Not dumb at all!
I'm at a healthy weight so not doing it to lose weight. I've been struggling with my blood sugars for a while now, since Christmas really. I have a ridiculously sweet tooth - I couldn't go a day without eating chocolate or sweets (think creme eggs, chocolate bars, desserts etc). I tried cutting down but it made me want them even more, leading to binging on lots of sweet stuff at once - resulting in even higher bloods.
They have never been super high, I've had Type 1 for 4 years now and my HbA1c has always been 65 m/mol or higher, despite watching what I ate, increasing my insulin, exercising more, keeping a food diary, keeping a blood sugar diary etc. I'd really like to achieve the 59 m/mol guideline, so I began to research ways to help me achieve this.
I came across Dr Bernstein's book 'The Diabetes Diet', in which he suggests that all Type 1 Diabetics follow a low carb diet plan - no more than 30g carbs a day. This is very similar to the Keto Diet, which is slightly higher in fat. There's also a couple of threads on Keto on here, as to why this way of eating could be more beneficial to us Type 1s).
As 30g is a lot lower than what I usually eat I am gradually reducing my carb intake (my intake is 50g carb currently).
Since starting on Sunday my sugars have drastically improved (despite today's blips). I have been waking at 5 m/mol and I have suffered no hypos or hypers (excluding today). What I didn't realise is that you MUST commit to the low carb lifestyle, cheat meals of high amounts of carbs are not recommended.
I didn't realise this, so after finding out I got a 1st in my module at University, I subsequently bought a dominos pizza with cookies and ice cream and ate them last night as a treat. I woke up feeling AWFUL, like someone had pushed sandpaper through my throat. My sugars have been higher today, which is what pushed me to test my ketones. Fingers crossed it's ketosis instead of ketoacidiosis. I definitely don't feel as bad as I did when I was diagnosed and in ketoacidiosis, so I am pretty sure isn't not that.
My typical day starts with an omelette, or eggs, bacon and avocado. I haven't been too hungry at lunch but I try and have a tuna and cucumber salad with halloumi or mozzarella. It's important that you eat enough good fats, as this is now your main source of energy. For dinner my favourite at the moment is a bunless cheeseburger with salad.
I haven't been hungry at all really and my sweet cravings are gone. I used to find dark chocolate really bitter and now it tastes deliciously sweet. As I haven't been hypoing and my bloods haven't been constantly going up and down, my mood has improved a lot and I'm not feeling as tired. I do have a cold at the moment and it is my time of the month so I have been feeling more run down than usual, but I definitely feel better than I usually do.
Anyway I hope this helped explain things a bit. It took me a good few days to read up on the benefits of Keto. I'll try and find the link to the YouTube video that a Diabetes.co.uk rep linked in another thread
