So confused about carbs

From my point of view anything with cereal in it is not a low carb food, and anything which has a 'healthy' label is usually not for me either.
Breakfast is kippers, or bacon and eggs - and tomato, mushrooms or sweet pepper - maybe sausages.....
Maybe look at a copy of Dr Atkins New Diet Revolution if you can find one - there are some on line, it has done wonders for me. I have a couple of different versions, the 2003 one is the most useful. I can't reintroduce anything from the later half of the carb ladder, but still find life more than bearable eating from the Induction lists plus the first few rungs of the carbohydrate ladder, and I get just about normal results - no problem there then.

Philb69 said:

Hiya
I am new to all this. Diagnosed 3 weeks ago with t2. Have been on holiday since with nothing else on my mind. I am so confused about a low carb diet. Here goes what cereal bar would be best for a breakfast
Would it be per bar
Carbs 12 grams with 3.5 grams that sugars or
Carbs 9.4 grams with 5.4 that sugars
Do you actually look at the carbs or of which sugars.
Got a bag of hard scratching in front of me with per 100g has 1 gram of carbs with 0.1 gram that saturates yet the healthy wafer thin wheat cracker(which you would have thought was healthy) per 100g has 60.1 grams of carbs which 6.3 sugars. I i have got myself an sd codefree meter and regularly testing myself and I would like to try the lchf diet as i love meat but not grainy diet foods. So confused any help would be appreciated.

Thanks
Confused phil

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Always look for total carbohydrate. Ignore the "of which sugars". Sugar is a carb and is included in the total.

Foods that are high in sugars in the "of which" bit, simply means they are likely to release their glucose earlier than foods that are lower in sugar, but at the end of the day, they all convert to glucose.

I wouldn't rely on any cereal bars except in emergency. Try eggs cooked any which way, or cold meats and cheese, or a full fat plain yogurt with a few (very few) berries and nuts added. Bacon and eggs, mushrooms, a tomato. Anything but cereal!

Hello and welcome, have to agree with the above, full fat Greek yoghurt is my go to breakfast with a few berries and nuts, keeps me going til dinner. Pork scratchings are my go to snack if I need something more which is not too often, mainly when other half and son chomping through chocolate, crisps or such like at the weekend.

Good luck the effort is worth it in the end

Hi @Philb69 by any chance with the cereal bars is the one with 9.4g carbs you are referring to a Nature Valley Protein Salted Caramel Nut Bar? I eat these quite a lot after a meal although with me being type 1 is different, I do however know of a few Type 2's that also enjoy them, the advantage to those bars are that they are MOSTLY nuts and the crispy bubbles aren't actually a high carb cereal but soy protein crispies x

If you look at your self as being allergic to carbs it all becomes a whole lot easier.
My only carbs come from milk and cream in drinks and green veg for the most part.
Rarely I may have some raspberries and double cream as a treat.
Cereal bars like any preprepared foods are usually not good.
Rather than them have eggs maybe with bacon for breakfast or ditch breakfast completely.

Smoked salmon omelet is a nice breakfast, it has even got my wife eating low curb food. Aldi is not that expensive for salmon and if you add a little cream, and use a little batter to fry in you may be able to miss lunch and therefore recover the cost.

Or use put the Smoked salmon inside some salad leafs. Olives with a few nuts are good if you need to eat on the move.

Philb69 said:

Hiya
I am new to all this. Diagnosed 3 weeks ago with t2. Have been on holiday since with nothing else on my mind. I am so confused about a low carb diet. Here goes what cereal bar would be best for a breakfast
Would it be per bar
Carbs 12 grams with 3.5 grams that sugars or
Carbs 9.4 grams with 5.4 that sugars
Do you actually look at the carbs or of which sugars.
Got a bag of hard scratching in front of me with per 100g has 1 gram of carbs with 0.1 gram that saturates yet the healthy wafer thin wheat cracker(which you would have thought was healthy) per 100g has 60.1 grams of carbs which 6.3 sugars. I i have got myself an sd codefree meter and regularly testing myself and I would like to try the lchf diet as i love meat but not grainy diet foods. So confused any help would be appreciated.

