Am I eating too many carbs?
tycoon460
Posts: 28 Member
My last doctor's visit the nurse told me she thinks I eat too many carbs. I was informed I should try to limit to 50g of carbs a meal and even less for snacks. The Medtronic Carelink Software shows total 290 carbs +/- 78g per day. Sometimes after brutal morning workout days I'll eat 80-120g of carbs at lunch. Majority of my carbs on average are from snacks during the day and after dinner. I was eating 600-800 calories a day of "healthy" snacks (unsalted nuts, granola, nonfat greek yogurt, and etc).
Meal breakdowns: Breakfast average of 45 +/- 17g, Lunch average of 31 +/- 18g and Dinner average of 28 +/- 18g.
I informed the nurse I was working out 6 days/week 30-60 minutes/day and now that I'm getting closer to my weight goal I've went to 5 days/week 30 minutes/day and 1 day of stretching. As of now I'm doing a 250-400 calorie workout each day. I only eat when I'm actually hungry and I'm still losing 0.5 lbs or so each week. When I wasn't eating snacks I was hungry all the time and dropping 2 lbs a week even when I was consuming close to 2000 calories a day. I've went to smaller meals and then put a snack in 2 hours after the meal. Sometimes two snacks between meals if it's a good time lapse maybe even a snack pre workout. All of which seems to keep my hunger under much better control and prevent me from inhaling food at meals. My calorie intake has went up some usually 2100-2400 a day total.
My A1C has been good last few doctor appointments. I was 6.6 or so pre-pump and after going on the pump I'm under 6. Avg BG of 116 +/- 41 from 10 readings a day. So my BG is well under control.
I've since decided to take them up on their idea of less carbs. Last few days I've been trying to stay around 200-250 carbs in a day. I try to keep around 50g per meal and then do 1 or 2 snacks in a day. It seems okay except for some extreme mood swings, having a hard time keeping from eating snacks late at night, and constant burning stomach pains not the normal hunger pains for me. I haven't been doing it long enough to compare weight results yet.
My family are starting to show concerned over my workouts now and the fact I'm not constantly snacking as much anymore.
Has anyone else been told to limit their carbs by their nurse/doctor? How did it work for you? Did you have to adjust your workouts at all for it?
Meal breakdowns: Breakfast average of 45 +/- 17g, Lunch average of 31 +/- 18g and Dinner average of 28 +/- 18g.
I informed the nurse I was working out 6 days/week 30-60 minutes/day and now that I'm getting closer to my weight goal I've went to 5 days/week 30 minutes/day and 1 day of stretching. As of now I'm doing a 250-400 calorie workout each day. I only eat when I'm actually hungry and I'm still losing 0.5 lbs or so each week. When I wasn't eating snacks I was hungry all the time and dropping 2 lbs a week even when I was consuming close to 2000 calories a day. I've went to smaller meals and then put a snack in 2 hours after the meal. Sometimes two snacks between meals if it's a good time lapse maybe even a snack pre workout. All of which seems to keep my hunger under much better control and prevent me from inhaling food at meals. My calorie intake has went up some usually 2100-2400 a day total.
My A1C has been good last few doctor appointments. I was 6.6 or so pre-pump and after going on the pump I'm under 6. Avg BG of 116 +/- 41 from 10 readings a day. So my BG is well under control.
I've since decided to take them up on their idea of less carbs. Last few days I've been trying to stay around 200-250 carbs in a day. I try to keep around 50g per meal and then do 1 or 2 snacks in a day. It seems okay except for some extreme mood swings, having a hard time keeping from eating snacks late at night, and constant burning stomach pains not the normal hunger pains for me. I haven't been doing it long enough to compare weight results yet.
My family are starting to show concerned over my workouts now and the fact I'm not constantly snacking as much anymore.
Has anyone else been told to limit their carbs by their nurse/doctor? How did it work for you? Did you have to adjust your workouts at all for it?
0
Replies
-
No, I haven't been told that. But I understand the idea to limit carbs as a diabetic in order to better manage blood sugars. What do your post-prandial spikes look like - how high do they go and how long do they last?
It sounds like overall your BG's are well under control, so it may not be necessary. You obviously need carbs if you run low. I've heard from some type 1's that they eat very low carb (<20g daily), which tells me they rarely or never eat fruit and limited types and quantities of veggies. When I challenge that person as to what they do when they go low, the response is that it never happens... I've even heard the argument that a high protein and fat diet makes it impossible to go low. I don't believe that, by the way.
The argument is made by non-diabetics that protein and fat keeps you fuller for longer. I'm just guessing here, but that probably comes from the slightly increased blood sugar over longer periods of time for non-diabetics vs. the spike from carbs for a short time. Under either case, it doesn't usually make a difference for me what I eat... I'm hungry all the time unless I get to a certain calorie level regardless of macros. Also, keep in mind that type 1's do not make amylin. I don't believe it makes that huge of a difference, but it could have some effect on satiety.
