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Type 2 Sugar content in a bag of leafy greens

tinyjellybaby

Member
Messages
9
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
So I'm browsing Waitrose (as you do) and I came across a bag of leafy green salad leaves (great, I thought). Sugar is not listed in the ingredients, but I discovered that per 100g, it has 2g of sugar and I wondered whether there was anybody great at nutrition advice on here that could explain where the 2g of sugar comes from?

I do realise that 2g of sugar is low, but I would like to be in control of how much sugar I eat, and from what kind of food. I was very surprised to see sugar in a bag of leafy greens.

A similar feeling arose when I looked at a Morrisons Vegetable Stir-Fry (350g). The ingredients are:
Cabbage (38%), Carrot (29%), Peppers (Red Pepper, Green Pepper), Onion, Broccoli and it has 13.6 grams of sugar.

I assume there is sugar in the vegetables, and therefore, do I need to reduce my vegetable intake? If so, what on earth do I eat?
 
Sugar is in many if not most vegetables. Carrots and peppers are 5% sugar.
But I just want to check that your sugar interest is mostly academic.
Having diabetes, we are affected by all types of carbs not just sugar - starchy carbs are broken down into sugar by our bodies.
So, in general, we can ignore the "of which sugars..." part of the nutritional breakdown and just focus on the carbohydrates part.
And remember, in the UK, fibre is not included in the total carbs but in the US it is.
 
It could be the very little carb in the leafy veg is in form of sugar or it could be wrongly labelled. 2g in 200g or so of leafy veg need not be taken seriously even if u are eating 1kg of it at one go.

I would categorise veg into three classes: 1) root veg (these are high in carb e.g. sweet potato, even carrot will have some significant carb if taken in 50g or above), 2) veg that is technically a fruit (tomato) or a bulb (e.g. onion), these are generally low carb, about 5g per 100g, 3) green leafy veg, these can be considered zero carb.

If your carb intake per meal is below 20g, cat 1 and 2 will need to be taken into consideration if you do not want any surprise readings from the glucometer.

If your planned carb intake per meal is 50g per meal, you can quite easily add significant amount of veg cat 1 or 2 into your menu. Do bear in mind their carb content will still add up.
 
millenium said:
green leafy veg, these can be considered zero carb.
Click to expand...
Depends on how many carbs per day you are aiming for and the quantity of veg. A largish cabbage can be 400g so with carbs at 4.1 per 100g that could be 16-17 g of carbs just in cabbage (depending on home much you eat of course). But I would certainly not consider it to be "zero" carb.
 

You r absolutely correct. I once seen a shocking reading from my dad after he ate a fair bit of cabbage. They taste sweet (probably contains significant sugar).

That is why i mentioned green, leafy veg.
 
millenium said:
You r absolutely correct. I once seen a shocking reading from my dad after he ate a fair bit of cabbage. They taste sweet (probably contains significant sugar).

That is why i mentioned green, leafy veg.
Click to expand...
last time I checked cabbage was a green leafy veg...
 
tinyjellybaby said:
A similar feeling arose when I looked at a Morrisons Vegetable Stir-Fry (350g). The ingredients are:
Cabbage (38%), Carrot (29%), Peppers (Red Pepper, Green Pepper), Onion, Broccoli and it has 13.6 grams of sugar.
Click to expand...

What's worse, it has 15.2g of Carbohydrate in the pack.

The of which sugars number is not particularly relevant as all carbohydrate will end up as glucose once you've eaten it.

I would forget worrying about Sugar and start concentrating on Carbohydrate
 
bulkbiker said:
last time I checked cabbage was a green leafy veg...
Click to expand...

U r correct if it is categorised that way. Probably i re-categorise it for myself, after the experience i have mentioned. Now that u brought this out, i think technically it should be a sprout like brussel sprout, a concentrated bulb waiting to become leafy as it grows (maybe that is why it has more stored sugar).

Back to what i mean leafy green. Something that is mainly leaves with chorophyll. Meaning not broccolli, cabbage, brussel sprout for example.
 

Thanks for the response! Much appreciated. My sugar interest in both academic, and also, how can I create a meal plan that supports my desire to be rid of Diabetes, but is sustainable. Out of interest, if you're focusing on the carbohydrates part, what do you aim for? How much fibre do you aim for a day, and where is the best source of fibre information? Also, do you worry about soluble vs. insoluble fibre?
 

Thanks - what's your approach to Carbohydrate?
 
Sorry, I don't feel I am the best person to answer that.
With type 1, my interest in carbs is to calculate my insulin dose; it is not to limit my intake.
I don't have the option to "be rid of diabetes". (Not that that is a reason to feel sorry for myself: I still live a very full and active life.)
I eat lots of fruit and veg and don't worry about fibre.

I have seen people with type 2 limiting their carbs to anything from 20g to 100g per day: it's what suits you as some can take more carbs than others.
And some have commented about different, not fruit/veg options for fibre. This thread (https://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/threads/fibre.143827/) may give you some ideas.
 
Just need a little clarification:

Is it right that the CARBOHYDRATE labelling in the UK automatically takes into account the fibre?
So for example, if there were 20g of Carbs, and 2g of Fibre, the CARBOHYDRATE label would read 18g?
Also - if you take a Fibre supplement, should I be deducting that from my total Carbs per day?
 
No that is not correct... fibre is not included in the total carbohydrate count in the UK so in your example to product would be labelled as 18g of carbohydrate per 100g and therefore would be best avoided. Depends on what is in your fibre supplement check the label for carb content.
 
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