Carbohydrates supply energy
Carbohydrates, also called carbs, are the sugars and starches in breads and grains, potatoes and other vegetables, and in fruits and beans, and those foods are the major contributors of carbs as a source of energy needed by the body’s cells. After eating carbohydrate foods, the digestion process breaks them down and the glucose content is passed through the walls of the intestines into the bloodstream and there circulates to reach the cells that require glucose.

How can we determine which foods can be considered as low carb foods?
Not all carbohydrates are the same in their immediate impact and speed of entry into the bloodstream, and it is the rate at which they are reduced to the sugar in the form of glucose that helps define whether they are considered as low carb foods or otherwise. Carbs can also be classified as refined or unrefined, with white breads, pastas and white flours being especially considered as refined carbs while foods such as whole grained breads, fruits, beans and most vegetables are classified as unrefined.

To indicate the relative rate of entry of carbs into the bloodstream, a scale has been devised called the Glycemic Index, also referred to as the GI for short. The GI ranks individual carbohydrate food items with an index number that compares them to glucose that has the assigned value of 100. The other food sources are ranked in the relation of their speed of conversion to glucose and for convenience are categorized as follows:

• high carb foods have GI values higher than 70
• medium carb foods have a GI value of 56 to 70
• low carb foods have GI values of 55 and lower

As can be seen, the low carb foods provide sugar at a slower rate of entry into the blood stream and this allows the body to more easily maintain a balanced amount of sugars in the blood. The high carb foods on the other hand, tend to cause spikes, blood sugars elevated to higher levels, not a preferred condition and certainly potentially harmful for people with diabetes or prediabetes.

A great deal more can be said on the topic of carbohydrates. We should distinguish between low carb foods and low carb diets. Low carbohydrate diets restrict the proportion of any types of carbohydrates in relation to the proportions of proteins and fats, whereas low carbohydrate foods can best be described as those that have lower Glycemic Index values.

Many well-known diet approaches using low quantities of carbohydrates have been described in such best selling books such as The Atkins Diet and The South Beach Diet. Taking opposite views to those popular books, there are many advocates of a medium dietary intake, represented by about 50 percent carbs, 25 percent proteins, 25% fats with no more than 10 percent of fat being saturated fats.

On my companion website, Diabetes Menu Guide, you might wish to read a related article on low carbs, to do so, just click on this link Low Carbohydrate Approach in Meal Planning. And check out these link for more on the Glycemic Index and Glycemic Load.

The amount of carbohydrate in a meal or in a food item will not usually comprise the entire calorie amount of any food. To adjust the measurements for this, the Glycemic Index has been modified to produce a companion set of numerical values called the Glycemic Load. The Glycemic Load takes into account that particular amount of carbohydrate in an entire food item, giving a set of values.

High glycemic index carb foods include:

White and non-whole wheat breads, pastas, many breakfast cereals, potatoes, baked goods.

Low glycemic index carb foods include:

Fruits, many vegetables, whole wheat breads, legumes (beans and peas)

When consumed in reasonable amounts, some low glycemic load carb foods are:

Breads - whole grain pumpernickel bread, Soy and flaxseed bread, other whole grain breads.
Breakfast cereals – cooked oatmeal, All-bran, Bran Buds.
Fruits ans berries – grapefruit, strawberries, cherries, watermelon, apples, pears, peaches, plums, grapes, oranges, blueberries, raspberries, and others
Vegetables – cabbage, spinach, lettuce, kale, chard, broccoli, cauliflower, and most others.
Dairy and soy foods – soy milk, low fat milk, low fat yogurt
Nuts and seeds – flax seed, peanuts, cashews, walnuts, almonds, pecans, brazil nuts, hazel nuts – Nuts should be raw or dry-roasted.

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My Diabetic Food Plan is based on the inclusion of specified amounts of carbohydrates in each meal and snack throughout the day, as listed below.

There are no specified amounts for the other nutrients, the proteins and fats, that, although essential to maintain the body in good health, play only a minor role as a source of glucose –  except in the absence of carbohydrates.

The diabetic food plan has been devised for me by the dietitons at the Diabetes Education Center of my local hospital. It is simple and easy to follow and is printed conveniently on one side of a sheet of paper. It merely lists the suggested number of grams of carbohydrate for three main meals eaten about four hours apart and interspersed with a snack about two hours after each meal. And I have added an extra snack at or before bedtime.

The rest of the Food Plan page is taken up with lists of half a dozen foods in 15 gram quantities under the headings Vegetables, Fruits, Dairy, Breads etc., and Snacks. The 15 gram quantities make it easy to calculate how many portions of any category need be selected to make up the required meal amount for carbohydrates, providing a sort of mini diabetic food list.

The details, the amounts of carbohydrates recommended
Breakfast, at 8 0’clock, is 60 grams, Lunch about mid-day is 45 grams, and Supper (called dinner by some) at about 6 pm is also 45 grams. The snacks are each 15 grams, that’s a total of 60+15+45+15+45+15+15 = 210 grams. Those are carbohydrate grams @ 4 calories per gram which equals 840 calories of carbohydrate each day. That is a little less than the amount suggested by the Calorie Calculator referred to in Part 1 of this article, which was 900 calories, but close enough.

There is no limit to the amounts of protein or fat on this dietary plan but common sense tells me that if I eat too much I will gain weight and that is something I don’t wish to do.  The Calorie Calculator suggested that my total calorie intake should be about 2000 calories, with 840 taken up by the carbohydrates, it means 1160 calories for the proteins and fats allowance for the day.

