How Many Carbs Should a Person With Diabetes Eat?

How Many Carbs Per Day For Diabetic Patients Is Good?

How many carbs should a diabetic patient eat? Are you a diabetic patient looking to learn more about the best way to structure your dietary intake with blood sugar control in mind? You've come to the right place! We're going to run through everything that you need to know about low-carb eating for diabetes today.

How many carbs per day should you eat and how hard is it to stay on a low-carbohydrate diet? We can also discuss what is a very low-carbohydrate diabetic diet, and look into recommendations for older/elderly diabetic patients when considering blood sugar goals.

Last, of all, we'll cover how you can determine how many carbs per day you need by understanding blood sugar dynamics. Let's get started with blood sugar control together!  

How Do Determine How Many Carbs Per Day I Need?

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When it comes to a diabetes diet, how many carbs you can eat ultimately depends on a number of factors - gender, age, activity status, and diabetes duration and severity. To give you an example, let's say you are a 65-year-old woman with diabetes for 20 years and taking three oral medications and basal insulin.

Plus, your joint problems mean that you are not particularly active and have a weight of 230 pounds - that is considered obese. In this case, the diabetes diet should call for a few carbs because it can be assumed your body is highly insulin-resistant. In other words, this is one occasion where cutting down on all those yummy carbs makes perfect sense for better health and blood sugar levels, not to mention weight loss. 

What is a Very Low-Carb Diabetic Diet (How many carbs should a diabetic patient eat)?

A very low carbohydrate diet is not the same thing as a keto diet. In a very low carbohydrate diet, a diabetic individual can have 15-30 gr of carbs. Now, when I say very little what do I mean by that?  I mean like 20 to 30 grams of carbs per meal.  And that’s very generous. And the reason I say it’s very generous is that you’re really not burning any calories.

Yes, I know. you may want to eat more. That’s the only thing you enjoy nowadays.  And I understand that but if you want to eat more carbs you’re going to need more medications. Sometimes more medications may mean more side effects.  Yet, we have a lot of ways, especially at SugarMDs. We have a variety of ways to help our patients.

Even if you want to use medications in addition to what you’re already on, then I would suggest you can go up to a maximum of 45 grams of carbs for a woman at that stage.  You may end up needing insulin as well of course.

The good news this, that we have a lot of non-insulin medications we can use depending on your activity level and diet. Basically, even for very inactive people or people with disabilities or joint problems, we have ways to get them to exercise one way or another.  If you’re really not exercising,  you’re really looking for 20 to 30 grams of carbs, and if you want to force it 45 grams.

How Hard Is It To Stay On A Low-Carbohydrate Diet?

Most people will start a no-carb or very low-carb diet but will not be able to sustain it in the long term. It is better to set reasonable and sustainable goals for daily carbohydrate goals. Sometimes, it is very hard to tell these patients not to eat any carbs. They’re just not going to listen.

I’m sure there are some people right now reading this article and saying oh this doctor is recommending eating a bunch of carbs.  I am glad you may be a very savvy very dedicated very strong-willed person but a lot of people are not like that.  The bottom line, they are just not going to listen to you unless you give them a reasonable goal.

So, that’s my job to get my patients motivated.  I may start with the 45 grams. I may get them to the goal and that gives them some motivation.  Later, we can try to cut their carbs even more. Again, that depends on the individual. We sometimes get patients to find different recipes or ways to eat while they enjoy it.  I think it takes a lot of motivation and a lot of coaching.  That’s why at SugarMDs we not only focus on exceptional patient care but on coaching patients as well.

How Many Carbs Can A Physically Active Diabetic Man Eat To Lower High Blood Sugar?

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If you're the type of person who's always on the go and likes to stay physically active, also working out at least an hour every day, diabetes doesn't have to slow you down! According to my experience, men with diabetes can eat between 30-75 grams of carbohydrates in their diabetes diet as long as they are appropriately monitoring and managing their diabetes.

This can be a great way to achieve weight loss goals along with maintaining steady blood sugar while still keeping up with your active lifestyle. Furthermore, this approach calls for careful monitoring of one's diabetes medications and food intake - so you don't have to give up your favorite meals to manage diabetes. Security in knowing that the right amount of carbohydrates is locked into your diabetes diet could help keep your diabetes in check without any hitches.

When it comes to a diabetes diet, nothing beats counting your carbohydrates to get your diabetes under control. Whether you need 30 grams of carbs or 75 grams per meal is dependent on your fitness level, because the fitter you are, the better you can tolerate carbohydrates without it impacting your blood sugar.

Putting the right amount of carbohydrates in your food is key because if you have too little, then it affects your energy and weight loss; too much and you're at risk for diabetes-related complications, so watch out for that carb count! Monitoring how many carbs you take in daily makes a huge difference if you want to reach healthier blood sugar levels, as well as reap long-term rewards such as cutting diabetes management costs and improving your overall health.

Can I Go With No Carbs To Cure My Diabetes?

A carb or very low-carb diet can help put diabetes in remission but will not cure diabetes in the long term. Not surprisingly, exercise is more than just an opportunity to break a sweat -- it also offers numerous health benefits.

