Concentrate carbohydrates | Carbohydrate intake habits | Carbohydrates craving
You can eat high-carb foods by keeping your sugar in the normal range. The whole secret is in time!
There are people with diabetes who believe that only a reduction in carbohydrates to a minimum can give adequate control. For example, the book by Ahmed Afifi “From 10 to 5” My Journey with Diabetes “explains in detail why even a moderate amount of carbohydrates in diabetes is already a lot. Physiologist Richard C. Bernstein, a member of the American College of Nutrition and the American College of Endocrinology, opposes nutrition recommendations from the American Diabetes Association. He himself has type 1 diabetes and is an ardent advocate of a low-carb lifestyle. Perhaps they are right, and for some people, only this approach allows you to actually control diabetes.
On the other hand, a complete absence of carbohydrates is not the only way to stay healthy with diabetes. Low carbohydrate nutrition implies a high level of discipline and does not work equally well for everyone. If you are one of those people who are not going to reduce carbohydrates in their diet to a minimum, then scheduling meals can help you.
Concentrate your carbohydrates in 1 or 2 meals a day
To compensate, there is a big difference between the daily consumption of 150 grams of carbohydrates or the consumption of the same amount in certain meals. Thus, it will even be easier for you to eat 100 grams of carbohydrates instead of 150 grams. It is much easier to enjoy a low-carb meal for breakfast and lunch if you know that for dinner you can eat your favorite spaghetti with sauce.
Note that all your meals may contain carbohydrates. It is not necessary to follow the rules of low-carb or ketogenic nutrition. But high carbohydrate meals should be balanced with low carbohydrate foods.
When you concentrate the bulk of carbohydrates in certain meals, you are guaranteed to receive about half of the other meals per day with a really very low content. This means that such food is easier to control and you spend less insulin.
In addition, this approach helps both in self-discipline and in self-motivation. It’s easier for you to restrain yourself if you know that at least once or twice a day you will receive your favorite foods.
Choose carbohydrates, which are most important for you, and prepare other dishes with their minimum content. Focus on whole foods and include plenty of vegetables.
Introduce long-term carbohydrate intake habits
Of course, in an ideal world, we all easily resist homemade cookies, the smell of freshly baked bread and the pies your grandmother bakes. But if limiting carbohydrate intake to “less than 50 grams per day” or even to “less than 100 grams per day” leads to “carbohydrate overeating” in a few days or a week, then this is not a sustainable approach.
In strict low-carb diets, “breakdowns” are a common consequence. But much worse is the risk of “ruining” your relationship with food and making an eating disorder. An unhealthy relationship with food usually looks like cycles of uncontrolled overeating and restriction, accompanied by feelings of guilt, shame, and frustration. Read more in the article “Eating Disorders: What It Is and How to Recognize It.”
Instead of getting into a roller coaster ride with food, think about a sustainable carbohydrate relationship that’s right for you.
You eat (and crave) carbohydrates all day long
Think about how often you eat carbohydrates and at what intervals of time you want them most. If your answer to both questions is all day, then the time has come for a deeper assessment.
Carbohydrates produce carbohydrates. The more carbohydrates I eat, the more carbohydrates I crave
Mara Schwartz, type 1 diabetic, certified diabetes trainer and coordinator of the Diabetes Prevention Program at Self Regional Healthcare.
Mara Schwartz recommends reducing the amount of carbohydrates of the lowest quality in your diet. This includes sweet drinks and processed packaged foods, including crackers, pasta, bread and pastries made from premium flour.
1. Try to write down the answers to the following questions during the week:
- How many times a day do you eat processed foods with simple carbohydrates?
- How many grams of added sugar do you drink every day in drinks?
- How many grams of added sugar do you get each day from food?
- How many grams of carbohydrates do you get from whole grain foods?
2. Create an average report and try to design the menu
3. Try to think about how you can change the quality of your carbohydrate intake.
For example,
- pasta should be from durum wheat,
- bread from whole meal flour or from an alternative type of flour,
- do not add sugar to coffee, but a natural substitute or low-carb sweet syrup
- replace regular chocolate with chocolate with stevia;
Desserts can be adapted, for example sugar is replaced by fructose or stevia. They will still contain carbohydrates but is much easier to compensate. For example cornflakes with stevia do not have much less carbohydrates than regular cereals. However, they do not give a sharp jump in sugar. With the correct calculation of XE on adapted products, compensation takes place with a beautiful almost even line!
4. Choose a carbohydrate time in your day
Make your “carbohydrate schedule.” When you know what foods you want to eat, choose a meal when this happens.
For example, you are drawn to carbohydrates in the evening. Then eat protein and vegetables for breakfast and lunch, snack on nuts and natural yogurt, and eat a portion of your planned carbohydrates for dinner.
Try to keep a certain amount of carbohydrates consumed and the time of eating. This will make the compensation stable and with fewer unpredictable variables.
Carbohydrates are not the root of all evil! The body needs them, and unprocessed carbohydrate foods are also sources of vitamins and minerals.
Since we are people with a carbohydrate metabolism disorder, we just need more awareness in carbohydrate intake. Try to make simple changes and you will see how often you will be pleased with the meter or monitoring.