How Many Carbs Do You Eat per Meal, per Day?

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Permalink Reply by Daena on June 28, 2007 at 9:51pm

i try to keep it to a max of 45g per main meal and 15g per snack. i find it's hard to estimate stuff like rice and noodles, but after my most recent trip to the dietitian i got things cleared up and i'm eating enough, if not a bit too little at times.

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Permalink Reply by Debi J. on June 28, 2007 at 10:40pm

Great topic, Manny. I'm always lurking on people's blogs trying to figure out how many carbs they're eating, how much insulin they're taking, what kind of numbers they're getting. I look forward to other people's answers.

I feel like I am always trying to find a healthy way of eating that I can maintain and what I eat kind of is a moving target. Things like beans, dairy, fruit, whole grains, nuts - sometimes I avoid these and sometimes I eat a lot of them. Sometimes I just plain fall off the wagon and eat ice cream and cookies and all sorts of junk. Right now I'm not eating any grains. So my carbs are mainly coming from some dairy (milk, yogurt, cheese), which I usually have 1-2 servings per day and some fruit (probably about 2 servings a day of blueberries, strawberries, or cherries right now). And a lot of veggies, but they don't add up much. So this week, I'd say between 30-50 carbs per day, split pretty evenly between lunch and dinner. I've been skipping breakfast unless I have a low fasting number.

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Permalink Reply by Michelle on October 17, 2009 at 10:17pm

WOW skip breakfast are you type 1 or 2??
I really think ppl should say what type they are and what country they are from there is soooo many more questions answered with that!

I have type 1 and am in Canada. I eat 45 c for breakfast, 60 c for lunch and dinner. No snacks - just doesn't fit in. Snack before bed of 30 c.

I have to have my A1C taken next week and am nervous!!

DIABETES SUCKSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!

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Permalink Reply by Hana Rous on October 18, 2009 at 2:49am

I'm Hana,aged 62 I live in England, although I am of Czech birth. I'm T2 diagnosed July2003( although I must have had it for years. After about 4 years of following the dietary advice of my medical team, I couldn't control my weight, so I went low carb and stopped taking Gliclazide. I still use 2 x 500mg Metformin per day. I have lost lots of weight, but still have loads to lose.
I walk about 25 miles per week, using my feet as my main means of getting about, combined with my pensioners' free bus pass. I've just blown my shoe budget for the next 5 years on a pair of top class hiking boots.
I cook our meals from scratch, using top quality ingredients. If I do eat out, which is rare, I keep to meat or fish and vegetables, or Salad. I find that a MacDonald's chicken salad with a bag of fresh fruit, is enough to share between me and 18 month old granddaughter, when we end up in the city centre together about once every two weeks. If I snack, it's home made almond biscuits(cookies) or nuts.
Latest HbA1c in August 2009 was 5.3%
Most of the time I ignore my diabetes.
I'm married to a lifelong T1 [38years]
I'm a busy campaigner for better diabetes care and advice here in Britain and in this light, i correspond with important peple all over the world.
At the moment, I'm compiling a file on diabetic diet and the benefit of carb control for a House of Commons committee that I'm attending on Tuesday.
I have only ever found 1 scientific paper on the benefit of high carb for diabetes. It's old (1982) and frankly rubbish science. It doesn't even support its own claims with the evidence: how it got into "The Lancet" I don't understand.

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Permalink Reply by Judith on October 18, 2009 at 3:34pm

You go Girl!!! Hana, you are a wonder. I assume you've looked to Jenny's site for possible study links. And I'm thinking of our members Scott Strumello, Bernard and tmana who also keep up on this stuff really well. I hope you will keep us posted----maybe write a blog about the committee meeting!!! I'll be thinking of you.....

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Permalink Reply by Lora on October 29, 2009 at 5:10am

Hi Michelle--

I am a CDE--and have diabetes--The highest carb intake for a female should be 45 grams per meal.
Weight loss and bG control are difficult when you eat more than that amount . Test your BG two hours after a meal--140 or under and you are OK....

Lora

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Permalink Reply by Pat on October 29, 2009 at 5:35am

Actually MDs who keep up with current research are recommending no more than 120 post-crandial. They found that there was almost no deterioration at that number. Whereas at the higher numbers there was. I stay at under 35 carbs per day. My weight is in the normal range now ( I lost 20 lbs) but didn't really have to work very hard at it after I went low carb, and my numbers have been normal for 1.5 years. I don't use any meds except a few vitamins. My A1c is 5.6.

Pat

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Permalink Reply by Judith on October 29, 2009 at 5:48am

I'm with you, Pat and Hana, though I allow 40-45 carbs per day (those 12 servings of veggies a day) as it seems to help with my fibromyalgia. If I had 45 carbs per meal, I'd have lost my feet by now.. Though I realize higher carbs can work okay for some.

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Permalink Reply by Hana Rous on October 29, 2009 at 6:27am

As I see it, the important thing is those BG numbers. It matters more WHAT they are than how they are reached Some people choose to do it by using more medication

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Permalink Reply by Shelley Schlender on November 13, 2009 at 12:46pm

Hi, Pat. I, too, try to stay under 35 grams carb a day. I eat a high fat diet as a way to get my energy calories, and adequate protein, but not excess, since that pushes up my blood sugars. Maybe not as quickly as carbs do, but it does push them up.

I checked my original C-Peptides with a friend who had just been diagnosed with Type 1 recently and was asking for some perspective. My original C-Peptides in . . . I think it was 2005, were well under 1. Around .6 or less. Which translates into just a piddly amount of insulin. My original C-Peptide level at diagnosis was a little lower than my friend's C-Peptide level. But her fasting blood sugars when she was first diagnosed were around 300, whereas mine, when I was diagnosed, were around 70. For me, that's without insulin or any prescription meds. The prediction of the endocrinologist four years ago, when he first say my numbers, was that I would soon be burning out my pancreas, because my maximum internal insulin production was just barely able to keep up with a basic load.

It's four years later and I'm still not on insulin, and my blood sugars are still generally under 100, and often in the 70s. My endocrinologist is pretty intrigued. My other vital signs and lab tests are good, too. At some point, my pancreas might burn out, but so far, it's holding the line, and there is a wee bit of evidence from my most recent 2-hour glucose tolerance test that it's done a bit of regenerating.

My A1C, last time checked, was 5.2.

Sometimes, when other people are eating cookies or bread or pasta or rice or sweet potatoes, I wish I was also. But mostly, I don't mind, because my taste buds are accustomed to my way of eating and give me an incredibly wonderful experience of the complexity and flavors (including sweet) of foods that most people would consider bland.

So I tend to laugh at it and shrug my shoulders and say, since I've got this big heads-up, in terms of my body's vulnerabilities to diabetes, I've been condemned to a life of healthy eating. That may actually be a blessing.

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Permalink Reply by Judith on November 13, 2009 at 3:39pm

Way to go, Shelley!!!.....

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Permalink Reply by Hana Rous on November 14, 2009 at 2:05am

Shelly
you said it all.
Pity the doctors can't read about people like you without believing that they tell lies and that it's dangerous..
I'm much like you, but use 1000mg Metformin per day. It doesn't do much about my BG, but does ensure that I get my prescriptions free. I'm aiming for a lower Hb A1c next February. 5.4% this last time.

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