still coming to terms with T2

Welcome back.........

Carb counting is really not that difficult. (says he !) Ignore the rest of the figures for now.

When you look in the carb books just look for the TOTAL carb figure, same as on any packets/tins/etc.......that will INCLUDE any 'ADDED sugars'. This figure will show how many carbs are in 100g OR 100 mil of the product.

So, if we have something that states 25g carbs per 100g we note that figure and then divide it by 100. This gives the number of carbs per gram. So we end up with a figure of 0.25g carbs for 1g of the product.

The portion size chosen to be weighed out is 140g weight......so.....0.25 is multiplied by 140 to give the number of carbs in your chosen portion.......which is 35g carbs in that portion.

Hope that is clear but if not give us an example and we can work it out on the board here for you.

Shirley.

I don't do it in my head .....I HAVE to use a Calculator.....it is easy peasy then. They are dirt cheap now, I even have one on my phone.

I think it depends how accurate you need to be with your carb counting. I actually tend to do most things fairly loosely ( or intuitively as i like to call it ). One of the best bits of advice my dietician gave me was to look at carbs per 100g. The % of carbs per 100g of food ( this is the format most of the nutritional advice is in on packets, recipes etc) is looked at and a decision based on that. For example, if you have something where the carbs are 2g per 100g weight-that is good. 20g of carbs per 100g weight-that is bad. I just use this as a sliding scale. Aim my main meal of the day to be between 10g and 20g of carbs, lunch and breakfast under 10g of carbs. That allows me some leeway for snacks and drinks and I still keep my carbs pretty low. Don't know if this way would help you but it works for me

Sorry to hear that.......to accurately count carbs you need to be able to use a calculator unless you are a whiz at Maths.....I am not.

Don't really know what to suggest then........

Well it can't hurt to get the family on board and thinking about what they are eating and how healthy it is. TBH at the beginning I cut out ALL pasta, potatoes, rice and bread and just ate protein and green vegetables and salad. Once I felt like I had got things under better control, I started experimenting with more variety. I now eat the odd slice of Burgen Bread or half a slice of low GI bread, small portions of brown basmati rice, the odd potato. My son makes a mean low carb chocolate cheesecake for me and I never really feel deprived. If I really can't do without something, I just have a spoonful, or a bite. Portion control is the other way to make a real difference. Good luck!

Hi purplefairy

Somewhere on the Low Carb Diet Forum is a thread called Viv's Diet, which has the diet I use, based on Atkins.

I'm a techno-wimp so maybe some kind person will post you the link - please?

The beauty of this diet is that, as long as you stick to it, it gives you about 25g of carb per day without ever having to do any counting.

It may not suit you, I'm sure it's quite difficult if you've a family eating 'normally', but it does work. Even if you just do it for a couple of weeks, it will give you the boost to get going again.

I stuck to it for 18months last time, lost 5 stone, and had excellent cholesterol, blood glucose and blood pressure readings at the end of it.

Worth a try!

Viv 8)

viviennem said:

Hi purplefairy

Somewhere on the Low Carb Diet Forum is a thread called Viv's Diet, which has the diet I use, based on Atkins.

I'm a techno-wimp so maybe some kind person will post you the link - please?

Click to expand...

Here is the link to Viv's Diet which I am posting for Viv:

viewtopic.php?f=18&t=18803

If you look at the following page and scroll down a bit you will see some more information on this diet.

Thanks, Daisy1!

A quick tip, purplefairy, outside my diet - when reading your labels, try to eat things that are under 10g of carb per 100g, and preferably under 5. Plain oatcakes are about 5 per oatcake; Ryvitas are between 6 and 8 - go for the lowest. Then you just have to work out how many/much you can eat - 4 oatcakes - 20g carb. Is that too much? Probably!

If you're tempted by ready meals - and I use them occasionally - go for less than 15g of carb per half-pack. That's often how it's listed. You can then eat low-carb veg - the list on Viv's Diet - but no potato/rice/pasta.

Cauliflower is surprisingly good as a substitute for rice or potato.

Sometimes I might eat something higher carb - I was working outside all day on Monday, and took a sandwich with me. It was made withTesco Multigrain bread, which I can eat occasionally, and the filling was cheese and ham, which slows down the carb spike. A few tomatoes and radishes in a little box, and that's an acceptable meal for me. Around 25 to 30g of carb in total. Some people couldn't eat it - the only way to find out is to test, before and two hours after.

I can't eat bread every day - it seems to have a cumulative effect! and stops my weight loss.

