# Breakfast... rice crispies



## Becky1984

Still trying to work this carbs that sugar thing out on packaging... so rice crispies with semi skimmed milk?   Good or bad? Better then 2 slices of toast and marmite


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## grovesy

Welcome.


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## Dave W

Here's a list of breakfast cereals, sorry I couldn't find rice crispies. I've sorted by lowest to highest sugar content. You are probably better with many cereals than two slices of toast unless you go for  a low carb loaf.
Data are from the Composition of Food Dataset, so pretty reliable.


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## Kaylz

Becky1984 said:


> Still trying to work this carbs that sugar thing out on packaging... so rice crispies with semi skimmed milk?   Good or bad? Better then 2 slices of toast and marmite


is it the whole total carb you are wondering about or just the sugar part x


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## Kaylz

Becky1984 said:


> Still trying to work this carbs that sugar thing out on packaging... so rice crispies with semi skimmed milk?   Good or bad? Better then 2 slices of toast and marmite


So weighing and measuring portions
30g serving of crispies with 100ml of semi-skimmed milk would have 30.8g carbs which would make the sugar value 7.8g
2 slices of kingsmill 50/50 (only as an example as don't know what bread you use and they are all different) and 8g marmite (4g is said to be one serving on wiki) would have 35.6g carbs which would make sugar value 3g
So although higher in carbs the toast and marmite has less sugar x


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## Becky1984

Thanks for all you replies... I'm at a loss really as to what I'm doing, what is it I should be looking at carbs or sugar or both, how do you work out what's high amount


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## Grogg1

Kaylz said:


> So weighing and measuring portions
> 30g serving of crispies with 100ml of semi-skimmed milk would have 30.8g carbs which would make the sugar value 7.8g
> 2 slices of kingsmill 50/50 (only as an example as don't know what bread you use and they are all different) and 8g marmite (4g is said to be one serving on wiki) would have 35.6g carbs which would make sugar value 3g
> So although higher in carbs the toast and marmite has less sugar x



I don't understand how you worked out the sugar.  Where did you get the sugar figures from?


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## HOBIE

Porridge is slow release & takes hours to peak in your blood stream. A better situation.  Welcome . Is that your age 1984 ? I have a car I got brand new in 1983. Astra GTE


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## Dave W

Becky1984 said:


> Thanks for all you replies... I'm at a loss really as to what I'm doing, what is it I should be looking at carbs or sugar or both, how do you work out what's high amount


You need to look at the *sugars in the carbs*. Food labels will show "Carbs" " of which are sugars" Some carbs are low in sugars (a good thing) others are high in sugars and not what you want. Another thing to be aware of of is that we all react differently to foods, my BG spikes with porridge, I thought it wouldn't but it did. The only way you can find out how what you eat affects* your BG* is to test before and a couple of hours a meal.
If you look at the table I posted earlier you see that some fairly high carb cereals are low in sugars, but some lower carb cereals are actually higher.


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## trophywench

Becky - you need to be looking at total carb - and we can't tell you what its OK to eat and what isn't.  Each person's tolerances or different foos are different from the next one.  So - each has to test to see what effect the different foods they like to eat have, on their blood glucose b doing a fingerprick test immediately before brekky (or whatever meal it happens to be) eating the food, then testing again one to two hours later.  You are looking for the food not to have increased your before and after readings by more than 3.


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## Dave W

trophywench said:


> Becky - you need to be looking at total carb - and we can't tell you what its OK to eat and what isn't.  Each person's tolerances or different foos are different from the next one.  So - each has to test to see what effect the different foods they like to eat have, on their blood glucose b doing a fingerprick test immediately before brekky (or whatever meal it happens to be) eating the food, then testing again one to two hours later.  You are looking for the food not to have increased your before and after readings by more than 3.


Jenny - Is total carbs more important than the sugars in the carbs? I thought the latter, but I'm still fairly new at this and still learning.


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## Manda1

Its true every person is different and each food will affect us individually. I for one love porridge but it sends my BG through the roof and it stays there for ages too x only way to know what you can tolerate is to test with a meter ... I usually eat toast and peanut butter which I can tolerate without any issues mind you I do have low carb bread x


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## Sally71

ALL carbohydrates will turn into sugar in your digestive system, which means they all make your BG rise.  Complex carbs are basically just longer chains of glucose molecules joined together.  So you need to look at the total carbs, the "of which sugars" bit is a completely useless piece of information! It really annoys me that Sugars are usually emblazoned all over the front of packets, but to find the total carbs you often have to hunt around in the small print on the back  Sugar is being painted as the new evil food, and what people always think diabetics can't have, but really all carbs are made of the same stuff so all have to be counted!
Some foods will spike you quicker than others, but it partly depends on what you're eating it with (fat will slow down digestion, for example) and it's true that everyone is different, what some people can tolerate easily, others can't touch with a barge pole.  Regarding Rice Krispies, I gave my daughter a small bowl of those with no added sugar and her blood sugars skyrocketed into the high teens faster than they had ever done before!


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## Kaylz

Grogg1 said:


> I don't understand how you worked out the sugar.  Where did you get the sugar figures from?


On the packs it tells you the carbohydrate value then 'of which sugars' so the rice krispies have 3g of which sugars and the milk is all sugars x


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## trophywench

Dave W said:


> Jenny - Is total carbs more important than the sugars in the carbs? I thought the latter, but I'm still fairly new at this and still learning.



Sally's reply is correct, Dave.



Kaylz said:


> On the packs it tells you the carbohydrate value then 'of which sugars' so the rice krispies have 3g of which sugars and the milk is all sugars x



No that's wrong too Kaylz.  Full fat milk has less carbs than semi-skimmed.  Skimmed has the most carbs out of the 3 sorts.  The lactose (ie the carb content) is only a very small proportion of the actual contents of milk!