Referring to the Calorie Calculator again, it suggests 25% fats in a 2000 calorie daily food intake, that’s 500 calories @ 9grams of fat per calorie = 56 grams of fat approximately, leaving about 660 grams of protein to provide the 2000 calories.

My plan provide 210 grams of carbohydrates daily
To summarize the rather lengthy description above, my diabetic food plan provides 2000 daily calories from 840 g, carbohydrates, 660 g, of protein, and 56 g. of fat. s

COUNTING CARBOHYDRATES IN A DIABETIC FOOD PLAN

Carbohydrates are the main nutrient source of glucose and will have the biggest effect on  blood sugars. The foods supplying the protein and fat, while providing a minor amount of glucose, will not affect blood sugar levels. Those foods include meat, fish, poultry, eggs, cheese, margarine, and oils — but they can, of course, increase weight and cholesterol if eaten in too large a quantity.

For the carbohydrate portion of a meal, I can choose from the following food list, each item  contains 15 grams of carbohydrate. For more choices, I can add 15 gram amounts of whatever carbohydrate foods I wish to the lists.

An explanation

Although the main focus of this blog-site is, by definition, on diabetic foods and diabetic food lists, there is much general information regarding diabetes that is worth dealing with here. Information that may be of interest especially to anyone recently diagnosed as having diabetes. And that includes simple explanations of diabetic topics that I myself wanted to find out about when I first became a “diabetic”.

Diabetes is a serious non-infectious chronic and progressive disease affecting about 25 million persons in North America. By chronic and progressive we mean that it is of long duration and tends to grow worse over time. There are three main types of diabetes, known as type-1, type-2, and gestational diabetes, but we will concentrate here on type-2 diabetes the version that occurs in more than 90 percent of all diabetes cases. A brief description of type-1 and gestational forms of diabetes is given elsewhere on this site.

Diabetes is the condition in which too much glucose is circulating in the bloodstream.
This occurs because of an impaired mechanism that normally operates in the body in a series of steps prompted by signals from other organs that react when food enters the stomach after eating.

The procedure involves an organ called the pancreas that produces insulin, a hormone that has the ability to join with glucose in the blood as it travels to the organs and cells of the body. Glucose is a simple sugar, a carbohydrate, and is the major source of energy needed by all the cells of the body in the performance of their metabolic functions. Some cells, such as brain cells and red blood cells, depend solely on the delivery of glucose from the blood stream.

If we think about that for just a moment, we can understand why our diabetic condition, with its impaired ability to deliver glucose to our brain and other cells, is so serious and that we must take appropriate actions to minimize the negative effects.

When we eat food it passes into our stomachs where digestion takes place and the mechanical and chemical actions of digestion process the food and produces the many nutrients, including glucose that is mainly obtained from the carbohydrate content of the foods we have eaten. The nutrients are absorbed through the walls of the intestines and pass into the bloodstream that will then distribute them to all the organs and cells of the body.

The body can keep a constant supply of glucose for the cells by maintaining a constant level of glucose in the blood. When needed it is there for the cells and when, after eating, an excess builds up and an over-supply occurs, the body, through its marvelous mechanisms, stores the excess glucose in the liver and muscles by converting the glucose into glycogen, which is a long chain of glucose molecules. If glucose levels become low, the stored glycogen is available for conversion back to glucose and at the same time the body stimulates the brain to urge you to eat more food.

But the glucose cannot get into the cells without assistance, assistance that is provided by a hormone called insulin that is mainly produced by another organ, the pancreas. The pancreas also produces a hormone called glucagon (not to be confused with the previously mentioned glycogen, and it is confusing I know) but glucagon plays an opposite role to insulin, It comes into play when the glucose levels begin to get too low and then assists in the conversion back to glucose of the previously mentioned stored glycogen in the liver and muscles.

The actions of both of those hormones, insulin and glucagon, work constantly to keep glucose concentrations in the blood to within an acceptable ranges for good health. In the case of the diabetic that balance is impaired and the glucose levels are not maintained within the appropriate ranges.

Insulin performs several important functions, one of which is to carry glucose molecules and conduct them to receptors that are on the outer membrane of cells where the unique structure of the insulin molecule complements the unique structure of the receptors, allowing them to “dock”, that is, to join together, and thereby the glucose is released and enters into the cell, another almost miraculous process of life.

In diabetics, this system does not work properly if at all
For several possible reasons, in persons suffering from diabetes the system does not operate in the way described above. Sometimes the pancreas does not produce enough insulin and sometimes the receptors of the cells become desensitized and do not react properly to the presence of insulin, not permitting the absorption of glucose into the cells and sometime it is a combination of both of those conditions.

Because of this the glucose stays in the bloodstream, and insulin too, both of which are unhealthy conditions. And too high a level of glucose in the blood, by definition, is diabetes.

So it is worthwhile to learn about certain foods and whether they are appropriate, as a diabetic,  to eat as an everyday item. A single favorite treat,  such as a muffin eaten at snack time each day by many people, is probably too much of a burden for the diabetic. That and a few others may have to be left off the diabetic food list, perhaps to be included only occasionally when in good control of blood sugar levels.

Also, a dietary adjustment, as recommended by dietitians and health care professionals may alleviate the diabetic conditions to some extent.  But even the adoption of a new dietary regimen may not be sufficiently effective and medications may need to be prescribed. For many, including myself, that becomes a path to increased medications and potential problems – but we will deal with that elsewhere together with other aspects of diabetes.

Meanwhile, for information on a variety of other topics dealing with diabetes, in addition to this site, you can check out my companion sites at Normal Blood Sugar Levels and Diabetes and Diabetic Menu Guide.

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