Benefits of a low carb diet and taking less insulin

I do low carb SO I can take less insulin which leaves me with less chance/ fear of hypos. Got that from the. Ernstein solution. Low carb = less insulin = less chance of error. This is my choice and many others do well with carbs and timing. I don't.

I also don't digest carbs well. They make me sleepy and achy. Not to mention the blood sugar roller coaster.

But.... that's just me.

 

Me too, pretty much same as Kristin251. My main food though is mushy veg. Dont eat pasta, rice, cereal, bread or meat though as those foods do not travel well in my colon. Limited foods mean I eat as much of everything organic because I dont eat a lot I can afford them. Always have broccoli daily for my iron. Having less food/insulin is just the way it is for me but I think its better for me. I've only been a size 12 once and that was with being told to eat stuff I know is dire for me. Not only made me worse but shoved weight on me too.

Insulin wise and diabetes wise it just enables me to see whole picture of my body with diabetes....

 

As a type2 on insulin it works very very well for me too.

 

Nail on head, @tim2000s ! Excellent question, @DConnolly , and welcome to the forum!

I find my day-to-day life very much easier eating lower carb and therefore having less insulin on board. I have fewer hypos, and any I do have tend to be a much much slower drop than before. And I'm more relaxed in myself, too, because I am in range most of the time.

I'd had 29 years with diabetes eating a 'standard' diet containing lots of starchy carbs and plenty of fruit - and I coped as well as I could, not knowing any different. Yes, the insulin covered the carbs, but with lots and lots of peaks and troughs in my blood sugar levels. It always felt like a compromise - as I I were missing something.

This is of course entirely people's own personal choice, but I find my own control much more balanced and predictable now I have a lower carb eating style.

In my job, I have three things I need to consider for my working practice on an ongoing basis, and I think these are also valuable questions for my diabetes management, too!

Are you safe?
Are you comfortable?
Is it working as you'd like it to?

I have to say that my way of eating ticks all three of those boxes. And I don't at all feel I'm missing out.

 

Dr Berstein argues that, if you eat fewer carbs, you need smaller doses of insulin to cover the meal. If you make a mistake in dosage or timing it is less likely to gave a disastrous effect. In addition, insulin makes you gain weight, which increases insulin resistance, and which then requires bigger doses of insulin.