How many grams of carbs do you eat each day/meal?

This is very helpful. Currently, I am still learning what works with my body and what works against it, but limiting my carbs to under 100 grams increases my energy and mental clarity. More than that, and I feel sluggish and mentally slow.

I am curious about going lower on my carbs as I continue on this journey.

I'm a bit hard core so I aim for less then 10 gram per DAY. Also done less the 20 per day.

JACKTHELAD said:

2g's sounds a lot!

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I think you might be surprised then at the amount that you'd find in processed foods, AFAIK it's not only the sugars that they stuff into it.

I tend to consume a fair bit of salt (I spent a year in the middle east as a young teenager being fed salt tablets) and got a life long taste for it. I'm discovering now that a lot of things that I've eaten for a fair bit of my life against "good" advice are now no longer considered to be bad for me.

Robbity

Robbity said:

I think you might be surprised then at the amount that you'd find in processed foods, AFAIK it's not only the sugars that they stuff into it.

I tend to consume a fair bit of salt (I spent a year in the middle east as a young teenager being fed salt tablets) and got a life long taste for it. I'm discovering now that a lot of things that I've eaten for a fair bit of my life against "good" advice are now no longer considered to be bad for me.

Robbity

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Yeah I like salt but I have no idea what my consumption is.

Ali,

You don't need to eat carbs (particularly of the sugary/starchier varieties) unless you choose to. But the less of them you consume the more likely you are to reduce your glucose levels, and, if needs be, reduce your weight. Your meter will tell you which and much much of them your body can handle. So this together with your food preferences will help you find the right balance of different types of food for your requirements.

If you are going to go on a low carb high(er) fat diet you will be (in part at least) replacing carbs with fats for energy - you don't need the carbs and the advice to eat them in the form of vegetables is not because you need them but because you need the nutritious stuff in the vegetables - unless you're going to replace these in the form of supplements . So on a low carb diet you opt for the better value foods and choose vegetables, some fruits, and nuts for your preferred carb sources.

Bernstein is probably an extreme example, but his intention is to (try to) make sure his patients/followers have as close to normal glucose levels as their non diabetic counterparts, and still maintain a healthy diet.

Robbity

PS I thought it might be helpful add a bit more personal information re carbs; From choice I'm on a very low carb/ketogenic diet (lower than 50 grams of carbs a day), and as such my main energy source is now coming from fats/oils in my food. So any carbs I eat are "incidental" and I no longer need them for fueling my body - they just happen to come from foods I eat for other reasons - not because they're carbs and I need them in my diet. So most of my carbs are non starchy/sugary ones and come from vegetables, fruit, and nuts.




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JACKTHELAD said:

Yeah I like salt but I have no idea what my consumption is.

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You mean you don't sit and countout every single grain then?? Shame on you...

Robbity

Robbity said:

You mean you don't sit and countout every single grain then?? Shame on you...

Robbity

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That's it I'm going to have to give up being a diabetic!

Pasha said:

I eat 21 grams of carbohydrates [ net] every day.

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To be honest I don't really think it's possible to be precise to the nearest 1 gram, given the variability and uncertainty in the exact proportion of carbs in many foods. But congratulations anyway for trying.

I realise that natural foods will always have a variable carbohydrate content ie due to soil, season and sun exposure etc.... However it will even out over time so that my carbohydrate count will be pretty good, or to say it another way I cannot think of a better way, short of having it analysed which is obviously not practical.

In any event the proof of the pudding is in the eating, and my BG results do reflect my carbohydrate intake very well. You will also notice that I wrote 21 grams of carbohydrates and not, for example, 21 +- x grams.

I use this approach for proteins and oils/fats so that they are also tightly regulated which enables me to follow my calorie intake also.I need to control both carbohydrates and calories.I have the metabolic syndrome and CVD.

By recording food intake details and its influence on my BG values I have been able to adjust my diet to my particular needs. I really dont know of any other way to navigate through these issues.

Can someone post a sample of your meals? I am having a hard time picturing what it looks like to eat < 25-50 grams of carbs per day without sitting down to a plate of meat at every meal.

vintageutopia said:

Can someone post a sample of your meals? I am having a hard time picturing what it looks like to eat < 25-50 grams of carbs per day without sitting down to a plate of meat at every meal.

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This may give you some idea,

Breakfast,

100 grams of spinach [steamed]
1 poached egg
15 grams of EVOO
36 grams of ground flax + boiling water
50 grams of cottage cheese.

Lunch,

24 grams of protein for eg 80 grams of chicken breast
100 grams of tomatoe
100 grams celery
100 grams lettuce
50 grams radish
50 grams of avocado
35 grams of red bell pepper
56 grams of green olives
28 grams of pecorino cheese
25 grams EVOO


Small early evening meal,

1 poached egg
165 grams lettuce
35 grams green olives
80 grams celery
14 grams almonds
28 grams pecan nuts
15 grams of EVOO.

No snacks during the day.

Drinks, coffee with cardamon, hibiscus tea,mint tea,decaf coffee....
Fluids intake is greater than 2 litre per day.

Hope that this may help you a bit.

EVOO= extra virgin olive oil.

vintageutopia said:

Can someone post a sample of your meals? I am having a hard time picturing what it looks like to eat < 25-50 grams of carbs per day without sitting down to a plate of meat at every meal.

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@vintageutopia - It will start to make more sense to you if you understand that 25-50 grams of carbs is NOT equal to 25-50 grams weight of food. Basically you have to know how many grams of carbs there are in 100 grams weight of your food, and the more carbs there are in any food the less of it you need to eat to keep within your chosen daily carbs limit, and vice versa. So for example 100 grams weight of celery will contain just under 3 grams of carbs,while 100 grams weight of avocado will contain around double the number of carbs. This information will either be on your food packaging or you can check online - but if you're in the UK make sure you check on a UK site as the Americans calculate this differently. There's a big difference between carbs and actual weight as you can see from the quantity of vegetables and salad ingredients in Pasha's menu!

Robbity

Yes, I should have defined that I follow the American system for calculating the net carbohydrate content of the foods I eat.

For example , avocado,
http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/fruits-and-fruit-juices/1843/2

I use this above reference, it shows that this fruit has 2 net carbs/100 grams ie the fiber content is removed from the total carb content.
In any event you must always check with your meter to confirm that everything is in order. Its a bit of a hassle in the beginning but it soon becomes very simple.
My biggest surprise was to learn just how OVERSIZED my portions had been in the past. I lost 40 Kg during this learning period and its still off.

I am reading Bernstein and heading towards 30g a day from veg and salad mostly. Join Pinterest and search typeonegrit. Tons of info and LC recipes that make this sustainable. Cooking with almond flour, flax, psyllium husks etc, cauliflower rice, spicy zucchini cakes, cauli hash browns.

Ali

Thank you for the great information and examples at Dasha, Robbity, and Ali. It helps to see what I can "get" for 30 grams. I can do that.

50-60g.

Healthy and fit T1.

Rarely diverted from this in 30 years. No complications.

I'm trying to keep to 100g a day and struggling But then when I roughly calculated what I must have been eating before it was probably in the region of 500 a day . Saying that in my non diabetic yrs ( before last yr ) I could lose weight and still eat loads of bread , pasta etc cos all I did then was calorie count ( and exercise of course ).

Another question...are those total carbs or net carbs?

I am already at 30 grams for the day.

Been having under 80g for about the last 9 months but now having 40-60g n finding it ok, I find it much easier if I'm prepared, like for snacks etc otherwise I'll just eat carb loaded ****!