How many carbs should one consume a day?

Factual Questions
1

With all the attention being paid now to carbs and net carbs in food, the emphasis now for weight loss seems to be on limiting carb (primarily simple carb) intake.

I am currently loosely following the South Beach Diet by eating only whole grains, low fat meats and cheeses, fish, veggies and eating a little fruit but not going overboard.

I have searched the web and haven’t have been able to find just how much I should consume a day to lose weight but to do so in a healthy fashion by eating some carbs, albeit the complex, slow-to digest ones.

I figure right now I am probably only consuming about 10 to 20 grams a day. Before the diet it was up to probably 100-200 grams. :eek:

I am not looking for medical advice here, just an average healthy amount for the average 34 year old female. (Non-diabetic)

2

Half a cup per meal.

Yes, that comes from a dietician.

3

Half a cup??? :eek: That seems to be a wee bit high. Just a wee. If I ate that much I’d gain my 13 pounds back plus 70.

4

A half cup of what? Fruits and vegetables? Bread and other grains? Sugar? Does it matter whether you’re feeding it to a ballerina or a linebacker?

The simplest answer is that you should follow the South Beach diet a little more closely as long as it’s not causing any problems for you. It’s a basically sound plan, and it’ll most likely work as long as you stick with it.

Carbohydrate metabolism is a pretty complex topic. If you’re interested in learning a bit about it, have a look at this discussion (part 2).

5

Carbs. As in whole grain. Slightly more than that for a man, especially a big man. But generally not more than a cup.

A balanced meal is defined as half a cup of starch, 3-4 oz of protein, and 2 cups of veggies. More or less.

6

I don’t think you will. And it’s not just about weight, it’s about nutrition. There are things in grains that you can’t find in other foods, and they reduce your risk of (yada yada).

Half a cup is really not all that much. 150 calories, tops.

7

Sprinkle a spoonful of carb on your food and all will be well.

A carb is part of a lawnmower engine.

What you’re looking for info on is how many GRAMS OF CARBOHYDRATES to consume.

If I ever find the person that originated the idea of calling a gram of carbohydrate a “carb” I’m going to force feed them five hundred fats and fifty proteins.

8

Oh so you mean 1/2 of food containing carbs. Not a carb count of 1/2 cup right?

9

Yeah. I don’t even know how to measure carbs themselves.

10

If your following a diet, eat whatever the diet tells you to.

But if you are just looking for general guidelines- there arn’t any. Someone from Japan is going to tell you that you need a bowl of rice with each meal or it’s not a meal. Then an Atkins person will come on and say all carbs are inherently unhealthy.

In the end, food is food. Eat a reasonable amount with reasonable variety, and you’ve got yourself a healthy diet. Eat a little less and exersize a little more, and you’ve got yourself a diet.

11

In grams, so half a dry cup would be what 120grams?

To answer the OP’s question, the only carb you need is fiber. If you get enough fiber, you don’t actually need any digestible carbs.

12

Oh you must mean a CARBURATOR, unless that lawnmower runs in ethanol
:stuck_out_tongue:

13

Hm, well just looking at the box that the carb for my opal came in, about 8 inches by 12 inches by a squidge under 13 inches

what?

14

I do atkins, and many forms of carbohydrates are perfectly healthy. I dont recommend white rice, white flour or instant smashed potatoes, but I have a killer recipe for lentil soup, or a fantastic recipe for a seriously veggie rich cabbage soup that uses bratwurst as the protein.

I eat between 60 and 80 grams of carbohydrate a day. The average american generic diet ranges from 200-300 g carb a day. I tend to eat 1 protein portion and 3 veggie portions per meal - andI tend to avoid white rice, pastas and skinless potato [i happen to like potato skins. I would actually eat baked potato skins with nothing more than a little butter and salt - forget all that cheese and sour cream, it tends to kill teh taste of a nice crispy backed potato skin]

I prefer to avoid most fruits, though a half cup of strawberries or blueberries is a great dessert. Being diabetic as well as sticking to a lower carbohydrate diet makes keeping my glucose levels more important than just trying to lose weight.

15

That’s pretty tantamount to what my diet is like, except right now, even less carbs. I’m not diabetic but, hypoglycemic, so knocking sugar out and keeping carbs down prevents the dreaded hypoglycemic attack.

I just want to make sure I’m getting a healthy variety in my diet, maintaining low carbs but getting enough that my body is getting sufficient energy. I saw some crap online about only consuming 10 a day. That sounds nuts to me unless under doctor’s care. 100 seems to high. Aye aye aye, the crazy world of trying to eat healthy in America. :rolleyes:

16

Consume less calories than you expend, and you will lose weight.

Now, that’s easier said than done. I know, since I’ve never been anywhere close to “normal” weight (not morbidly obese, just in the overweight-to-slightly obese category). So, to implement the Conservation of Energy Diet for myself, I used WeightWatchers (online–no meetings). My doctor advised it as the most sensible, non-faddish, long-lastingly successful plan he knew about.

The whole thing is about portion control. You can eat whatever you want (your body gets energy from any food), but you have to keep track of “point” values. Generally speaking, points are just scaled calories (about 50 calories/point, give or take). It’s easier to keep track of small numbers than big ones.

For reference, I am about 6 feet tall, male and 42 years old. On WW, I am allocated 26 points/day, plus 35 “discretionary” points for the week. That amounts to an average of roughly 1500 kcal/day, which should translate to 1-2 pounds of weight loss per week. That means that I must be at a maintenance level of consumption at 2000-2500 kcal/day. Doesn’t really matter what I eat, as long as I keep to those amounts.

Now, my problem has always been portion control, and I can pack away a lot of food. On WW, you quickly learn that carbohydrate rich foods like spaghetti and candy add up to a hell of a lot of calories with little or no stomach-filling bulk. If I want to fill up and not use up my points, I must eat a lot of veggies and lean proteins. A cup of carrots is zero points, a cup of beans (cooked) is about 2 points, and a cup of pasta (cooked or 2 oz dry) is 4 points. So, how much pasta can I afford to eat and still lose weight? Not very much. But I can go crazy once in a while with my discretionary allotment. A “small” piece of cake might be 4 points, or I’ll have 2 oz of ice cream instead of 8. And I’ll walk a little extra and get point credit for exercise.

AFAICT, Atkins and South Beach effectively just do the same thing by restricting calories as a by-product of getting rid of calorie-dense (but not particularly filling) foods.

It’s all about energy balance (and changing habits).

Rick (down about 10 kilograms so far, and keeping it off)

17

From my very limited understanding, I’ll have to agree with this. There is no magic in Atkins, and ketosis is a bad thing. But when you cut out carbs, you cut out megacalories. So Atkins is really just a low calorie diet.

18

Why is ketosis necessarily a bad thing? Specifically, what about cultures that historically did not eat carbs at all?

19

But not as fast as you might expect.

20

OK, I’ll amend to add the words “within reason”. It is not recommended on WW (or by my doctor) to lose more than about 1 kilogram/week, unless you’re morbidly obese to start with (in which case, you should be losing weight under very close medical supervision).

Rick