All macros are special
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jgnatca
Posts: 14,464 Member
The macros are carbohydrate, protein and fat. We need them all. As a former type 2 diabetic, I was educated to try and get all three in every meal, minimal fat. And here's why:
Diabetics have trouble regulating their blood sugar. Type 2's don't produce enough insulin for their needs, and type 1's don't produce any insulin at all. So a balanced meal with all the food macros are the best guarantee at supplying just enough energy when we need it. We can limit fats because they are so easy to come by and they are such a dense package of energy; twice as much as proteins and carbs.
This is also handy for dieters who want to stave off hunger. Eat a variety, and you are giving your body new energy when it needs it.
Give your body credit though. If you don't have a condition like diabetes, the body adjusts with insulin, storing the extra energy as fat stores when you most need it.
Diabetics have trouble regulating their blood sugar. Type 2's don't produce enough insulin for their needs, and type 1's don't produce any insulin at all. So a balanced meal with all the food macros are the best guarantee at supplying just enough energy when we need it. We can limit fats because they are so easy to come by and they are such a dense package of energy; twice as much as proteins and carbs.
This is also handy for dieters who want to stave off hunger. Eat a variety, and you are giving your body new energy when it needs it.
Give your body credit though. If you don't have a condition like diabetes, the body adjusts with insulin, storing the extra energy as fat stores when you most need it.
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Replies
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Fiber is a carb and is digested very slowly.
People rave about fats and protein keeping them full and always forget about our good friend Fiber.0 -
Fiber is roughage and has little or no nutritional value (other than trace elements and minerals along for the ride). Guess where fiber comes out?
I find fibrous complex carbohydrates to be very helpful as yes, the digestion is slower...closer to the 5 hour range.0 -
jgnatca keep in mind Fats and Protein are required for humans to live but carbs are optional. That does not make them bad but just not required.0
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We are omnivores, GaleHawkins, pretty good at getting energy however we can find it. Cutting out carbs, one of the macros, however, makes our job that much harder. A diet very low in carbohydrates would be a ketogenic diet, correct?0
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Great post and visual for the macros. Just remember that Type 2 diabetes doesn't just go away. If you return to the condition that brought on insulin resistance (i.e. going back to being overweight, overeating simple carbs, low activity level on a regular basis), your blood sugars will sky rocket again and your body won't be able to handle it.
Also, this chart is good information for any medical conditions that mimic insulin resistance.0 -
GaleHawkins wrote: »jgnatca keep in mind Fats and Protein are required for humans to live but carbs are optional. That does not make them bad but just not required.
Carbs are not "optional." While it's true a human can survive without carbs, you can also survive without arms and legs, so are arms and legs optional?0 -
wkwebby, my doctor told me to consider my diabetes "in remission". Yay! I think I will always eat this way as I've been doing it for so many years.
I got to thinking about this as a poster told me that protein spikes insulin. That was news to me, because it had been drilled in to me and I have personally experienced that protein has a much slower uptake than carbohydrates.
Looking further, I found out that insulin also binds itself to amino acids (protein). But the chart explains why diabetics don't worry about that. If a diabetic were experiencing a low sugar moment, they would not grab a protein. They'd grab something sweet. Nothing else would metabolise fast enough.0 -
[tigersword wrote: »GaleHawkins wrote: »jgnatca keep in mind Fats and Protein are required for humans to live but carbs are optional. That does not make them bad but just not required.
Carbs are not "optional." While it's true a human can survive without carbs, you can also survive without arms and legs, so are arms and legs optional?
One of your kidney's is also optional while we are talking about things that are optional to live...
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I agree we are omnivores and I see no way to cut out carbs even if we only eat fat meat.We are omnivores, GaleHawkins, pretty good at getting energy however we can find it. Cutting out carbs, one of the macros, however, makes our job that much harder. A diet very low in carbohydrates would be a ketogenic diet, correct?
While we know carbs are optional for human we also know they are seem to be more addictive like and relative cheap source of calories plus they are easy to get unlike many fats and proteins that can out run us.
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Carbs aren't addictive, and I've never met a nut or olive that could outrun me.GaleHawkins wrote: »
I agree we are omnivores and I see no way to cut out carbs even if we only eat fat meat.We are omnivores, GaleHawkins, pretty good at getting energy however we can find it. Cutting out carbs, one of the macros, however, makes our job that much harder. A diet very low in carbohydrates would be a ketogenic diet, correct?
While we know carbs are optional for human we also know they are seem to be more addictive like and relative cheap source of calories plus they are easy to get unlike many fats and proteins that can out run us.
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My butternut squash didn't stand a chance. Sucka!
Seriously, have you tried going zero carb? Long term?0 -
SnuggleSmacks wrote: »My butternut squash didn't stand a chance. Sucka!
Seriously, have you tried going zero carb? Long term?
How would you ever poop??
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tigersword wrote: »
Carbs aren't addictive, and I've never met a nut or olive that could outrun me.GaleHawkins wrote: »
I agree we are omnivores and I see no way to cut out carbs even if we only eat fat meat.We are omnivores, GaleHawkins, pretty good at getting energy however we can find it. Cutting out carbs, one of the macros, however, makes our job that much harder. A diet very low in carbohydrates would be a ketogenic diet, correct?
While we know carbs are optional for human we also know they are seem to be more addictive like and relative cheap source of calories plus they are easy to get unlike many fats and proteins that can out run us.
spare yourself brother ….ole gale hawkins will go round and round with pseudo science all night long….0 -
SnuggleSmacks wrote: »My butternut squash didn't stand a chance. Sucka!
Seriously, have you tried going zero carb? Long term?
I do not think one can go zero carb and live. All the protein I know about will drag some carbs along with it. Almonds have carbs as to about every thing.
Alatarie175 why to you think it is carbs that make you poop? Coconut oil makes up about 1200 of my daily calories as my good Fat source.
reddit.com/r/keto/comments/192urc/no_carbs_no_poop/
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If you stop feeding a troll Goldfish crackers they eventually stop posting....0
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GaleHawkins wrote: »SnuggleSmacks wrote: »My butternut squash didn't stand a chance. Sucka!
Seriously, have you tried going zero carb? Long term?
I do not think one can go zero carb and live. All the protein I know about will drag some carbs along with it. Almonds have carbs as to about every thing.
Alatarie175 why to you think it is carbs that make you poop? Coconut oil makes up about 1200 of my daily calories as my good Fat source.
reddit.com/r/keto/comments/192urc/no_carbs_no_poop/
Lol, wut?
Yeah...what? Cause that made 0 sense.
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