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Type 2 What effect would 30g of carbs have on your blood sugars?

rosserk

Well-Known Member
Messages
288
Type of diabetes
Prediabetes
Treatment type
Diet only
Hi all, I know everyone is different but I'm interested in what effect approximately 30g of carbs would have on different people with type two DM. I know there are lots of variables but people must have a general idea what that amount of carbs would do to their blood sugars. I also understand that all carbs are not equal, so when answering the question base your response on carbs you know will have a negative effect on your blood sugars. For example two slices of whole meal toast, approx 30g of carbs will spike my BS. I know the toast will take my blood sugars from a normal pre meal 5.5 reading up to 11.6 a difference of 6.1 I also know that I won't return to my pre meal reading for at least 4 hours, indicating to me that 30g of carbs (wholemeal toast) is a dangerous amount of carbs for me to eat at one meal.
 
It's almost impossible to answer that question. It depends on time of day and what other foods are eaten with it. I know my personal threshold at evening meal is about 20g carbs as an absolute maximum, and that is when eaten with a good amount of fat. At breakfast I can't manage more than about 3 or 4g. with fat.
 

Thanks, maybe I didn't phrase the question correctly, I'm not looking for exacts, but people must have a general idea otherwise they wouldn't be able to eat to their meters? You seem to have a good idea of how many carbs you can tolerate at breakfast and evening meals. You know you can't tolerate more than 20g of carbs at your evening meal and also that you wouldn't eat more than 3 or 4g of carbs at breakfast. I assume the reason is because you've tested and seen an impact of eating more than 20g of carbs, so what was the impact? Blood sugars abnormally high?
 
You have answered your own question. Yes, blood sugars higher than the targets I have set for myself at 1 hour, 90 minutes, 2 hours, and so on until back to where I started. I am more concerned abut the level of the actual rise than the level of the peak, and have targets for those. That isn't to say I don't allow myself an occasional meal where I know I will spike. I am human after all.
 

When you say your more concerned about the level of the actual rise, what do mean? level of actual rise rather than peak?

A rise of 6 at 1 hour and still climbing or not dropping at 2 - 3 hours would concern me a lot more than a rise of 2 for the same period.
 


In my case I take 20 grams of Carbs in breakfast & after about one hour I walk 20 minutes & after 4 hours my BG would be 5.6.
 
Excellent you have found a limit that suits you. Have you tested at 1 hour to see the impact the carbs had?
 
I have targets for each meal for the amount of rise from before to 2 hours after. I try to keep breakfast and lunch under 1mmol/l, which is easy enough, and evening meal under 1.5mmol/l. It is my belief that it is better to remain as flat as possible rather than be yo-yoing up and down. In my opinion, a very gentle curve is better than a mountain peak, even if it lasts longer. I am happy to say I am meeting these targets on average.
 

Interestingly. (I'm T1.) Were i silly enough to forget to bolus for the carbs or correct the missed dose. this would stick with me all day just running on the basal..
 

That's brilliant and interesting that 20g of carbs would not result in an increase of more than 1 to 1.5 for you personally.
It's encouraging to know that it is entirely possible to find your own personal tolerance for carbs.
 
Jaylee said:
Interestingly. (I'm T1.) Were i silly enough to forget to bolus for the carbs or correct the missed dose. this would stick with me all day just running on the basal..
Click to expand...

Hi Jaylee, I'm sorry I don't understand what 'bolus' or 'basal' means, I'm embarrassed to say.

I think I understand that you can take enough insulin to combat the amount of carbs you eat (is that right)?

In your case because you no longer have your own supply of insulin your blood sugars would go high and remain that way regardless? Is it still wise to limit the amount of carbs you eat?
 

Basal is the longer acting 24 hour'ish "background" insulin.
Bolus is what i dose per meal depending on the carb count.

Indeed without the insulin shoots the sky is the limit with BS for me regardless of the carb counting..

I do "limit" the type & amount of carbs i eat. Lower carbs means lower spikes on the lower doses, & less brutal hypos if the level was to drop..

I personally feel that as good modern insulin is. It can't really handle the modern non D diet. Throw in all the variables too...? Why try & second guess the wind?!

We're all in this together, whatever type D. BS control & longevity of health...
 

Jaylee thanks for the explainantion. I think I have a better understanding now of the problems faced by people with type 1.
 
It's interesting that you can work out the theoretical maximum possible amount that each gram of sugar (carbs) eaten can raise your BGL, and it turns out to be pretty close to 1 mmole/L for every 1 gram of sugar. All coincidental or course, but it does come out at pretty much a 1:1 relationship. (That's worked out from 1 mmole being equiv to 0.18 grams of glucose, times an average of about 5.5L of blood in an average persons body.)

So as little as 5 or 6 grams of carbs could theoretically double your normal BGL. In practice of course it will always raise our BGL by less than this because it cannot be absorbed instantaneously, and even a fairly modest 55 Watt basal metabolic rate can burn off the energy equivalent of 1 gram of glucose in about 5 minutes. Not to mention that some can be stored as well, though both of those things require insulin to happen efficiently.

And always remember, the presence of either fat or fibre (or both) in a meal can significantly slow the rate at which the carbs are absorbed.
 
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That's really interesting! I was told the other day by a more experienced diabetic that when counting carbs to do so accurately you had to deduct the amount of fibre. So I'm learning all the time, thank you!
 
In the UK we do not have to deduct the Fibre from the total, as this has already been done, and the Carbohydrate amount shown is correct.

It's included in the U.S. constitution that they have to do everything differently to the rest of the world in order to be awkward.
 

Oh dear now I'm confused! Lol im a hopeless student!
 
No need to rub it in! Lol
 
I know I'm not type 2, but us RH ers are interested in what carbs and sugars do to your blood glucose levels. We try to avoid carbs as much as possible because the spike is very quick, high, then hypo depending on how much insulin we over produce.
It is not a question of how many carbs but what is in they carbs. The quicker the spike, the higher we spike, then the low again as above!
Carbs to us is like pouring petrol on a fire, the more you eat the more the fire burns. The higher you spike, the worse it is, so your fire goes out and you pour more, you spike, you hypo if you don't keep putting more on! Our blood sugar fluctuate wildly, causing horrible symptoms!
So the answer is DON'T put petrol on the fire!!!!

If you know what happens when you eat carbs, why do it?
I do eat to my meter because your body changes, but the constant thing for RH is that your problems start with food that turns into glucose in any amount no matter how quickly.
 
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