Hi, Jen.
1. When you add up the number of carbs you eat in a day, is that WITH fibre included or without fibre included?
Subtract the fibre from the carbs. Fibre isn't digestible at all and it contains no glucose or protein, so it won't affect your BG numbers or insulin requirements.
2. When you eat less carbs, should you eat more fat or more protein, or both, or does it matter?
You should be eating a lot more fat and probably more protein, too. Your diet should be about 70-75% fat, 20-25% protein and 10-15% carbohydrate each day. Saturated fat is perfectly okay, so use butter and cream (though cream does have some carbohydrate in it) and eat the fat in meat--on the edge of a steak, under the skin of a broiled piece of chicken, in bacon, and so on. Oils and nuts are good sources of fat, too, and nuts are also good sources of protein without a lot of carbohydrate.
High levels of fat along with high levels of carbohydrate will raise your BG and increase weight, too. But when carbohydrate rates are low, the body has to burn fat, instead of sugar. If you don't take in enough fat, your hair and nails will become brittle, hair may fall out, you may have menstrual irregularities, dry skin, gallstones and be more prone to colds, other viruses and infections.
3. What is the maximum amount of fat you should eat in a day? I looked at my numbers for today and the fat grams were like 98g which seems high to me, but I've never really paid attention to the amount of fat I eat so I have no idea what to aim for, if anything.
Nearly everyone sets their own level of fat intake naturally. Fat is very satisfying. It makes us feel full. No one sits down to eat a pound of butter or drink a cup of olive oil, even if they like these things a lot. We quickly reach a point where we simply don't want more of it. And without carbohydrate for the fat to cling to, the fat isn't very appealing in large quantities. Who would have the oil that french fries are cooked in, without the potatoes?
If you follow a low-carbohydrate way of eating, you don't need to be concerned about the amount of fat you eat.
4. Any idea for low-carb breakfasts that do NOT involve cooking or eggs?
Try sliced meat and cheese. Many, many people find that carbohydrate in the morning raises BG rapidly and keeps it up there, and so we don't eat things like fruit, bread or cereal in the morning, if at all. Later in the day, most of us don't have a problem with carbohydrate to the same degree.
Have a look at Dr. Bernstein's Diabetes Solution. He has excellent explanations about how our diabetic metabolism works. He also gives very clear reasoning for his low-carb meal plans (6g for breakfast, 12g each for lunch and dinner). And he's a great resource for working all of this out with insulin, too. He's a Type 1 diabetic and has been following this plan for over 40 years.
