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What qualifies as a LOW carb??

kernowprickles

kernowprickles

Newbie
! was diagnosed as T2 3 weeks ago, and after reading about LC diets, decided that was the way for us to go. My husband is T2, so at least we can both eat the same things. The one thing I am really not sure about is how low a LOW carb is?? Does it have to be under 10gms per 100gns, 20 gms per 100gms or what??

Breakfast is a problem, because after a few days of egg and bacon, and variations upon, we both had enough of cooked breakfasts, and reverted to our usual one of 3 Aldi Rye Crispbreads, 2 with marmalade, with either Marmite or Peanut butter on the third one - NOT an ideal LC breakfast!! (Aldi crispbreads are 60.6 gm per 100, with 6.2gm being sugar. The sesame ones are 57.2gm with 3.4gm sugar.)

We do feel a lot better when we eat LC, and after having had a family barbecue with a lot of wrong things, now know only too well just how bad eating wrongly can make us feel! Of course, the advice from our DN is to eat carbs; not too sure what she will say when she finds out we have gone LC?? We have NO idea what our blood sugar is like as neither of us have a meter, and only have the recent blood tests by the surgery to go on, which makes it hard to know if we are doing the right things.

How do other people cope when invited to gatherings that have all the wrong foods available?? Yesterday, all we probably could have eaten "legitimately" was salad with a burger or belly pork. Needless to say, as we were told not to eat beforehand, and the barbecue started at 2 pm, (which was also when the cooking STARTED,) we ended up eating all sorts of awful stuff like quiche and sausage rolls!! I felt really ill all night, and still feel queasy!! :hungover::hungover::hungover: (No, we didn't drink, - only water!!)
 
Low carb high fat is best guided by your test readings .. So do treat yourselves to a meter SD Code free are good as the test strips are cheep .. ( www.homehealth-uk.com ) other meters are available.
My own carb intake a day is around 30 others can go a lot higher than this, it depends on your own body's way of handling carbs.
My wife and I are vegetarian, so don't often get invited out to eat LoL so cannot help with what to do at eating out.
 
Two issues here, the total daily intake of carbs and the proportion of carbs that is in various food products. The former is made up by the latter and how much of it you eat.

I try to eat no more than 50g total carbs per day, others eat more (100g per day or so), a few less (30g). To do that I try and avoid foods that have more than 5g/100g carbs, or certainly no more than 10g/100g. It's best to spread the carbs you do eat evenly through the day rather than having them all in one go.
 
kernowprickles said:
<snip>
Breakfast is a problem, because after a few days of egg and bacon, and variations upon, we both had enough of cooked breakfasts, and reverted to our usual one of 3 Aldi Rye Crispbreads, 2 with marmalade, with either Marmite or Peanut butter on the third one - NOT an ideal LC breakfast!! (Aldi crispbreads are 60.6 gm per 100, with 6.2gm being sugar. The sesame ones are 57.2gm with 3.4gm sugar.)
Click to expand...

Errr....is it just me, or are you looking at the wrong things?

You talk about the amount of sugar in the crisp bread and you have Marmalade on it??:banghead:

:) Try a bit harder with the cooked breakfast - it doesn't just have to be egg and bacon.:)

Cheese omelette, a nice bit of steak, chicken, lamb or pork chops, 90% pork sausages...loads of stuff to try.

Seriously, a big protein breakfast sets the day up and helps you avoid eating bad stuff later on as you get fewer cravings (well, it works for me anyway).
It can take a while to change the eating habits of a lifetime but it is worth it.

Really, we are victims of marketing and our own culture.
How about a bowl of chilli and sour cream for breakfast ?
Chicken curry (home made without the sugary sauce or the rice).
It is, after all, just food.
We have been conditioned to eat cereals and toast and marmalade for breakfast but a meal is just a meal.
Scare yourself - have a roast breakfast.:cool:

Cheers

LGC
 
As @Enclave says, you need to test regularly otherwise you are just stabbing blindly in the dark.

If you are told not to eat before an event to save your appetite, ignore that advice. If you want to eat, eat. If you go too long without food, your liver thinks you are struggling and dumps glucose on you anyway.

At family gatherings, I always take along a dish I can eat. I take extra to share with curious folk.
 
hi, have you tried natural greek yogurt with berries for brekkie? personally i prefer a light breakfast so only have cooked brekkie at 10am if we go to the cafe, after my yogurt at 6am, if i want a certain meal at night that is a little too carby for my daily total, ill have a lower brekkie or lunch, although this is different from the earlier mentioned better to spread them out, its seems to work fine for me, or visa versa if i eat a little tto carby during the day ill go for a carb free evening meal etc, as for what qualifies? the lower the better but 5 - 10 grm per 100g is al i would even look at, anything higher gets puts back onto the shelf like its coated in acid

i never ever go out without eating first, much easier to have a tiny amount of something when there, quiche without the crust or peel the sausage roll, ive been to family get togethers when people hve prepared me seprate meals, grrr i hate this and they now know it, just dont like a fuss made, so i just get noticeably niggled by the fuss and the wife will say, just leave him hes fine, that seems to work lol

all takes some time to get used to but i promise itll all be second nature
 
Definitely get a meter, SD Codefree is probably the cheapest, but more importantly the test strips are cheap. Then you can test before you eat and initially test at +1 and +2 after you have eaten. Yes, it uses lots of strips, but you will glean loads of info from it, and from that you can plan exactly what you can, and what you can't eat safely. I believe the recommended carb intake for non-diabetics is somewhere around the 200g mark for women and 250g or more for men - this is loads - don't go there. So, low carb is any amount lower than that. Generally it seems to be fairly accepted that around 70 - 150g qualifies for the low carb tag. First off, go easy on all processed food - or cut it out 'cos its rubbish anyway. Try halving your intake of things like spuds, bread, rice, pasta, grains, cereals etc. and see if that is enough to bring your BGs down, if not, cut further. There are many diabetics that can cope with small portions of the above, but equally there are many that can't cope with them in any worthwhile quantities and so prefer to give them up completely. As already suggested, spread the carbs over all your meals to prevent overload. But its test, test, test. I'm down to 50g or less, but you may well be able to cope with more. Good luck.
 
Definitely get a meter, SD Codefree is probably the cheapest, but more importantly the test strips are cheap. Then you can test before you eat and initially test at +1 and +2 after you have eaten. Yes, it uses lots of strips, but you will glean loads of info from it, and from that you can plan exactly what you can, and what you can't eat safely. I believe the recommended carb intake for non-diabetics is somewhere around the 200g mark for women and 250g or more for men - this is loads - don't go there. So, low carb is any amount lower than that. Generally it seems to be fairly accepted that around 70 - 150g qualifies for the low carb tag. First off, go easy on all processed food - or cut it out 'cos its rubbish anyway. Try halving your intake of things like spuds, bread, rice, pasta, grains, cereals etc. and see if that is enough to bring your BGs down, if not, cut further. There are many diabetics that can cope with small portions of the above, but equally there are many that can't cope with them in any worthwhile quantities and so prefer to give them up completely. As already suggested, spread the carbs over all your meals to prevent overload. But its test, test, test. I'm down to 50g or less, but you may well be able to cope with more. Good luck.
 
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