In his book 'The 4-hour Body ...' Timothy Ferriss has these cheat days where the participants eat as much carbohydrate as they want - not even implying that we should do it - he has a strategy on how to eliminate the damage.
I use something a little similar to this.
I use a Ketogenic diet, taking less than 10g carbs per day. This keeps my blood-sugars under control.
Every second weekend I take a break from the diet, and indulge in a Sunday afternoon of chocolate eating. (Not suggesting this is right for other people; just something that I do.)
Interesting for me has been the result this has had for my experience of "Hypos", and I think this relates to what others have said on this thread:
If you are in ketosis and not taking insulin or any other insulin promoting drug, then you should be more or less immune to hypoglycemia. That's what ketosis is (a defense against hypoglycemia).
I never hypo in ketosis, or on a LCHF diet, but I can hypo on low carb, low fat, or if I have to eat carbs for a few meals, and then can't eat when I need to. Fat is the key. It is like a buffer.
My experience follows Brunneria and borofergie. Even though I'm Type 1, so much more vulnerable to hypos, I believe I only get hypos on LC diets when I stray, and eat too many carbs . . . . I would say that when I am "in the groove" with low carb, the frequency of hypos is much less, and I like borofergie's view that ketosis is protective against hypoglycaemia, because your brain has shifted to be less dependent on glucose.
When I am in Ketosis (12 days out of each 14) my blood-sugars can go extremely low without any loss of brain function. I do not get any warning signs, but then I do not get any loss of brain function either.
When I am out of Ketosis (2 days out of each 14), my warning signs for low blood-sugar are there (sweating, shaking), and if untreated this proceeds to loss of brain function (confusion, loss of balance, double-vision).
I investigated how/why this might happen and found several published medical studies that concluded that Ketosis is protective against the normally dangerous effects of low blood-sugars. I found this really fascinating.
I am a T1 Diabetic living on my own, and I use this knowledge to help manage my Diabetes. I shoot for blood-sugars in the non-diabetic range, and with this protection that Ketosis offers I am really not scared to do so. If I make a mistake with the injected Insulin and my levels go low, I have the extra protection of Ketosis to fall back on.
I think that the Ketogenic/LCHF diet is an inherently safe way to manage T1 Diabetes. All T1 Diabetics are fighting on (at least) 2 fronts - for me it has been brilliant to discover a diet that
simultaneously eliminates high blood-sugars and protects against the dangerous effects of low blood-sugars.
I suspect that as LCHF becomes more accepted and more popular, there will be more T1 Diabetics that start to report this phenomenon of being able to tolerate lower blood-sugar levels without loss of brain function,
when in Ketosis. Only time will tell, I guess.
Regards,
Antony
(I know that this issue of low blood-sugars and what exactly constitutes a "Hypo" can be an extremely sensitive one! To be clear, I don't suggest that people shoot for low blood-sugars, and I don't suggest that low blood-sugars are nothing to worry about. DVLA, safety of self, safety of others, I know it. I only report my own experience that being in Ketosis - being fuelled by Ketones - changes the game).