Thanks
Confused phil

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Hi Phil,

Low carb (as by definition) is 130g of carbs or less per day. At least it was at my last check.

If you want to low carb, then you could technically do that with any foods that you choose. Although some will be a whole lot better for your BG profile than others.

The best thing you can do, is "eat to your meter" - that makes a whole lot more sense than being told that you have an allergic response to carbohydrates. What doesn't work for some, may work for you - and vice versa. But there's a hefty element of individuality when it comes to diabetes and diet, so that's worth bearing in mind.

I agree with @Resurgam or the concept that "healthy" foods aren't usually all that healthy. "Healthy" by marketing standards is simply low fat, that in turn usually means higher carb to compensate for the lack of flavour caused by the reduction/removal of fat. As much as I don't support a high fat diet, I do acknowledge that carbohydrates where they're not meant to be (yoghurt, mayonnaise, etc) just complicate matters for us diabetics.

Its best to avoid cereals if you are type 2. I used to eat Jordan's Country Crisp for breakfast before being diagnosed, but stopped that because they contain 24% sugar. I then had Ready Brek and then Porridge as it is low GI. I discoved porridge raised my blood sugars to 10+, so now I have a one egg cheese omelette, or nothing if I am doing intermittent fasting at the weekend.

Hi @Philb69 your reaction is perfectly normal. As a general advice try to eat real food. At first it will seem that there is nothing available, as "we" are so used to just picking up a sandwich etc. Some basics for breakfast are eggs, bacon, ham, mushrooms, tomatoes or nuts (cashews liberally), anything ending in berry, Greek full fat yogurt / double cream, seeds (I actually have a full 8.5 diameter bowl of this circa 5 days a week (I don't advocate this as a norm but for illustration it shows what can be achieved, by some), with a regular size bowl of the same after dinner). Eating to your meter is a very good protocol, just test before you eat, test 2 hours later and a good measurement is a maximum difference of 2 mmol.

For lunch / dinner maybe some fish or meat of your choice, with salad and half an avocado over ground vegetables, including greens / cabbage, raddish. You may get some weird sensations for a couple of weeks when your body adjusts to having less glucose in the system, but push through to what usually is a satisfying lchf lifestyle.

Mbaker said:

nuts (cashews liberally

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Cashews are in fact pretty high carb depending on your supermarket website between 17 and 27g per 100g
Macadamias are better at just over 5g per 100g.

Philb69 said:

Hiya
I am new to all this. Diagnosed 3 weeks ago with t2. Have been on holiday since with nothing else on my mind. I am so confused about a low carb diet. Here goes what cereal bar would be best for a breakfast
Would it be per bar
Carbs 12 grams with 3.5 grams that sugars or
Carbs 9.4 grams with 5.4 that sugars
Do you actually look at the carbs or of which sugars.
Got a bag of hard scratching in front of me with per 100g has 1 gram of carbs with 0.1 gram that saturates yet the healthy wafer thin wheat cracker(which you would have thought was healthy) per 100g has 60.1 grams of carbs which 6.3 sugars. I i have got myself an sd codefree meter and regularly testing myself and I would like to try the lchf diet as i love meat but not grainy diet foods. So confused any help would be appreciated.

Thanks
Confused phil

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Hi, Welcome to LC dieting. I am using LCHF myelf and have had great results without too much sweat or carb counting / calorie counting either. I am adding a set of guidelines I have developed for LCHF, which may help you.

Good Hunting

bulkbiker said:

Cashews are in fact pretty high carb depending on your supermarket website between 17 and 27g per 100g
Macadamias are better at just over 5g per 100g.

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I need to get an English refresher, I meant what you said, so less of them, they are tasty and moreish.

I'm having greek yoghurt with a satchet of Options hot chocolate mixed in. Its a change from cereal, I get bored easily and I dont like plain yoghurt with no flavour.

great post buddy!

It was really helpful