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## Amigo

I never concern myself with the sugar content just the carb content. @Sally71'S response explains this brilliantly. I also find the sugar content on the front fairly useless and sometimes misleading.


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## Grogg1

Amigo said:


> I never concern myself with the sugar content just the carb content. @Sally71'S response explains this brilliantly. I also find the sugar content on the front fairly useless and sometimes misleading.


So if I find something and it has 10g carbs of which sugars is 8g, and another item is 10g carbs of which 1g sugars it makes no difference which I choose?  I have been working on that principal but because before having D I only looked at sugar on the front of packet I was worried I was wrong but Sally's response seems to confirm that it doesn't actually matter.


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## Mark Parrott

Ignore the sugars bit.  Look at total carbs.  You will need to test to see what you can tolerate, but I would be very surprised if Rice Crispies didn't spike you.  I avoid all cereals.


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## Mini-Vicki

When I'm working out figures for food I only look at total carbs. I don't think I've ever looked at the sugar content, because carbohydrates just convert to glucose anyway, some are just faster than others. So just look at the carbohydrate content. 
Do you test your blood glucose yourself Becky? I find that any kind of cereal sends my BG into the teens, even with the correct amount of insulin. Bread generally sends me very high as well, apart from Co-Ops Honey and a sunflower loaf, with which my blood glucose remains steady. I have no idea why! But the only way I know this is from testing my BG, so a glucometer would be a good investment if you don't already have one. 
A lot of people find porridge is a good breakfast cereal. Personally I find that troublesome as well, but many people don't!


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## Sally71

Grogg1 said:


> So if I find something and it has 10g carbs of which sugars is 8g, and another item is 10g carbs of which 1g sugars it makes no difference which I choose?  I have been working on that principal but because before having D I only looked at sugar on the front of packet I was worried I was wrong but Sally's response seems to confirm that it doesn't actually matter.


Basically, yes.  If you are on insulin and carb counting you need to inject for all 10g of carbs regardless of how many of them are sugars.  If you are diet controlled or on any other medication, well all 10g are going to get you eventually, it's possible that the sugars might hit your bloodstream quicker, but as we've already seen that sort of thing varies a lot from person to person so not worth wasting time trying to work it out!  Just keep testing before and 1-2 hours after eating and build up a picture of what does and doesn't work for you


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## Lilian

1.  Rice crispies with skimmed milk                 BG spikes high and quickly.              Feel hungry again quite soon 
2. Rice crispies with cream                            BG spikes high but not so quickly.     Not feeling peckish for a bit longer 
3. Fried egg, slice bacon, few mushrooms    BG slight spike and not quickly          Lunch already, I have just had breakfast.  or
3. Hard boiled egg, slice ham, slice cheese    "     "          "         "       "                          "         "             "            "        "

I am rather partial to Avocado and prawns.


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## SB2015

It is definitely the* total carbs* that you will have an impact on your BG.
I tend to ignore the 'of which sugars' . The only thing that that might tell you is how rapidly the carbs will convert to glucose (higher sugar higher GI, quicker conversion to glucose)

For *any carbs* eaten you need insulin ( different amounts for different people), that will come from your pancreas or injected.

It drives me potty that the news and TV talk so much about 'sugar' and obesity, it is CARBS that overwork the pancreas.


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## Grogg1

Lilian said:


> 1.  Rice crispies with skimmed milk                 BG spikes high and quickly.              Feel hungry again quite soon
> 2. Rice crispies with cream                            BG spikes high but not so quickly.     Not feeling peckish for a bit longer
> 3. Fried egg, slice bacon, few mushrooms    BG slight spike and not quickly          Lunch already, I have just had breakfast.  or
> 3. Hard boiled egg, slice ham, slice cheese    "     "          "         "       "                          "         "             "            "        "
> 
> I am rather partial to Avocado and prawns.



for the first time since diagnosed I had 2 slices of low carb bread toasted for breakfast yesterday and within 2 hours I was starving.  Normally have eggs or bacon with no bread for breakfast and last till lunch time easily in work.  So while I enjoyed the toast at the time I won't have it for breakfast again as it's empty food.  I will limit myself to one slice with egg or bacon instead.  This testing lark and noticing what you eat really informs you and maybe if every obese person was given a meter even if not D and could see impact on empty food on their body and how it doesn't fill them up they could lose weight.  Has to be worth a trial.


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## Lilian

I think they go on about sugar to try and make things less complicated and confusing for the non - diabetic.    Sort of one easy step at a time.   If parents can just not over indulge their children in sweets and sugary products (and themselves) it will be a start.    As non diabetics their bodies will probably be able to handle any other carbs.


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## Ralph-YK

trophywench said:


> Becky - you need to be looking at total carb -





Dave W said:


> Jenny - Is total carbs more important than the sugars in the carbs? I thought the latter, but I'm still fairly new at this and still learning.


It's the carbs.


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## Platty1953

Some great advice on this thread.  I did a DAFNE course a few years ago (it's called WIDAC where I live but basically the same thing).  On the course they stress it is TOTAL CARBS you look and take the appropriate amount of insulin for every 10g of carb.  Sally's response was spot on.


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## Radders

Lilian said:


> I think they go on about sugar to try and make things less complicated and confusing for the non - diabetic.    Sort of one easy step at a time.   If parents can just not over indulge their children in sweets and sugary products (and themselves) it will be a start.    As non diabetics their bodies will probably be able to handle any other carbs.


Also sugar rots your teeth and eating it as a child develops a sweet tooth which makes it harder to cut back.


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