Get yourself a copy of the Calorie Carb and Fat Bible 2011, or the Collins Gem Carb Counter (less accurate but pocket size) and look up some of your usual foods. You'll probably get quite a surprise!

Viv 8)

Shirley,

I want to give you a virtual hug....

I know EXACTLY where you are coming from.

This forum is GREAT, but, it can also get quite anal at times.

I frankly couldn't care less about measuring out food, drink or anything else either.

My advice is go with what you believe to be good or working for you. We all know the old maxim "everything in moderation" but, sometimes it's hard to do and we fall off the wagon. Don't beat yourself up or throw in the towel; just accept you are human, sh*t happens, get back on the program and enjoy the game of life.

PS - don't take yourself too seriously

Ardbeg said:

Shirley,

I want to give you a virtual hug....

I know EXACTLY where you are coming from.

This forum is GREAT, but, it can also get quite anal at times.

I frankly couldn't care less about measuring out food, drink or anything else either.

My advice is go with what you believe to be good or working for you. We all know the old maxim "everything in moderation" but, sometimes it's hard to do and we fall off the wagon. Don't beat yourself up or throw in the towel; just accept you are human, sh*t happens, get back on the program and enjoy the game of life.

PS - don't take yourself too seriously

Click to expand...

Excatly my way of thinking Ardbeg :wink:

purplefairy said:

really fell off the wagon over Easter and now feel really bad.

Click to expand...

Hi Shirley welcome back to the forum, has much changed?

Try not to beat yourself up over your diet or slips from it should I say. Everyone has saint days and devil days I suspect. If confession is good for the soul then I must admit that I have to try really hard to stay away from Jammy Dodgers

Like Ardbeg I am fairy relaxed now about carb counting, in fact I've never been much good at continually counting the carbs I eat, when I did I got a bit anal about it all, it did work but I cant really have been much fun to go out with I dont think. I am aware of carbs I eat but I rely more on portion control and am able to do so because I spent over a year testing almost every conceivable meal that I will normally eat and a few that I rarely eat now like pasta, unfortunately the portion of pasta I can safely eat is so small that it really is not worth bothering with so I only eat it very occasionally (on a devil day :twisted: )

I dont really bother counting vegetables as a small portion of peas, French beans, carrots, broccoli etc has never given me a problem.

Neither do I bother to count flour in sauces, again the actual portion is usually so small that it has little or no effect on me.

I can eat 3 small new potatoes with my diner or two tbls of basmati rice if I have a home made curry. When I eat out at Indian restaurants which I do occasionally I usually share a rice and have perhaps a desert spoon full and rely on a meat dish and several shared veg dishes to fill me up, I always feel stuffed after an Indian meal but even with a bottle of Cobra I never have post diner highs. Oh I no longer eat Parathas or Nan breads although I used to like them.

Breakfast at present is egg sausage and beans or egg bacon and beans, sometimes just half a grapefruit and sometimes 18g-20g of cornflakes if my fasting bg is good.

Lunch can be a Burgen sandwich or sometimes quiche or cold meat and salad or occasionally soup, often followed by a small apple.

I have only found out that I can happily eat the above through lots and lots of testing and what is OK for me may be very bad for you but please dont take any notice of your nurse, test test and test again until you know what portions of whatever foods you can safely eat and you need not bother too much with continually counting carbs.

I can only tell you what has worked for me.

Good luck with whatever method/diet you choose

Re:calculating carbs hellllp!

Hi. I have got a collins carb count book n need advice on do you use an ordinary calculator or do you have to use a 'specific' diabetic calculator? maths is so NOT my strong point! its my WEAKNESS. plus HOW do you calculate food then work out how much bolus you would need? its so complex n baffles my brain as am so useless at math figures n ratios etc... plus where do you obtain n buy calculator if special type needed? please advise. Anna.

When I read your post, I thought "that's me!" Not diagnosed as long ago, but with the early signs of menopause and just trying to sort what is diabetes related and what is not, it's hard to stick to a new way of thinking about food.

Really gets annoying when what seems to be okay one day isn't the next - and makes me wonder if it's all worth it. Finding I'm allover the place numbers wise so have an appointment next week to see if the doc has any words of wisdom (not on any meds now and think I should be as I also have PCOS which I'm not taking anything for).

Anyway as a few people have said being too number conscious isn't for everyone and I think leads to some "oh what the hell" moments for those of us who get confused and frustrated by it all. I've taken to the mantra "tomorrow is another day" and try to get more good days in a row than bad.