-
Guest - w'd love to know what you think about the forum! Take the 2025 Survey »
how many carbs
- Thread starter linda m
- Start Date
jopar
Well-Known Member
- Messages
- 2,222
There is no set limited, the figures you are suggesting are based on a extrem low carb diet (Atkin style) So you need to determin what suits you and your lifestyle as an individual..
I would calculate the amount of carbs you would have normally ate on an adverage day!
Reccomendations for a female is just over the 200g mark, but this will very much be dependant on your activity levels, age and whether you need to loose weight..
You need to look at what you want to do,
If you need to loose weight, and whether this amount of carbs is too much for your appitite another consideration will be the effect it all has on your blood glucose and the only way of knowing this is testing one's BG's after meals..
So I would suggest of starting with a menu that you are happy with, then testing to see what effect this has on your blood glucose then reviewing, then decideing what your next move is.. Reducing your portions, changing foods to different times, avoiding that particular foods or an change increase in medication etc..
what ever you choose it must be a diet/regime that you yourself are happy with otherwise you will find it immposible to follow long term
I would calculate the amount of carbs you would have normally ate on an adverage day!
Reccomendations for a female is just over the 200g mark, but this will very much be dependant on your activity levels, age and whether you need to loose weight..
You need to look at what you want to do,
If you need to loose weight, and whether this amount of carbs is too much for your appitite another consideration will be the effect it all has on your blood glucose and the only way of knowing this is testing one's BG's after meals..
So I would suggest of starting with a menu that you are happy with, then testing to see what effect this has on your blood glucose then reviewing, then decideing what your next move is.. Reducing your portions, changing foods to different times, avoiding that particular foods or an change increase in medication etc..
what ever you choose it must be a diet/regime that you yourself are happy with otherwise you will find it immposible to follow long term
dragongirl
Well-Known Member
- Messages
- 349
- Location
- Northumberland, UK
But Linda isn't on medication, so your answer is a tad confusing. The recommended 200g of carbs seems a lot for someone trying to control by diet only? Her options would be adjusting portion size, trying different foods and limiting to some extent the carbs, surely.
DG
DG
Thanks for your replies. I spoke to my doc the other day and he said that for my age (61) I had done very well to keep it at the levels it is. He wants me to take another type of medication Gliclazide. But first he wants me to have a blood test to see what my levels have been doing. As I said I work with my husband as a window cleaner, since the snow we have been unable to work and this has also coincided with the rise from 6.8 to 9.5. We also have a collie dog which if I am not working goes out with me at least twice a day. I know I have not been as active as normal because I have put on a couple of pounds. May be I am eating too many carbs and with not being able to work, I am not burning them off as fast. Will keep trying. The ideas you all come up with are very helpful.
jopar
Well-Known Member
- Messages
- 2,222
Linda doesn't actually say that she isn't using medication, and no I didn't check her profile not in the habit of checking profiles to answer questions..
I gave the daily recomended carb intake as guidence, didn't say that she had to eat that amount, In truth if most people (non-diabetic) calculated there carb intake, then A very high percentage would actually comsum a lot more than 200g of carbs... I once calcualte a works colleagues carb intake while in work and they clocked almost 400g carbs, before heading home for tea and supper!
Linda needs information concerning how to work out for herself her choosen amount, not have it dictated... She mentioned that her breakfast is 55g carbs, but if this isn't posing any problems with blood glucose levels then why should she feel the need to stop having it because some-one decided that all she allowed to have is 30-60g of carbs a day!
It is far better for some-one to work out what works for them, by looking at there diet, working how it effects them, looking at there options to see how they can tackle things, as why stop eating something you enjoy if you don't have too? A self built and tailored regime built to your requirements is more likely to give long term good control, than trying to follow a regime that you aren't happy with dictated by some-one else...
I gave the daily recomended carb intake as guidence, didn't say that she had to eat that amount, In truth if most people (non-diabetic) calculated there carb intake, then A very high percentage would actually comsum a lot more than 200g of carbs... I once calcualte a works colleagues carb intake while in work and they clocked almost 400g carbs, before heading home for tea and supper!
Linda needs information concerning how to work out for herself her choosen amount, not have it dictated... She mentioned that her breakfast is 55g carbs, but if this isn't posing any problems with blood glucose levels then why should she feel the need to stop having it because some-one decided that all she allowed to have is 30-60g of carbs a day!
It is far better for some-one to work out what works for them, by looking at there diet, working how it effects them, looking at there options to see how they can tackle things, as why stop eating something you enjoy if you don't have too? A self built and tailored regime built to your requirements is more likely to give long term good control, than trying to follow a regime that you aren't happy with dictated by some-one else...
bedshaped2000
Well-Known Member
- Messages
- 286
linda i suggest that you check your blood sugar readings 1hour and 2 hours after eating oats . i thought that the oats were doing me good until i did the 1 hour test. i was getting readings of 5.8 after 2 hours but i was in double figures after 1 hour. Since then i now know that i can handle about 30g of oats which equals around 18g of carb. i use strawberrys and skimmed milk and now i get 6.8 average after 1 hour and 5.8 after 2
Have been counting carbs and using diet plate. This morning pre breakfast I was 8.4 down from 9.7. So far I have found that any alcohol will push my levels up and any sort of biscuits, which goes without saying. This is the first time I have managed to get my levels down since before Christmas. I have not started the Gliclazide yet as I wanted to see what I could do myself.
Hi Linda,
Perhaps another way to look at your question might be to ask whether a certain amount of carbohydrate is essential in order to provide the necessary macro and micronutrients for optimum health? In my opinion the answer is probably none in reality since most, perhaps all, the essentials can be found in animal foods.
The question then becomes how much carbohydrate can you include in your diet while still maintaining non-diabetic blood sugar levels? There may not be a lower limit, but there certainly will be an upper one. The answer to that one is individual to you I'm afraid. For me it's less, often much less, than 30g carbohydrate per day.
That's neither extreme nor unhealthy in my view since it's probably very close to the amount of carbohydrate that our ancestors have eaten and adapted to over too many generations to count.
In short there may be a practical limit to how little carbohydrate you will eat in a day, but I doubt there's a physiological limit.
All the best,
fergus
Perhaps another way to look at your question might be to ask whether a certain amount of carbohydrate is essential in order to provide the necessary macro and micronutrients for optimum health? In my opinion the answer is probably none in reality since most, perhaps all, the essentials can be found in animal foods.
The question then becomes how much carbohydrate can you include in your diet while still maintaining non-diabetic blood sugar levels? There may not be a lower limit, but there certainly will be an upper one. The answer to that one is individual to you I'm afraid. For me it's less, often much less, than 30g carbohydrate per day.
That's neither extreme nor unhealthy in my view since it's probably very close to the amount of carbohydrate that our ancestors have eaten and adapted to over too many generations to count.
In short there may be a practical limit to how little carbohydrate you will eat in a day, but I doubt there's a physiological limit.
All the best,
fergus
I would advise testing lots before and after meals to find out what you can eat and keep your BG levels good. I used to eat porridge but had to cut it out altogether because it pushes my BG over 12 for the first hour although back to normal by second hour after eating. Pasta is similar and couscous even worse. It's just a matter of finding out how you do with various carbs...time consuming for a week or two but after that you have a good picture of what works for you.
