how do you get vitamin C without carbs?

patriciafoley1
patriciafoley1 Posts: 375 Member

I'm on a very low carb diet, and so obviously I'm not eating an orange or having a glass of juice. I just checked my vitamin C tablets, gummies, etc. Each one has 4 grams of carbs. That's a lot of carbs to me, for a tablet. I checked how much vitamin C is in a cup of spinach/arugula, or in a cucumber and it is pretty minimal. I do use RealLemon packets in my tea, but I'm not sure that gives me any vitamin C, even though it says each packet (with virtually no calories) contains the juice of a full lemon. So for all you diabetics, how do you get your vitamin C without adding carbs?

Replies

  • 2t9nty
    2t9nty Posts: 1,688 Member
    edited March 9

    Broccoli, brussel sprouts and cabbage are sources. Net carbs are minimal. I take a multi vitamin.

  • patriciafoley1
    patriciafoley1 Posts: 375 Member

    I wished I liked those veggies, and I am amazed that they are beloved by others, but I have never been able to eat them. They smell awful to me. I make broccoli for family, I have made brussel sprouts at holidays because they look so good in the store. But when I taste them, I just can't stand the taste.

    It might be something in them that I'm allergic to - once, when I was relying heavily on romaine and endive on a diet, I actually became allergic to it. For years, even a leaf of it would cause me to be violently ill. (Think hours in the bathroom). Funny enough I mentioned it to my brother, years later, though he has never dieted, he told me it makes him sick as well. So I don't think it is in my head.

    I still don't buy romaine, though I eat spinach and arugula. I love bitter lettuce but I can't risk that allergic reaction again by eating romaine or endive in any quantity. If a few leaves in a mixed salad, I seem to be okay with it, now, thank goodness. But I used to buy heads of both and eat them very happily as salads and i don't even try to buy that again. I don't understand it. I do take a multivitamin. But I am going to swear off the chewable vitamen C I also took as having too many carbs.

  • totameafox
    totameafox Posts: 1,269 Member

    Are you so low carb on a doctor's suggestion? Getting the nutrients you need is far more important. If the choice was between 4 carbs and scurvy, I would choose the carbs.

  • samgettingfit25
    samgettingfit25 Posts: 27 Member

    I would also take a few carbs over scurvy! Though I just don't do well on super low carb diets, I tried it a few times when I was in the healthy glucose and labs range to lose vanity pounds and I get weird crashes (shakey, dizzy, clumsy, irritable, etc). What about bell peppers or tomatoes?

  • 2t9nty
    2t9nty Posts: 1,688 Member

    I get the allergy/bad reaction thing. I am that way with spinach.

  • patriciafoley1
    patriciafoley1 Posts: 375 Member

    I take a multivitamin and also preservision AREDS which also has vitamin C. So I'm getting enough, but I used to take the chewable vitamin C and of course I'd rather get it naturally, in food.

    I am low carb because my A1C was 10.4 in October. I don't want to take drugs so I am using a low carb diet and exercise to try to reverse the T2. I am getting there. My blood sugar was 124 this am, and I just tested it now before dinner and it was 115. When I test 100, I am going to be over the moon. I've lost 57 pounds but what is important to me is getting back to a normal blood sugar.

  • patriciafoley1
    patriciafoley1 Posts: 375 Member
    edited March 11

    @2t9nty Fortunately I was never that way with spinach. And I have switched from romaine and endive to spinach and arugula. I don't understand it, frankly, why I (and for years) had such a violent allergy develop so suddenly. First I thought it might have been some pesticide or chemical fertilizer on the greens that I was reacting to, but over the years as it continued I realized it couldn't be that. Finally after years of avoiding them, I have discovered a few of those leaves in one of those mixed salad bags won't (so far) set me off, but I still avoid them.

  • totameafox
    totameafox Posts: 1,269 Member

    You are doing awesome so far.

  • 2t9nty
    2t9nty Posts: 1,688 Member
    edited March 12

    @patriciafoley1

    Mine came on somewhat abruptly as well. I was always a fan of spinach salad, and then suddenly a bad reaction. I thought it might have been a batch that did not get washed properly or something in the dressing. I cautiously tried small servings from different sources and with different dressings. It was the spinach for me.

  • patriciafoley1
    patriciafoley1 Posts: 375 Member

    @2t9nty I have heard it is the oxalic acid (I think that is how it is spelled) that is the problem, that people can have bad reactions to veggies with a lot of it. I don't know exactly what caused romaine and chicory to suddenly be toxic to me. I love bitter lettuce, and I would have a salad a couple of times a day, lunch and dinner, a lot of days. So I was eating a lot of romaine. Then one day, disaster. And for years even a leaf (I foolishly ate the salad at a conference luncheon with a few leaves) of it would trigger that reaction. After more than a few decades between then and now, I seem to be able to tolerate a few leaves of romaine, in a mixed salad. But I don't dare try to eat a salad made principally of it. Fortunately when I tried spinach and now arugula (which is supposed to be good for blood sugar) I don't have a reaction. So spinach, arugula and cucumbers are my go to veggies at this time.

  • 2t9nty
    2t9nty Posts: 1,688 Member

    I would like to be able to eat spinach salad, and that is a fact.

    Spinach, arugula and cucumbers seem like good goto's.

  • patriciafoley1
    patriciafoley1 Posts: 375 Member

    @2t9nty Can you eat regular green leaf lettuce, that you can grow in a garden? Butter lettuce, which seems very mild. Or worst comes to worse, iceberg?

  • 2t9nty
    2t9nty Posts: 1,688 Member

    @patriciafoley1

    I can eat it, but I am not so much the fan. I have a little romaine or iceberg in a salad when I eat out, but it is not really something I am going to go to much effort to have around. Now - cabbage I like. I eat cooked greens like collards a couple of times a week.