Eating large amounts of carbs over time can limit your body's ability to metabolize them

Eating large amounts of carbs over time can limit your body's ability to metabolize them, especially if you have diabetes.

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The following excerpt is adapted from the new book Master Your Diabetes: A Comprehensive, Integrative Approach for Both Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes by Mona Morstein, ND (2017, Chelsea Green Publishing)

What exactly are carbohydrates? Carbohydrates are biological molecules consisting of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen atoms, but we also use the term as shorthand for foods that contain a lot of starches or sugars. People with diabetes need to be strict in eliminating high carbohydrate foods from their diets because even small amounts of these foods can pose big problems for regulating glucose levels. A low-carb diet means restricting carbohydrates to less than 45 grams per day, and even down to 20 grams per day, depending on your daily caloric intake.

Reading Nutrition Labels

Carbohydrates are listed on nutrition labels as total carbohydrates, fiber, and sugar. A diabetic patient reading a nutrition label only needs to take into account total carbohydrates minus fiber, as fiber is not absorbed into the body and so does not raise glucose levels. The result equals how many carbs will be absorbed by your intestine and affect your glucose level.

We do not focus on the sugar content of the label, because it is not helpful to us. If a label says each serving of food contains “19 grams of total carbohydrates, 1 gram of fiber, 4 grams of sugar,” and a diabetic patient does not understand how to interpret that label, he might feel it is safe to eat because the sugar content is fairly low. In reality, what that label says is: Of the 19 grams of total carbohydrates, we can subtract 1 gram because it is fiber, for a total carbohydrate content of 18 grams. Of those 18 grams, only 4 are “sugars,” but the rest of the 14 grams will also raise the glucose. So, looking at total carbohydrate grams minus fiber is the only math I want patients to do—it represents all the carbs, starches, and sugars combined. That is the total carbohydrate intake of the serving of food, and what will affect their glucose.

Best Time of Day for People with Diabetes to Eat Carbs

On a low-carb diet, you want to eat fewer carbs in the morning due to the natural glucose elevation that occurs via the dawn phenomenon. Your physician can help you figure out your specific carb intake. Morning intake of fewer than 10 grams is best.

The higher the carb intake—up to 45 grams a day as the limit ideally—the more one should eat at lunch. Higher carbs in the morning can be a problem, and having a lot of carbs for supper can also increase your fasting glucose the next morning. With lunch, a patient can still be up and active, and more effectively burn off the glucose produced by the carbs.

The good news about pulling back on your intake of carbohydrates is that these are what drive your insulin resistance and interfere with good appetite control. Even though this diet sounds difficult, within a week, diabetic patients immediately see their appetite decreasing and smaller amounts of food filling them up.

Read more about foods for diabetic patients