Is there a nutritionist in the house?
Can you explain just exactly net carbs is? As opposed to all the carbs in a food.
In laymans terms please.
The party line is that it’s the number of grams of carbohydrates that affect your blood sugar–the rest being fiber and sugar alcohols, which don’t have as much of an effect.
So there is more than one kind of carbohydrate?
You could probably fill up a quarter-long course in biochemistry discussing the different kinds of macronutrients (carbohydrates, fats, and proteins) and their effects on the human body.
The largest distinction is between simple carbohydrates (sugars) and complex carbohydrates (starches and fibers). As a rule, sugars are digested quickly, and complex carbohydates are digested slowly.
As a practical matter, stick with fruits, vegetables, and whole-grain stuff.
Absolutely. Any molecule with the chemical formula (CH[sub]2[/sub]O)[sub]x[/sub] is a carbohydrate, by the strict definition.
So, as a diabetic, I should stay away from simple carbs, but the complex ones are ok?
Take the total carbs, subtratct the dietary fiber; hat will give you the net carbs.
total carbs - dietary fiber= net carbs.
If you’re doing the Atkins thing net carbs is all your counting. (as far as carbs go.)
I’m just doing the “keep my blood sugar in control thing”.
52 years old is way to old to be changing my life.
There’s a good article about diabetes and diet [ur=http://www.joslin.harvard.edu/education/library/nodiet2.shtml]here. Keeping your blood sugar under control is a little more complicated than just avoiding simple carbohydrates in favor of complex ones.
If your health plan offers nutritional counseling for diabetics, and many do, it’s a very good idea to call them and set up an appointment. My mother resisted doing so for years because she felt she knew everything they’d be able to tell her, but once she gave in and made an appointment, she discovered that her nutritional counselor was a really good resource for working out a liveable diet. If you don’t have any coverage for something like this, it would be a good idea to call around to senior centers (yeah, I know, but they’re a good place for information) and hospitals in the area to see if they have any classes.
Learning how to keep your blood sugar under control through diet and exercise can be complicated at first, but once you get the hang of it, it’s worth all the trouble you’ve gone to to make it work. Keeping your blood sugar levels in control is the single most important thing you can do to keep yourself healthy for the next few decades.
Also be warned that you can’t always trust the “net carbs” listed on a package when dealing with sugar alcohols. From what I’ve heard and experienced, all the different SA (ex Malitol, Sorbitol, Lacitol, etc) affect people in different ways - both gastonomically and in relation to blood sugar levels.
So if you’re interested in eating something with a SA in it (say, a sugar free chocolate bar) and you are controlling your insulin levels, you would be wise to eat a small sample and test your blood sugar to see how the particular SA in that particular candy has affected you.
Health plan??
heh
I’m one of the 43 million without one.
Life goes on.
Reeder? Am I correct in assuming that you suffer from Type II Diabetes - aka Adult Onset Diabetes?
I ask merely so that I too can learn from any possible decent answers in this thread. Certainly however, outside of nutrition in the sporting context, I’m afraid I don’t have much to answer your specific question - with the following proviso - my understanding is that simple carbohydrates such as sugar, glucose, and fructose are extremely easy to enter your blood stream via the stomach’s digestive walls. And that results in an elevated blood sugar level VERY EASILY.
Even at the highest sporting levels, a quick spike in your blood sugar levels is a bad thing - it invariably gives you a quick spurt but then you tend to go “flat” some 30 minutes later. In the context of Type II Diabetes, my understanding is that high glycaemic foods (aka sugars etc) and alcohol are just about the worst things you can eat or drink.
But as for the term “net carbs”? I remain unconvinced that the Atkinspeak which has entered Western discourse this past 3 years has actually made a complex subject any simpler. Like all things in life, knowledge is power.
Type 2 diabetes it is. I’m managing to keep my sugar under 150. I know that’s still to high but I’ve only been at this for 3 weeks.
Sorry about the (non) health coverage. I won’t get into GD territory by discussing my pet topic, national health.
There are a couple of government resources you might be able to use:
National Diabetes Education Program
North Carolina Diabetes Prevention and Control Unit
It’s worth the time and effort to check out any avenues that are available, even though I know it can be a pain to do.