At the end of the day, it wouldn't hurt to experiment.
PS: Good job on consistently working out!0 -
My spikes aren't bad. Normally 140-160 BG 2 hours after meal. Morning usually is higher I use to hit 180-240 BG 2 hours after if I have my normal 1 tbsp of almond butter in my oatmeal. If I don't use a nut spread it doesn't spike nearly as high. I use to have to take corrections all the time for it, but I've since adjusted my morning ratio on my own to get it under control. I normally eat the exact same breakfast every morning. 3/4 cup dry oats, 1 tbsp of sugar free jelly, 1 tbsp of nut spread butter (almond, hazelnut, sunflower, or etc), all of which is about 51g of carbs. I've still been trying to get my proteins in during the day by going with lean meats like chicken, turkey, or fish (rarely). I try to eat mostly nonfat, reduced, or low fat when possible due to the granola, chia, and tree nuts in my diet cover the fat.0
-
I find that my blood sugars are much easier to manage when I eat lower carbs. I'm not a low carb person but I find that keeping them at 30g per meal makes very little rise post meal and requires only a little bit of bolus. My goal for meals is 45g or less which I am able to do with very little effort it just requires me to decide what carb I want, ie. spaghetti or the garlic bread but not both. Per day I eat 200g or less. I also work out 5-6 days per week. On the days that I do double workouts I eat about a 100g extra carbs (I'm starving after the second workout and eat most of those carbs then). My doctor is amazed at how well I do and how well calibrated my CGM is. I think that's because my BGs are pretty level so its easy to calibrate at any time of day. When I have the bad lows or super highs is usually because I didn't count the carbs right or ate too many. It sounds like you are doing exactly the right thing and given your activity I think 50g per meal sounds about right. The reason everyone says to go high protein is because its really hard to overeat. Usually if you start the meal with chicken you'll get full after a few pieces. Then you don't really want so many carbs. If you do increase your normal protein intake you may need to bolus a little bit for it. Before bed I usually have a protein powder snack and if I eat more than 20g protein I do need to bolus otherwise will be high in the middle of the night. I do this mostly because I often am short on hitting my protein goals and usually am over my carb goal. So eating protein and going to bed is usually what I do.
Several people recommend eating the majority of your carbs around your workouts. Ie. before and after so that your muscles have the energy they need to perform the task and properly recover after. I think how you do this depends on what your workout is. I have tried to eat carbs post workout but for me since my BG rises when I workout I find that waiting 90 minutes after working out to eat works better for my control. Most exercise experts will tell you that you need to eat carbs within 30 minutes of finishing a workout. This may or may not work for you. Its a balance but it sounds like you are doing everything right. Good job!0 -
Just an update to this. Since original post I've dropped 8 lbs. That's about spot on for the 1 lb a week or so I have set as a goal. I'm now eating average 210g of carbs a day. Calories depend on the day but usually 1600-3000. I had to back off my bolus ratios without as many carbs. I kept on going low 60s BG. After I backed off enough I was going high I went back and tightened them up again to get them fine tuned. I assume my basal rate isn't exactly correct and since I was eating the same thing basically everyday my diet was keeping my BG steady. If I miss a meal I might still go low.
I started a new muscle mass training program for my morning workouts. Maybe the heavy lifting messed with my BG more than the Fat Burn HIIT/Cardio workouts. In the morning I'll still spike high 160-240 BG normally 2 hours after meal, but it'll usually fall without correction. I have noticed I don't spike nearly as high for other meals. I'm now eating 2 large salads (1+ lbs of salad each) a day. I also throw in some protein and fat with both meals. As long as I manage to get a meal in within the next 5-6 hours I'm fine. Else I need to throw a snack in there still because I'll drop 95 to below 70 in less than 20 minutes at times. Even though nurses told me I shouldn't NEED to have snacks I like to have my morning, afternoon, and late night snacks. If I don't eat something at least every 3 hours I turn into a bottomless pit for the next meal.
I know everyone says it's hard to overeat on protein, but I can easily eat 10-16 ounces of chicken at a meal with other stuff too if I have it there...
Normal day for me now is:
Breakfast - Oatmeal with nut butter (45 to 50 carbs)
Morning Snack - Granola Bar (15-17 carbs)
Lunch - Large salad with greek yogurt (around 30 carbs)
Afternoon Snack - Granola Bar (15-17 carbs) or Greek yogurt with Granola (18-19 carbs)
Supper - Large Salad again and then whatever else gets fixed usually meat, steamed veggies, and rice (40-70 carbs)
Late Night Snack - Almonds/Pop Corn/Oatmeal (25-50 carbs)0
This discussion has been closed.