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Advice please

L

Lemon drizzle

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Hi can someone please advise, my partner is 54 and has type 1, his hba1c is 8.2. Battling several issues at present, weight loss, cholesterol and highs and lows. I simply ask, can he diet, eating super foods, less carbs ( potatoes, bread and pasta etc), therefore taking far less insulin. Would it ever arise that he takes little or no insulin?
Many thanks
 
Nope. Im type 1 and low carb. Livers have the ability to create the glucose that the body requires, so I need to take insulin. I do take a lot less and there are carbs in veg and nuts. I just avoid all starchy carbs such as bread, rice, pasta etc.
 
Hi,

I would advise you to look into this. I would never take insulin with veg or nuts and i am currently doing a diabetes education course which says the same thing.

This is a great book which you can get as an app too that tells you how many carbs are in most types of food. I check my app before every meal, it's great!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Carbs-Cals-Carbohydrate-Counting-Diabetes/dp/0956443052/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1358462880&sr=8-1
 
50g morrison's mixed nuts have 8g carbs in. 1 medium onion has around 7g in. A portion of peas have around 4g in. A tin of tomatoes has 12g in. A medium carrot has about 5g in it. A pepper has around 8g.

All adds up. I need 1u insulin for 7g carbs. You inject insulin to cover all carbs, not just starchy ones.
 
How very interesting, he was always of the belief of 2 unit for 10 carbs.
Slightly different he is of the understanding that if high Bs, to reduce it by 5 take 2 units, any views?, and thank you.
 
Everyone is different when it comes to insulin to carb ratios. Mine has fluctuated between 1u for 15, 1:10 and my current 1:7. Not sure why, loads of factors go into it, but probably as I've got fatter, then less fat!

There's something called the 100 rule that can be used to figure out how much 1u of insulin will drop high sugar levels by. You divide 100 by the total amount of insulin that you are on. So in my case I have 12 units of Novorapid on a typical day and 12 units of Lantus. So 100 / 24 = 4.2 which means 1u of insulin will drop my levels by about 4.2. Not always accurate, but works as a rough guide.
 
Yep, there's definitely carbohydrate in veg, even if carbs & cals doesn't show it! Starchy veg like parsnips carrot or sweet corn are the highest in carbs, but I started weighing all my food on nutritional scales when I started low carbing & I could easily get 20g carbs with some mashed celeriac,3 big spears broccoli, & similar amount cauliflower.
In fact that was last night's tea, with trout, and my blood glucose barely increased at all & was 0.3 different from the starting BG 4hrs later. If I'd not done the insulin to cover that 20g carbs I'd have gone sky high.
 
Vicky, what are the "nutritional scales" you mentioned? Is mashed celeriac fairly low carb then?
 
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