's called "Eating to your meter" We are all different.
 
Last edited:
Woee said:
How many carbs per meal do you currently eat and what numbers you get with that amount of carbs?
Click to expand...

Use your meter (if you have one) to tell you how many your body can cope with. If your levels rise too much after a particular meal then there were too many carbs in it for your body to cope with. You can then either eliminate some of the carbs or greatly reduce the portion size. Doing this, and recording the levels alongside a food diary, is the best way to learn.
 
I am also very low carb and use my meter to determine what I can handle and what I cannot. I keep my blood sugar between 4 and 7 about 99% of the time. If my sugars go higher than that I don't eat that particular food again. It takes time and testing to figure out what works for you, that is what is meant by eat to your meter.
 
Woee said:
How many carbs per meal do you currently eat and what numbers you get with that amount of carbs?
Click to expand...

Yes, you need a meter as others have said as we all tolerate carbs differently. For example, I cannot tolerate many carbs at all for breakfast so keep that low and can eat more as the day goes on.
 

Hi, I noticed that your hba1C is a calculated number ,
I buy these tests- it says professional users only for the ten tests - but they know I'm not professional and they asked me if I would give them a testimonial so it doesn't seem that they mind. That makes them abut £10 each which isn't too bad. the expiry date on mine is a few months , I test one a fortnight when I change my libre freestyle
https://www.bhr.co.uk/professional-products
 
I find that keeping my blood sugars below 7.8 is a function of how late I ate, even on a LCHF diet. if I eat anything after about 9 pm then my fasting blood sugars are in the 5,6 range and the following day my dawn phenomenon gets meto low 8's
if I stop eating earlier the fasting blood sugars are 4-5 and I stay under 7.8 including the dawn phenomenon. The DP peak for me around 10.30 and it is practically ALWAYS the high point of my day unless I did something really stupid like eating a burger bun !
 
Hi @CherryAA ..
Thanks for info but at £10 a test it seems too expensive for me. I think I'll stick with my 3 to 5 times daily testing and my spreadsheet for now .. then confirm or re-adjust as necessary at my quarterly reviews
 
Last edited:
If you must eat a few carbs eat your fat, protein and low carb veggies first. You won't peak as much. D.
 
I am fairly recently diagnosed, 15th November 16, and am keeping to low carb foods, but it seems that my reaction changes.
Where in February I might be thinking about staying under 8mmol/l after dinner, and being careful, now I am seeing under 6mmol/l without really pushing. I even eat chocolate.
It is not a fixed response, eat X gm of carbs and see Y on the meter - exercise, time on low carb, and the source of the carbs are all going to influence your blood glucose levels.
 
I'm type 2 and eat a low carb diet, and don't bother with the number of carbs I eat per meal as the number of meals I feel I need to eat on any given day can vary. But I try to keep to under 50g carbs a day as I 've learned that this will keep my BG under control, and my numbers are well within pre-diabetes levels most of the time. However I have also learned that there are other things besides food that can affect my levels, e.g. stress, illness, pain, etc, and these are beyond my control, so there may be times when I'm eating an "ideal" diet and still get unacceptable (for me) numbers.

But how we manage is a very individual thing as nobody has exactly the same diabetes or reaction to carbs, so your meter is the best guide to what's best for you.

Robbity
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Menu
Log in
Register
Cookies are required to use this site. You must accept them to continue using the site. Learn More.…