low carb diet??

[foxies]

Hi
So how many carbs should you take in, in a day?
Please tell me all I need to know?
Thanks Ann

[Speckledpup]

Ann
I'm diabetic so that is all I can tell you about. Just went thru a diabetic awareness class and that was the main question asked. We were all newly diagnosed, and getting all kinds of conflicting information from good meaning friends.

This is what they told us for diabetics, but any one could probably use it.

women
Breakfast 30-45 carbs
snack 10-15 carbs
lunch 30-45 carbs
snack 10-15 carbs
dinner 30-45 carbs
snack 10-15 carbs
totals 120-180 carbs

As you can see it is quite a few carbs, the secret is they have to be spread thru out the day. Eaten about every 4 hours.
These are #s for a semi-active person, if a person lives a sedate lifestyle then they need to stick to the lower #s, very physical active people needs to go with the higher #s and maybe even a little higher. Also one of the snacks needs to be used right before you exercise, if you don't then your blood sugar can fall too low and cause you to feel totally exhauted instead on invigarated (sp). Exercise should make you feel good, not wiped out.


Another thing I found out is that the brain needs 125 carbs a day just to do the basic functions.

[Buffy in Dallas]

Holy cow! If I ate that many carbs a day I would be HUGE, and sick! I started getting hyperglycemia and my doc said Adkins NOW! I'm keeping my carbs under 30 a day. Soon I will increase them to 50.

Here are some lo carb websites:

http://www.lowcarbeating.com/

http://www.lowcarbfriends.com/

Also, search low carb and you will get tons of sites.

[Jaclynne]

My husband is a diabetic. Our insurance changed last year and the new insurance carrier insisted on the Diabetic awareness/nutrition classes. We got pretty much the same info that Speckledpup shared. Dh really liked the diet - he got to eat like he hadn't in awhile. My dh's sugar went haywire! And his weight went up. That was way too many carbs for him. Its back to a modified Atkins for him - about 80 carbs spread thru out the day. And be careful where your carbs come from, dense/high fiber foods are best.

Another thing about carb counting - those fancy low carb/carb free foods will wreck your diet. Its best to leave them alone.

Halo

[Niki]

Foxies, I have been doing low carb (Atkins) for a few years now - off and on. Gained when I was off, lost while I was "on". At any rate, if you are going to just do a general low carb diet (and not follow a particular plan), the first goal should be to eliminate "the white stuff" - white sugar, white flour, corn starch, etc. and anything made with those things. The more you have to lose, the higher the likelihood that you have some type of carbohydrate intolerance and it would be wise to follow a specific plan. If you only have about 10 or 20-ish that you would like to lose, I bet cutting down on soft drink, fruit juice, sweets, pasta and bread would get you there just fine without the need to actually count carbs.