- Messages
- 165
- Type of diabetes
- Type 1
- Treatment type
- Insulin
Hi all,
I wonder if I could get your thoughts. I'm T1, and had a bad hypo last year - following this I decided to go on a low carb diet, to limit the amount of insulin in my system at any one time. I'm much happier doing this, and can't now imagine going back to a high carb diet.
I made the transition to low carb fairly slowly, and I did lose about 8kg in body weight (possibly as I wasn't really replacing the lost carb calories with protein/fat) - however, for the last 4/5 months, my average daily carb intake has been about 45-65g, and my weight loss seems to have now plateaued, as it's been fairly constant over this time.
The low carb diet has certainly help control my sugar levels, with far less swing in the highs and lows, and generally confined to a narrower range - however, in the last month or so, I've found that I need much more insulin than normal, to maintain sugars in a good range. My long-standing ratio of 1u/10g carb just isn't working (by a long way), and sugars are frequently in the 12-15 range. Even if I take a 3 unit correction dose, the sugars might only reduce by say 2 or 3 mmol. This is very unusual for me - having been diabetic for around 15 years, I'm of course familiar with all the different factors that can cause insulin resistance or sensitivity, and clearly there are periods where you're going to be more or less sensitive than usual - but as my sugars have been high for around a month, I have to say I'm quite confused by this.
I contacted my specialist diabetic dietician, who tells me that this is apparently a known issue with low carb diets - she tells me that people do quite often need to up their ratios when they switch to low carb - however, she doesn't know why this is the case.
I've ruled out all the usual suspects (illness, stress, activity levels, dodgy insulin pen etc) - and as I say, it's only been an issue in the last month or so - my low carb diet was fine for months prior to that. Also, it's frustrating, as the reason I switched to low carb, was to actually reduce the amount of insulin I need - which seems pointless if I need to significantly increase my ratios anway!
Any thoughts would be most welcome.
I wonder if I could get your thoughts. I'm T1, and had a bad hypo last year - following this I decided to go on a low carb diet, to limit the amount of insulin in my system at any one time. I'm much happier doing this, and can't now imagine going back to a high carb diet.
I made the transition to low carb fairly slowly, and I did lose about 8kg in body weight (possibly as I wasn't really replacing the lost carb calories with protein/fat) - however, for the last 4/5 months, my average daily carb intake has been about 45-65g, and my weight loss seems to have now plateaued, as it's been fairly constant over this time.
The low carb diet has certainly help control my sugar levels, with far less swing in the highs and lows, and generally confined to a narrower range - however, in the last month or so, I've found that I need much more insulin than normal, to maintain sugars in a good range. My long-standing ratio of 1u/10g carb just isn't working (by a long way), and sugars are frequently in the 12-15 range. Even if I take a 3 unit correction dose, the sugars might only reduce by say 2 or 3 mmol. This is very unusual for me - having been diabetic for around 15 years, I'm of course familiar with all the different factors that can cause insulin resistance or sensitivity, and clearly there are periods where you're going to be more or less sensitive than usual - but as my sugars have been high for around a month, I have to say I'm quite confused by this.
I contacted my specialist diabetic dietician, who tells me that this is apparently a known issue with low carb diets - she tells me that people do quite often need to up their ratios when they switch to low carb - however, she doesn't know why this is the case.
I've ruled out all the usual suspects (illness, stress, activity levels, dodgy insulin pen etc) - and as I say, it's only been an issue in the last month or so - my low carb diet was fine for months prior to that. Also, it's frustrating, as the reason I switched to low carb, was to actually reduce the amount of insulin I need - which seems pointless if I need to significantly increase my ratios anway!
Any thoughts would be most welcome.