Carbs, sheesh!

NorthCascades wrote: »

bobshuckleberry wrote: »

Is this just an exercise forum?

MFP has a "community" section with several forums, each with a specific purpose. There's one for support and motivation, one for food and nutrition, and one for fitness and exercise. This thread was originally posted in the exercise-specific forum; somebody looked at all of the options and decided exercise was the best fit for what they had to say, that the exercise crowd was who they wanted to speak to. Since then, the thread was moved to "food and nutrition" which has a different purpose and attracts a different group of people.

You can blame me for the move. It was more of a nutrition question, so I thought it would get proper attention in F&N.

acorsaut89 wrote: »

MelissaPhippsFeagins wrote: »

I pay attention to carbs because my dad has diabetes and I don't want it. He counts carbs to keep his blood glucose controlled..

I lose weight best on high protein. Nutrition is a very individual science.

But wait, do you mean he counts all carbs or starchy carbs? Diabetics are also advised to stay away from certain fruits, or only eat them in very limited amounts - like bananas and melons - and also alcohol due to the way it metabolizes in your body . . . neither fruits nor alcohol are traditionally seen as "carbs". So does he count all carbs, or just starchy carbs? If so, I'd say that's more for portion control than anything else.

Why would you assume he counts just starchy carbs? Sugar is a carb and presumably you'd count sugar and starch. (Diabetics often will count net carbs in the few countries, like the US, where fiber is included in the carb count -- I know diabetics I know are told that fiber is a good thing.)

What on earth do you mean that fruit is not seen as a carb? Of course it is.

You seem to be thinking of "counting carbs" as counting foods, which doesn't work since most foods are a mix. I think of "counting carbs" as counting grams of carbs. Diabetics (although I am not) are often told to eat carbs with protein and fat and fiber and not to exceed a particular amount (like 30 grams or some such) per meal.

if you keep your calories under control, you can probably eat more carbs than you think especially if it has a lot of nutrients in it. i.e berries.. so 20 carbs, that's nothing. But so worth it for the fiber and vitamins. the bad carbs if you want to classify it - is cake, pastries, etc.. so those things could be eliminated if anything, vs healthy berries and fruit!

acorsaut89 wrote: »

lemurcat12 wrote: »

acorsaut89 wrote: »

MelissaPhippsFeagins wrote: »

I pay attention to carbs because my dad has diabetes and I don't want it. He counts carbs to keep his blood glucose controlled..

I lose weight best on high protein. Nutrition is a very individual science.

But wait, do you mean he counts all carbs or starchy carbs? Diabetics are also advised to stay away from certain fruits, or only eat them in very limited amounts - like bananas and melons - and also alcohol due to the way it metabolizes in your body . . . neither fruits nor alcohol are traditionally seen as "carbs". So does he count all carbs, or just starchy carbs? If so, I'd say that's more for portion control than anything else.

Why would you assume he counts just starchy carbs? Sugar is a carb and presumably you'd count sugar and starch. (Diabetics often will count net carbs in the few countries, like the US, where fiber is included in the carb count -- I know diabetics I know are told that fiber is a good thing.)

What on earth do you mean that fruit is not seen as a carb? Of course it is.

You seem to be thinking of "counting carbs" as counting foods, which doesn't work since most foods are a mix. I think of "counting carbs" as counting grams of carbs. Diabetics (although I am not) are often told to eat carbs with protein and fat and fiber and not to exceed a particular amount (like 30 grams or some such) per meal.

No, I am thinking of counting carbs. I know most foods are a mix. And what I mean is that when people say I'm watching/counting my carb intake, they typically mean I'm watching the amount of pasta, bread, etc etc products I eat.

I haven't found that, and that would (of course) be an inaccurate use of the term.

I low carb, and have known plenty of people who low carb, and I haven't found that people don't include fruit (or many other foods besides starchy carbs) in the term when they are actually watching them. (For example, soda is a HUGE source of carbs if you drink it, and all sugar.) I would agree that the occasional person shows up on MFP not knowing what a carb is (or sometimes thinking it means bread and potatoes and pasta and not understanding fruit and veg have carbs and says something IMO silly like "I am going to cut out all carbs," but I don't think anyone actually watching them would make that mistake). I also agree that people often use the term weirdly when referring to foods (someone calling ice cream "a carb" and not fruit drives me crazy, as ice cream gets as many calories from fat, but neither of those is starchy).

They don't - unless they're informed or have special dietary needs - say I'm cutting down on the amount of fruit and veggies I eat . . . both of which have a lot of carbs in them.

Non starchy vegetables do not have very many carbs in them, especially if you mean total carbs. They are "carbs" if we are using the term casually, because they are mostly carbs, but low carb doesn't mean no carbs, so you can eat lots of vegetables (I don't limit them at all).

Lots of people doing low carb DO limit fruit.

The exception being diabetics who have been educated/informed about what this means for them as their bodies require a specialized diet from what most of us consume.

Agree, but mainstream medical advice still doesn't actually push low carb for diabetics in many cases, and is more likely to push a moderate carb, mixed macro, make sure the carbs have fiber or aren't eaten alone kind of approach. Some even push just a traditional healthy diet including lots of starchy carbs so long as they have fiber too (like whole grains and, yeah, fruit).

Most diabetics I know avoid the "traditionally" bad carbs: pasta, bread, rice, etc. You can't say presumably you'd count sugar, though, either. Most diabetics I know are not very well informed - mostly by choice because I live in Canada where we have endless programs available - free of charge - to anyone diagnosed with it and pre-diabetics, too.

I am not going to predict how well-informed anyone is, since people constantly amaze me by what they manage not to know ;-) but I think it would be weird to understand that starch is a carb but not sugar, especially in this sugar is the devil era that we are in.

Perhaps the diabetics you know are better educated about what's actually happening in their bodies . . . the ones I know, are not very well informed and do not seem to care, either.

Sigh, I spent last evening with a friend of mine who has been not managing his T2D for a long time so this is on my mind. He is well informed (he has a degree from MIT, so really has no excuse not to have read up and understood what the deal is), but does not seem to care most of the time if it means changing his diet. He's not overweight, so probably is someone where managing the diet is essential and not just losing weight.

People telling you to forget about counting carbs are wrong. First of all, we all process carbs different. Second, carbs from good sources (fruit, whole grains, etc) are fine. The more fiber the better. Processed breads and cereals aren't that great when trying to diet. Like someone said above "Nutrition is a very individual science." See what works for you. Personally, I am gluten intolerant but even high carb items that are gluten free weigh me down and make me feel like crap. Carbs from fruits and veggies give me so much energy.