Carb - Limit or Unlimit?

[SuzieP64]

How do you know how much carbs you can take per day? Thanks!

[Dan Gato]

Hi Sue,
That's a controversial question here.
But, let me start.
I do mid carbing. less than 100 carbs a day.
some people do like Atkins or Bernstein about 30 a day.

That's the best way to control bg's & take less insulin & less meds.
It depends on your pancreas, liver, C-peptide, etc.

How many carbs do you consume a day? how are your bg's?

[SuzieP64]

what's bg's? Sorry I'm new at this ...

[SuzieP64]

Oooh must be blood glucose ... my highest was 375 ... I have given myself two shots today Novolog pen, total of 6 Units because of high blood sugar. I'm still learning and trying to figure out how much carb I should have per day, I still haven't figure it out yet. I'm sorting out my daily menus to figure out how much carbs I should eat per day. I think I should buy carb counter book, is it worth having it?

[ant hill]

Hello Sue :), We look at Blood Glucose BG's as a guide to control and carbs drive the glucose count and so we look at food to see what carbs needed to be counted so that we can match the carbs to the bolus insulin. :D

[BriOnH]

Hi Sue,
That's a controversial question here.


Indeed. Bernstien says to consume as little as possible (carbs) and I have seen some great results come of people who use his diet. On the contrary I have seen a degradation in the joy of living doing this.

If you can tweak your carb to insulin ratio right on you can eat as much carbs as you want.

Personally I go pretty low carb, and really don't eat much. In the end you gotta just experiment a little (if new especially with your doctor imo) and find what works for you.

[susique333]

I currently do not eat more than 40 grams of carbs per day. No insulin yet, Metformin 2000 and even with greatly reduced carbs my fasting blood sugars are still not in the good range. If I eat more than 20 grams at one sitting Im in the 200s so I think my pancreas is pooping out.

[REDLAN]

I use insulin:carb ratios. what I find is that this generally works for a particular range of carbs - 25g to 90g or there abouts.

outside these ranges my ratio drifts off - too little below 25g and too high above 90g.

I also find that if I go significantly beyond my usual 200-250g of carbs in a day, then I need more basal to cover - I suspect that this is because more carbs = more calories (particularly fat), and more carbs and fat means more insulin is needed.

[Jill-O]

Are you taking novolog mix or just rapid acting novolog? If it's a mix, you need to eat a set amount of carbs as you cannot tweak a mix.

I take Humalog (rapid acting) before meals, and Lantus (long acting) at night. I can tweak my Humalog dose up or down per meal depending on how many carbs I will eat.

[Jan B]

I have cut my carbs way back. Without a doubt, it keeps the blood sugars more level. I was at 90-100 a day. Now I'm around 40. In 5 days, my bg hasn't been over 125 (testing 8-10 times a day). Without that 125, my highest in 5 days has been 105.

Susie - I thought you were crazy, eating all that meat. Now I'm giving it a try, and haven't gained an ounce. I quit having so much bread and oatmeal. I still eat all the spinach salads and cole slaw I want. I need to gain some muscle (my arms are skinny looking & they used to be very muscular (frozen shoulders fixed that!)), so I'm trying more protein foods (without high carbs, such as lots of beans). I used to be strong, and shouldn't accept my weakness is all about age, right?!

[susique333]

Jan I have always loved meat and if I have a nice steak and a salad I dont miss the potato hardly at all. I eat chicken more than any other meat. The protein really sticks with me and keeps the BS more stable. Plus I have a quirky system and if I skip meat for even one day, I have much more edema.

[Lloyd]

For most people, diabetic or otherwise, unlimited carbs leads to unlimited weight.

If you run marathons, you can pretty much eat whatever you want.

[Emm]

It's an individual thing - some people can't bear to give up their carbs, some can. I never wanted to! I was a carb-o-holic and loved my bread & potatoes most of all. It took a bit of getting used to but now I stay under 100g a day - which is very easy for me, and in fact some days I would't even have 50.

I find that less is best. It's SO much easier to keep my BGs in line with less carb. I feel lighter, bouncier, happier, and healthier. But I still give in to my snacks cravings.

I'm not super strict - I don't always count any more - I know what I can eat and what I can't. It takes a while to get to this point but it gives a renewed sense of freedom :)

I will still have junk food and even a total pig out if I really feel like it - especially around the time that my hormones are getting involved! I can do this as long as I know how much insulin to take, and remember to test more because high carb stuff means lots of movement in BGs and more risk of highs & lows.

So basically, you need to figure out your own needs. Some people say you lose quality of life by dropping carbs, but I say it's improved - you have less worry about what your blood sugar is doing and a lowered chance of long term problems because it's so much easier to keep your numbers in range - in fact you can create a much tighter range for yourself!

[muse]

Hi, everyone,
I am new to the forum, so bear with me. I am a normalized diabetic. The diet I use has equal carbs and protein - roughly the same amount for each of these, every time I eat.

I avoid the high glycemic carbs, but I can still have about 100 gm carbs a day, as long as I have the same number of grams of protein with it. For me, that means 3 meals of 25gm protein, 25 gm carbs and a couple of snacks of around 15 gm carbs and 15 gm protein. Everything I eat is low fat. I eat 5 times per day, and measure blood glucose three times per day now.

I have lost 110 pounds this way, I am mostly a Type II. I take a lot of supplements, and I exercise.

You can check out my blog for more information.

DiabeticMealPlanning (http://diabeticmealplanning.blogspot.com)

Muse

[1type2go]

Aw some Blog ,Muse

Many Will learn from this, If they take the time and Yes it's all relative for men & women, get healthy...live long!!
Pls be sure to chk out the exercise threads

If you eat it It will come

[kstreeter513]

I pretty much eat as many carbs as I want. It is important to realize, though that I run...a lot. On days that I run long (10+ miles) it is not out of the ordinary for me to easily eat 500 grams of carbos. I do try to eat relativly low fat though. I do not gain weight by doing this.

After reading some posts talking about high fat/protien diets, I decided to try it for a couple weeks. Didn't work for me, I actually gained weight, and my running suffered drastically. Everyone is individual though.

Also, I'm type 1 so I cover carbs with insulin, unfortunatley not an option for you if not using insulin.

[Cyborg]

As long as I take the right amount of insulin, at the right time, using the proper type of bolus, for both the carb and protein content of the food I eat, I can eat as many carbs and as much protein as I desire. Eating fewer carbs and protein makes it much easier to control my bg.