Low carb diet effect on insulin sensitivity

ce81ar

Member
Messages
24
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Pump
I am now well into my 3rd week of a low carb diet and am trying to keep below 50g carbs per day. I am T1 and have been on an insulin pump for the last 3.5 years which has massively improved my control, but I was wanting to see if I could improve it further. Whilst my overall insulin usage has gone down, I am finding that my sensitivity to insulin seems to have also gone down significantly. I need far more insulin than previously to correct levels or counter small amounts of carbs (<20g). Have any other type 1's had this happen? and is it permanent or temporary? I'd be interested to hear what others have found.
 

andcol

Well-Known Member
Retired Moderator
Messages
3,176
Type of diabetes
I reversed my Type 2
Treatment type
I do not have diabetes
It is known as physiological insulin resistance and is normal to ensure the glucose you do partake is used by the parts of your body that has to have glucose. There have been many threads about this and there are many articles about the phenomenon.
 

Brunneria

Guru
Retired Moderator
Messages
21,889
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
By transitioning to ketogenic eating, you may also need to count the carbs in veg, and/or allow for gluconeogenesis from protein.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gluconeogenesis
It gets discussed on the forum fairly regularly, with people saying that they just carb count for a % of protein intake (if you have a forum search for gluconeogenesis you should get a few results)
Hope that helps!
:)
 

AndBreathe

Master
Retired Moderator
Messages
11,320
Type of diabetes
I reversed my Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
Hi @ce81ar - I won't comment on your post, but I will tag @tim2000s , a T1 pumper, as he has talked about this in the past.
 

ce81ar

Member
Messages
24
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Pump
Cheers guys. I'll have a hunt around using the terms mentioned and do some reading up. I already count carbs in veg and am getting no BG rise from zero carb meals. Just finding that where 1.5 units used to deal with 20g carbs, I now need 4 units!
 

azure

Expert
Messages
9,780
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Pump
Yes, if you go too low carb it can mess up your insulin sensitivity hugely as it can cause physiological insulin resistance. That's one reason why I never drop my carbs too low.

If you're concerned, you could up your carbs and find a 'sweet spot' for you.
 

GrantGam

Well-Known Member
Messages
2,603
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
I attempted keto dieting and very low carb. My experience of that was not good; but that is just my experience as a T1D, and that may differ from the majority of T2's who find that approach works for them.

My main dilemmas:

-Having to calculate bolus doses for protein as well as carbs and bolus appropriately for both.

-Still having to take the same amount of injections daily (two basal doses and one for each meal) regardless of my reduced carb intake.

-Bolusing for protein was complex and almost always required a split dose, which in turn meant even more injections than my usual moderate carb diet.

-My food choices were heavily limited and this didn't agree with my lifestyle. I tried to pretend that mock interpretations of carbs would suffice but they simply don't, regardless of what you might hear.

-I was often hungry because I didn't want to add the HF (high fat) suffix to my LC diet. High quantities of fat heavily disturbs my BG management, regardless of my carb consumption.

Everything in moderation isn't a phrase that was born out of thin air in my opinion:) But, like everything - diet is very much down to personal preference. As well as that, how much you change your diet (as in dropping your carbs from moderate to low, or to zero) as a T1, will only do so much on the grand scheme.

I will tag @robert72 for you, as I know he's a ketosis dieter and it works very well for him. I'm sure he can offer you some excellent insight to managing T1D effectively when following that way of life.