Low Carb Diet - Yes or no?

[este]

Hi everyone,
Since joining this forum, I've noticed a lot of Type 1's have mentioned a low carb diet helps them to control their blood sugars. I'm doing fine at the moment but have had problems with high blood sugars in the past and not one consultant/nurse has ever mentioned it to me, I was just wondering if it had helped other people, and what their idea of 'low carb' meals was and if the benefits were as great as some people say? I exercise regularly and I don't really want to lose weight so it's not about that at all, I'm just curious because although my levels are ok now, there's always room for improvement.

 

[noblehead]

I would say give it a go, I've been down to as low as 60g a day when I first came to the forum and now eat around 180g a day which could be considered a moderate carb intake, going very low-carb wasn't for me but there are type 1's on the forum who eat below 50g a day.

 

[Daibell]

I would just keep the carb levels down a bit to minimise the body dumping fat on the internal organs which it will do if you have too many carbs. If your weight and blood sugar are fine then it sounds like you don't need to do anything. T2s have to be more careful as they can't control raised blood sugar so easily. I'm not surprised consultants/nurses have never mentioned carbs as few have any idea how diet affects diabetes; amazing but true.

 

[novorapidboi26]

I have tried low carb and it works a treat..........I cant really keep up for long periods of time though.........

it will make your blood sugar management easier, that's a fact, its whether you can personally keep away from the carbs you usually eat...

and I suppose that depends a lot on how you feel about your diabetes etc, some people are fearful of complications and can find the motivation to low carb easily, others are not as strict and may struggle to keep the carb down to a really low level............like me...

 

[Hooked]

If it ain't broke, why fix it?

 

[este]

Thank you all for the advice I've always had the attitude I'd rather have a bit of fun than spend my life keeping my control absolutely perfect, suppose that's more my age than anything though, I'm only 19. For the moment I exercise nearly every day so I use that to keep my blood sugars good but I'd consider trying low carbs in the future.

 

[john1975]

I'm type 2 and about 2 weeks ago and I started LCHF (low carb high fat) and I can say its a big life change for me. I have stopped injecting insulin, my bg levels are perfect and I have so much energy. It takes a few days to withdraw from carbs but once you are over it you will notice the change. I have never felt better in my life! I don't need to lose weight and to be honest I don't miss carbs one bit, I think of the complications and say no to carbs. It makes sense to eat real natural foods not processed ones, just have a look around you - nearly every food is processed and this is what is raising bg, causing obesity and diabetes. LCHF lowers A1C, cholestoral and blood pressure.


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[Donna1]

I do like my carbs such as pasta n potatoes n porridge so i could not give these up n i eat 1 or 2 slice of wholemeal bread on my working days on my days off i try to go without bread as at home i can cook a proper lunch etc! I like a balanced meal with meat carb n veg n fruit for dessert!

So i do need little bit of insulin but i very very rarely eat crisps, takeaways n eat 1 or 2 very small biscuits a day with my coffee! I exercise a lot n rarely drink fizzy juice! I very rarely eat ding meals! So i say this is healthy enough so not gonna deprive myself altogether by losing my beloved pasta n tatties! But if low carb works n people prefer it thats good too! If all our taste was the same the world would be boring n out a lot of business!

I go to gym with my friend who goes on as tho if ye eat any carbs yer gonna be obese even tho i do eat them n it was me encouraged her to exercise n helped her get fit as i have always been, it really gets to me coz as diabetic we need some form of carb or sugar or we,d hypo. The way she says it really irritates me coz pasta etc is my enjoyment i dont eat boxes of choc, fatty foods or copious bottles of coke.

Each to there own i say! Its when folk ram there beliefs down yer throat! Its nice on here jus to get other folks views of carb n non carb lovers without them makin ye feel guilty or like a glutton for having a little carbs!




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[michaeldavid]

No.

 

[Engineer88]

Type one and the lowest I would go is about 80g of carbs a day. that being said I've fallen off the band waggon lately as I've now got a pump. I could live without bread hoestly and pastry too as I'm gluten free its easier (and cheaper!). its breakfast I find most difficult so thats where the bulk of my carbs go.

I should saay when I low carb I have the best control ever

 

[Sid Bonkers]

It doesnt have to be all or nothing, whats wrong with something in between, perhaps call it a reduced carb diet but does it really have to have a name at all?

 

[Spiker]

@este, at the moment you won't find diabetes care professionals recommending a low carb diet. Some GPs might recommend it but even they might have reservations about advising it to a diabetic. However, this is changing. Medical organisations are conservative and change slowly. But we have a link on this forum today to some of the new medical advice now saying that low carb is a valid "option" for diabetics.

Personally it works for me, if I can stick to it. I have great BG control but temptation, or my reaction to stress, tends to knock me off the wagon. It's a crying shame because when I stay on low carb, the results are great.

For now you may as well enjoy being 19 and having great control without any special diet.

 

[smidge]

Hi Este!

I have LADA (a slow-onset type 1 sort of thing) and I low-carb to around 50g a day. LADA is a notoriously spikey condition and low-carbing is the only way I can manage it consistently. I keep my HbA1c in the mid 5s.

What is your HbA1c? If it's under 6.5% I wouldn't make any drastic changes - although reduce the carbs a bit, but if it's over 6.5%, I'd give low-carb a go. You're only 19 and you have a long time ahead of you to avoid complications. The better you do now, the lower your risks. In the end, we trade-off the risks we are prepared to take against the restrictions we are prepared to place on ourselves to get good BG management. Personally, I cannot get such good BG any other way than low-carbing and I would rather lower my risk of losing my eye sight than eat the carbs. We all make choices, but many of us don't have the choice to eat high carb diets and manage safe HbA1c. Just my perspective.

Smidge

 

[Anna Lozikevich]

Hello to everybody I would also like to tell you about my experience of low carb diet. I'm from Russia and here in Russia we also have forums for diabetics.So when I was newly diagnosed (4 years ago) I started to search for balance between carbs, protein an fat in my everyday meal to have good blood sugar. I went to the forums. There almost everybody agitated for high carb diet. And russian forum members often say that they eat what they want and so much as they want but their blood sugars are always excellent. The only question that came to my head was How they do that??? Because I always had problems with eating much carbs... Then I read the book by Dr Bernstein and at that time it almost saved my life I started to practice low carb diet. I like it very much. Now I eat more carbs and have problems again The only minus in low carb diet for me is the level of cholesterol which is usually higher than I want to have

 

[Indiana91]

I'm attempting to cut down on my carbs too.
Enjoying reading everyone's opinions on this thread

Indiana x


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[SamJB]

Like Smidge said, if your HbA1c isn't around or below 6.5% then give it a go.

The reason it works so well, is that small amounts of insulin means smaller dosing mistakes. If you get your insulin dose right then you shouldn't go high and you shouldn't go low, right? The problem is, is that there is around a 20% error in the amount of carbs on nutritional labels, a 30% error in the amount of injected insulin that enters the bloodstream and if I were to give you a plate of food, you'd guess the amount of carbs wrong by about 20% (according to a study).

Therefore, if you cut down on carbs, you reduce your exposure to error. A 20% dosing error on 15g of carbs won't affect your BGs, but a 20% error on 100g will.

For me, switching to low carbs got rid of random highs and my hypo frequency is now one or two mild ones per month and I've not been in the 2s since I started, 2 years ago. I can now go weeks without a high, whereas before I couldn't go a few days.

Edit: one or two mild hypos per month, not week!