People who eat only fat and never work out may not be particularly keen on the idea of their cardiovascular outcomes or cholesterol staying healthy, so if you want to keep your health in check, shake off that keto lifestyle and fuel up with some healthy carbs as part of your meal plans while working out to burn the carbs.

The serving size should hover around 15-45 grams per serving again depending on your age, activity, and fitness levels -- after all, it's medically proven that keeping your blood sugar levels low can only be done so through diet and exercise. Work on getting a few pieces of fruit in there too for added fiber and nutrients! Yet.

we’re always looking for ways to ditch carbs in healthy foods to avoid an extra bout of exercise, in hopes of lowering our blood sugar numbers. But going ‘simply keto’  and avoiding exercise is not the best shortcut it may seem for your heart health.

Too often, jumping straight into a ketogenic diet without taking into account other factors - like proper nutrition and fiber intake - has shown to be unsuccessful long term. It’s important to remember that anyone with medical concerns should always consult those certified in health and nutrition before changing any meal plans;

some are simply more successful than others when it comes to reducing blood sugar levels. So ditch the idea of cutting out the hard work and take your health seriously with a balanced low-carb, not no-carb diet along with daily exercise. Your heart will thank you later!

If you are still not achieving your goals watching your carbs, SugarMD Advanced Glucose Support, Super Berberine, and Neuropathy support may be all you need to help regulate your blood sugars and prevent diabetic complications.

Are Women's And Men's Carbohydrate Goals Different?

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For a woman, my maximum carbohydrate recommendation is 45 grams per meal in a diabetic diet compared to men who can eat up to 75 gr of carbs provided that they are physically active. Again, the exact amount depends on you and your lifestyle. Most of the time women need fewer calories and fewer carbs than men.

When it comes to serving up carbs, the portion size should be just right for your body type and lifestyle. Depending on how active you are and other factors, let's face it, ladies and gentlemen, what’s good for one is not necessarily the same as the next. On the low-carb side of things, you want to keep your total calorie intake at around 30%.

For those wanting to get a bit more generous with carbs (we’re looking at you active types!), shoot for anywhere from 35%-45% of your daily calorie intake as carbohydrates. Remember though, when choosing fruit or fiber servings - or even making your meal plan - it's still important to avoid simple sugars like refined sugars if possible. Lowering blood sugar is definitely something to consider- especially if there are any medical conditions in play.

The basic thing here is to understand if you want to keep your blood sugar under control while eating healthy carbs and being physically active. If you’re not physically active then your goals are down to 15 to 20 grams for women and less than 45 grams for sure for men. On the other hand, this goal can be as high as 60 to 75 gr of carbs per meal for men who are very very active.

How Many Carbs Should a Diabetic Patient Eat if They Are Sedentary?

Let’s say you’re a 60-year-old man, retired. You’re mostly at home you’re not doing anything.  You don’t want to go outside etc. Assuming that you are already overweight or obese then you should really not eat more than 30 grams per meal at all.  If you want to really control your diabetes with fewer medications then you should go down to 20 grams or below per meal for healthy carbs.

For a sedentary woman in the same situation, the goal is 15 carbs maximum per meal. With medication help, these goals can definitely be relaxed. It all depends on how you want to manage your diabetes. For diabetic patients who are concerned about blood sugar control, there is hope yet!

There are many alternatives to flour and processed carbs that can help you stay healthy without worrying about dangerous blood sugar spikes. Avoiding refined sugars and pre-packaged carbs means that natural sources like fruits, for example, will have a much lower blood sugar impact. So go on: cook healthily for the blood sugar gods!

Carbohydrate Goal and Diabetic Diet for Older/Elderly Diabetic Patients (How Many Carbs Should a Diabetic Patient Eat Later in Life)

It's simply a matter of blood sugar control - you don't want it too high, but you don't want it too low either. For diabetics of advanced age or those who are particularly frail, blood sugar levels can be a tricky balancing act.

We don't impose overly strict measures as it is not beneficial for those people who already have difficulty gaining weight - so what we often recommend is a blood sugar range somewhere between 150-200 mg/dl in the morning, and after meals.

That way we can still maintain blood sugar at safe levels without making the whole experience torture for them! Of course, if someone is a cancer patient then we may impose lower blood sugar limits to ensure that their cancer cells aren't unduly excited by excess sugar in their systems, but other than that there's no need to go crazy! Yet, the majority of the time most diabetics fall into the previous category and need tight control.

I hope it is now clear how many carbs should a diabetic patient eat. I hope this article was helpful. Who is Dr. Ergin? Dr. Ahmet Ergin is an endocrinologist interested in and passionate about diabetes care. Dr. Ergin earned his medical degree with honors at Marmara University School of Medicine in Istanbul, Turkey.

Then, he completed his internal medicine residency and endocrinology fellowship at Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio. He is a board-certified Internal Medicine and Endocrinology, diabetes, and metabolism physician. He is also a certified diabetes education specialist.

Disclaimer: Any information on diseases and treatments on this website is for general guidance only and must never be a substitute for the advice your doctor or other qualified healthcare professional provides. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified healthcare professional with questions you may have regarding your medical condition.