Ingested carbs will always increase blood glucose and insulin. The more you ingest, the more they increase.

If you don't have a metabolic disorder that requires you to keep single-dose carbs low, you're likely free to enjoy a larger carbohydrate meal every now and again.

That being said, if you find a larger carbohydrate portion causes you to be hungry shortly thereafter, you may want to tone the portions of carb down to a level that works well for you.

I'll occasionally have 30g of carbohydrate in a single meal, but it's usually 30 minutes or so before a big workout.

It really depends on what your goals are, and what your medical issues are, @EbonyDahlia ....

If you have IR, T2D, or poor glucose control, most doctors tend to limit carbs total and at a time. In one of the fasting glucose threads going on right now, there is some good discussion. Maintaining Nutritional Ketosis?

The T2D doc that stood with me the most said that the majority of folks have the most stable insulin reactions in the evening. The body tends to overreact in the am to carbs. His suggestion was 17% breakfast, 33% at lunch, and 50% at dinner. With your 40, that would be about 7 for breakfast, 13 for lunch, and 20 at dinner. So the occasional 30 grams of carbs in a meal shouldn't be too terrible, but definitely not every day.

Also, as you have probable discovered, types of carbs matters hugely. I know you aren't planning on bread, but as an example, I could have 30-40 total grams of carbs worth of broccoli, and it wouldn't be as hard on me as 15-20 grams of bread...

I would experiment, maybe half of that amount of sweet potato, just as a test, with your kransky (google says that's a type of sausage?).

Do you test blood sugar? Ketones? What is your measure here? But most people can easily maintain nutritional ketosis after adapting at 40 grams of carbs, so as long as you are careful about your type of carbs, and monitor reactions, I don't see a huge issue from doing this one in a while...

EbonyDahlia wrote: »

Lol yes, Kransky is a german sausage. We like the Aldi ones.

I don't test blood sugar, I don't need to. My Dr assures me my blood work is perfect (4 years ago I was 30kg heavier and pre-diabetic). I do sometimes use urine strips just for interest but after all this time I can tell when I'm in ketosis.

I've done some reading of late, and I'm not sure it's necessary to be on a strict medical ketosis diet when you're not a child suffering from epilepsy, or a cancer patient. It's possible to maintain a fat burning state and be kind to my pancreas eating under 50g of carbs a day. Anything under 100g is considered a low carb diet. I think 40g is still very low, but is a number that allows a bit more flexibility with food choices.

Of course I know that food choices matter, and I'm well aware of what sorts of foods contain carbs but I'd really like to enjoy a bit more vegetables in my diet. Just for taste and variety. I also plan to increase my protein a bit and reduce my fat intake. All within my calorie limit. So more meat and salad and vege, less butter and oil and mayo and other fats.

Can't hurt. I average 1.5kg loss a month if I'm lucky - lack of results and restrictive eating will eventually cause burnout, I'm sure of it.

Congrats - sounds like you've found your "carb sweet spot" at around 40-50g.

I believe the theory for T2D is that if you aren't producing ketones, you're forcing your body to produce glucose for its fuel needs.

kpk54 wrote: »

I doubt there are many here eating "medically therapeutic". My understanding of those protocols is they are strictly based on GRAMS. The most classical is a 4:1 ratio of fat grams to COMBINED carbs and protein grams.

The precise makeup of "medically therapeutic" will depend on the individual and the medical condition being treated.

For childhood epilepsy, yes - 4:1 is the standard protocol to start with, but 3:1 is also not uncommon.

For diabetes, it's generally a gram limit which is best determined by a combination of overall caloric need, exercise levels and insulin-sensitivity.

I'm fairly insulin-resistant, produce next-to-no insulin and maintain very well at anywhere between 20g on a no-exercise day) and 70g on a heavy exercise day. I tend to 'average' 40-50g in total, which overall tends to average close to 10% of my total calories from carbohydrate.

albertabeefy wrote: »

kpk54 wrote: »

I doubt there are many here eating "medically therapeutic". My understanding of those protocols is they are strictly based on GRAMS. The most classical is a 4:1 ratio of fat grams to COMBINED carbs and protein grams.

The precise makeup of "medically therapeutic" will depend on the individual and the medical condition being treated.

For childhood epilepsy, yes - 4:1 is the standard protocol to start with, but 3:1 is also not uncommon.

For diabetes, it's generally a gram limit which is best determined by a combination of overall caloric need, exercise levels and insulin-sensitivity.

I'm fairly insulin-resistant, produce next-to-no insulin and maintain very well at anywhere between 20g on a no-exercise day) and 70g on a heavy exercise day. I tend to 'average' 40-50g in total, which overall tends to average close to 10% of my total calories from carbohydrate.

Yes. I should have clarified when I indicated 'many not eating medically therapeutic' I was thinking in terms of specific diets created for those with epilepsy or other neurological disorders. I find it very favorable so many here with different conditions/disorders/diseases experiment to determine what is best for themself and share the info.

If you look into Mark Sisson's research, you can achieve similar results even with higher carbs (going as high as 80-100G Net) if you're using intermittent fasting windows to force your body back into a ketone burner.

His own method is that he only eats between 12 and 6PM giving himself an 18 hour window of intermittent fasting, he spaces his protein out (as the body can only absorb around 25-30G per sitting) but tends to have his carbs earlier in the day.