I've been tracking my eating for the last several weeks. I eat no rice, no bread, no white pasta. I've eaten a 'bit' of barilla plus (high protein high fiber pasta) and a bit of baked potato with skin (when I had gestational diabetes, potatoes didn't spike my blood sugar). I also eat no empty carbs like candy or sugars.
So, here's my carb count since Jan 12th:
12: 126 net 111
13: 134 net 105
14: 142 net 109
15: 108 net 82
16: 64 net 47
17: 163 net 123
18: 119 net 91
19: 159 net 122
20: 144 net 109
21: 143 net 114
22: 174 net 136
23: 155 net 126
24: 213 net 158
25: 185 net 138
26: 184 net 150
27: 109 net 85
28: 147 net 112
29: 169 net 134
30: 82 net 55
31: 92 net 64
1: 119 net 84
2: 86 net 60
3: 124 net 86
4: 119 net 81
5: 163 net 129
6: 91 net 68
7: 139 net 109
8: 116 net 90
I'm eating on average 1700 calories a day and you can see my current weight. a drop of 10 pounds in a bit over a month. Besides getting rid of the little bit of potato I eat, I can't find many more things to cut carbs! Beans have carbs, veggies have carbs - EVERYTHING practically does.
Are these too high? or good? I just can't see how someone can eat 40 carbs ONLY in a day and still eating a healthy diet. Why isn't there more information out there on what is a good range? I can't find anythign concrete.
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Hi,
I will soon be celebrating 7 years on Atkins If you are interested in low carb, I suggest you read Dr. Atkins New Diet Revolution by Dr. Robert C. Atkins and Good Calories, Bad Calories by Gary Taubes.
I think anything under 100 is a good day. It really depends on you. But for me- with my PCOS I have heard that a person with PCOS should eat 40% carbs from their daily intake. I currently am getting around 30-35% because I am losing weight. Usually I get from 80-100g carbs a day.
I'd imagine as PCOS has links to diabetes that anything under 100 is great I mean carbs aren't bad- complex carbs are better to eat- I just think you don't want to get to the 55-60% carb diet the average American eats.
BTW you might want to google "low carb veggies" and try to eat primarily from that list to keep your carbs low.
I think anything under 100 is a good day. It really depends on you. But for me- with my PCOS I have heard that a person with PCOS should eat 40% carbs from their daily intake. I currently am getting around 30-35% because I am losing weight. Usually I get from 80-100g carbs a day.
I'd imagine as PCOS has links to diabetes that anything under 100 is great I mean carbs aren't bad- complex carbs are better to eat- I just think you don't want to get to the 55-60% carb diet the average American eats.
BTW you might want to google "low carb veggies" and try to eat primarily from that list to keep your carbs low.
Can that 40% be veggies, starch, or does it make a difference? I find I can't eat starch carbs at all without feeling starving and then lousy all day.
Why isn't there more information out there on what is a good range? I can't find anythign concrete.
Probably because there is no no one-size-fits-all range. Your carb needs probably vary according to all sorts of variables, genetics, gender, age, health issues, medications, activity level, stress level, diet (where the carbs are coming from) ....
Atkins is the only low-carb plan that I can think of that has guidelines for finding your own best range.
Even though I'm following a low-carb exchange plan rather than Atkins (I need to enforce portion control, as I can stall even on induction level), I learned alot about finding my best carb level from Atkins.
Most people forget or ignore this about Atkins. I think because the plan allows a person to extend induction, some people take that to mean everyone should (which I don't think at all was Dr. Atkins' intention).
I made that mistake, many times over the years, whenever I tried Atkins. I tried the diet several times over the decades, and never made it much past 4 or 5 weeks. I think I made it almost two months once, but I'm not sure. As it turns out, I do not recover from "induction flu." Even after 5 weeks on induction, I still felt horrible, and was even passing out (probably from low blood sugar). At the time, I thought it was proof that Atkins was unhealthy, and because the book encouraged long-term induction, I never considered progress to OWL. This is my fault, because it was clear from the book that I had the option to progress to OWL (adding 5g of carbs per week until I found my perfect level for my goals - a steady, but comfortably paced weight loss).
If I had followed OWL as instructed, those symptoms would have disappeared. Maybe at 45g of carbs, maybe at 100g (the book makes it clear that OWL carb levels can vary tremendously from person to person).
Atkins never mentions that induction flu might be due to low-blood sugar issues, or that some people can't stay on induction. Now whether he thought that it wasn't an issue, or didn't want to confuse readers, I don't know. I just know that if I had realized that prolonged induction flu symptoms could be cured with OWL, I would have gone on to OWL (which I learned for myself only when my doctor told me to try low-carb, but not too-low, but admitted he didn't know what was too-low).
