Question:
I need help on Carbohydrates

I know it has been ask before but I am still a little confused by it. OK, are we suppose to eat carbo's? I watch my carbo intake because my DR says low carbo's high protein. But I have heard that you dump when consuming too much carbo's... So how much is too much? and is the carbo's that cause dumping from refine sugar like candy, cake and ice cream or can you dump off of potatoes, pasta or cream of wheat? One last thing, I saw some sugar free cookie that are made by mothers, every now and then I have a sweet tooth and am very tired of popsicles and jello. Can I eat one cookie?    — Lovett (posted on May 11, 2002)

May 11, 2002
Carbs set some of us off on bad eating binges. (I'm one of them). And they can affect insulin and blood sugars. Go to http://www.carbohydrateaddicts.com/ We do need carbohydrates however. I enjoy high carbohydrates such as cookies, ice cream, chips and such. Not good. I do have some of these things but try to limit them a great deal. I've never dumped that I know of. But high sugar makes me feel very edgy, which it never did pre op. Everyone seems to tolerate a different amount of sugar. I was at 12 grams early post op. It's probally around 34-40 grams now. (I hate that). We can build up a tolerance if we are not careful. Sugar is in almost everything we eat so it's impossible to avoid it completely. But it is in our best interest to avoid it as much as we can. And carbs DO SLOW DOWN WEIGHT LOSS. I can only assume that once our weight is off, that we can eat more carbs??? I think you'll get alot of different answers on this question. Our bodies vary, so what works for one person may not with someone else. ;)
   — Danmark

May 11, 2002
Starchy foods like potatoes, pasta, cream of wheat or rice, are not likely to make you dump. That is caused by eating refined sugars, like in candy and soft drinks. However, you do need carbs in your diet. The best thing to do is make sure they are complex carbs, like in veggies and fruits. Usually when people talk about avoiding carbs, they are talking about the starchy stuff.
   — garw

May 11, 2002
As for the sugar free cookie portion of your question. I do have some Snack Wells Sugar Free cookies from time to time. But, be careful! They go down WAY TO EASILY and it's easy to consume more than one. The calorie content is still high and it can feed the need to have more. That said, enjoy one or two every now and then. For me, it means, take two cookies out of the pack. Seal the pack back up and put it away and then enjoy my two without the easy access of reaching for two more!
   — Sharon L.

May 12, 2002
I'd like to add something about sugar free foods. Quite often they add fats to make them more tasty so watch the fat count on them. Also, many sugar free products contain sugar alcohols such as maltitol. These CAN CAUSE DUMPING, I have experienced it. Not only that they cause a laxative effect when more than the recommended serving size is consumed. Check out the ingredients carefully.
   — Laura B.