I ended up having to leave Atkins, because it's based on recognizing hunger, and I've learned that I just cannot. I can eat even induction level and still stall weight loss, because of false hunger and portion-control issues. For me "translating" low-carb into an exchange plan works better for me.
Surprisingly (or maybe not to dedicated low-carbers), I'm finding that my own best carb level is far lower than I would have ever expected. I find that grains don't work for me at all. I do ok if I limit them to at most one serving a day, and choose the highest protein grains (like quinoa). I do better on two or three servings a week.
There are some very good books that explain why grains are not a necessary food group (in fact, grains contain "anti-nutrients" which pull other nutrients from the body. So a "balanced diet" with grains can look very different than a "balanced diet" without them).
berry, have you started testing your sugars yet? Losing weight is fabulous, and a ten pound loss in a month or so is really great. Overall the lower carbs may be helpful for you, but to find out which carbs you can tolerate and what level is ok for you will take testing. I can keep my sugars very stable with low carbs, but if I go much above 40g/day, I don't do well. All grains cause spikes for me, but I can manage some starchy vegetables.
I have a blood draw (for thyroid) then end of February and when I talk to the doctor then, I will ask for a script for testing blood sugars. I'm not eating any grains at all except quinoa which I have 'heard' don't tend to spike blood sugars. I eat one apple a day, but mostly meat and vegetables and things like black beans, hummus. No bread, no cereal, no rice and I've cut out even the barilla plus pasta the last couple weeks (and when I had those I had 1 cup maybe). I do eat a bit of potato, as I've said simply from my experience with gestational diabetes that it didn't hurt my blood sugars.
My veggies have been - cabbage, kale, broccoli, carrots, spinach, arugula, red peppers, green peppers, cherry tomatoes, eggplant. Then lentils, beans, and chickpeas. No sauces or sweet stuff either.
Can that 40% be veggies, starch, or does it make a difference? I find I can't eat starch carbs at all without feeling starving and then lousy all day.
Well for me 40% carbs is 40% carbs, I don't distinguish where they come from but for me they mostly come from veggies and complex carbs.
If starchy carbs are making you feel bad then focus on getting them from your veggies and fruits if you can eat fruits. I'm not diabetic I don't know if you can hav a lot of fruit but I limit my fruit intake because of my PCOS.
Can that 40% be veggies, starch, or does it make a difference? I find I can't eat starch carbs at all without feeling starving and then lousy all day.
Depends, are you diabetic or not? if you are, then yes, the types of carbs matter a lot. Carbs from beans break down very slowly. Carbs from rice break down very quickly, so it's more likely to spike blood sugars.
I allow myself up to 100 grams of carb a day, but most days I am closer to 50. I can't eat many grains at all, either. THe occasional piece of high-fiber bread or high-fiber pancakes (when my DD insists), always with protein to balance it. But most days the majority of my carbs, if any, come from veggies. Occasionally I can tolerate pulses and beans, but I have to be very careful about portions and I always test afterward.
I am not diabetic, but from posts I have read, it would seem that testing at 2 hours after a meal & "eating to your meter" is a WOE for successful management of diet. I think Kaplods is right & there is no one-size-fits-all, even for diabetics. Maybe more diabetics can jump in here.
I am pre-diabetic, and I've been low-carbing for a few months now. I don't count my carbs, but that's just because I'm don't want to obsess over it. When I have put my food into fitday, I always ended up really low on the carbs (about 50g at the most). But, I find that I fluctuate. I go from eating an occasional small sweet potato and sprouted grain bread, to not eating them at all. I find that yogurt and oatmeal spike my blood sugar, when sweet potatoes do not. I also feel awful when I eat things I shouldn't (regular bread, sweets). Also, sometimes I find that it's not what I'm eating, but the time between eating that matters. If I eat again too soon after eating, then I get a spike, too. I think the best thing to do, as far as keeping blood sugar in line, is to test constantly, at least in the beginning. Try to keep your numbers as low as possible. I would say even lower than what your doctor thinks is appropriate, because I could keep my blood sugar numbers as low as they wanted and still eat a lot of carbs. If I tried for lower numbers, then I ate a lot less carbs, and I started losing weight. Oh, and you may be eating a lot of things that are high in carbs and not realize it. I know I was. A piece of bread is usually 15g, and pasta is even more. I don't eat beans or grains now, if I can help it. No oatmeal. Plus, I've cut out milk, too. I do eat cheese, and some plain yogurt (only 1/2 cup at a time because of blood sugar issues with it).
Good luck!
P.S. My fasting blood sugar today was 89. Low carb works!
How does one sustain or get to so low carb?
If you are interested in low carb, I suggest you read Dr. Atkins New Diet Revolution by Dr. Robert C. Atkins and Good Calories, Bad Calories by Gary Taubes.
I mean carbs aren't bad- complex carbs are better to eat- I just think you don't want to get to the 55-60% carb diet the average American eats.
