Can a type 1 GENUINELY eat sugar containing food in an everyday diet?

[Lustroso]

Hi everyone, been a type 1 for over 30 years (certainly not a boast, lol).

Do you safely eat several sugar containing foods daily?

Or do you avoid sugar containing foods almost completely?

If you do safely eat sugar containing foods, please can you say what type of insulins you use? (I appreciate this may be too personal to reveal).

I hope a lot people would benefit from these questions, particularly the first one. It's important to know what real, live(!), type 1 diabetics do.

Best wishes to you all xxx

[mod edit, to align with ethos rules.]

 

[Ushthetaff]

I’ve had T1 diabetes for over 40 years and am fortunate or unfortunate to remember a life of eating food to correspond to the insulin I took , that was so restrictIve , back then I avoided any sugary foods ,even had a list off the doctor to say what you could and couldn’t eat. then along came the Bolus/ Basel regime …… happy days now nothing is off the table so to speak, I eat anything and sometimes everything and just adjust my insulin to suit, I don’t have a sweet tooth never have , but back in the old days not being able to have it made you want it more , it’s so much easier now having the option of eating what you like , I do keep to a “ healthy “ diet (whatever that is these days ) but I don’t avoid foods because they contain sugar anymore

 

[EllieM]

Hi @Lustroso and welcome to the forums.

I have been T1 for 52 years and I am on a basal bolus regime (lantus and humalog)

Can you clarify what you mean by "sugar containing" food? I certainly eat foods which contain carbs (eg fruit) and knock back the glucose when hypo. I have also been known to eat (small) quantities of stuff like chocolate (though I usually try to go for dark ones that don't contain much sugar). I'll also take a couple of bites of my husband's sugary dessert in a restaurant if I like the look of it.

I balance sugar and carbs with my fast acting insulin.

Would I go out and eat something like candy floss? No I don't like it enough to want to be bothered to inject for it, and I genuinely find it easier to manage my levels on lowish carb (less than 100g a day most days). But that is my metabolism at age 60 (with a T2 dad so possibly some T2 genetics going on), and other people's metabolisms may be different. (I ate more carbs when I was younger and lighter and more sensitive to insulin).

I'm happyish with my diabetic control (hba1c usually a bit under 7% or around 50mmol/mol) but I know others achieve better results.

Safely? I generally spike if I eat a lot of carbs so I prefer to keep the number down to reduce the spike... It's up to you what you regard as a "safe" spike....




Once more, welcome.

 

[Rokaab]

I've been a T1 for 45ish years.

Whilst I dont like very sugary stuff (due to not being allowed it when I was a kid) and so dont tend to eat it, I dont avoid things that have sugar in them full stop.
I have biscuits, cakes etc that are not hideously sugary but I definitely still have them, very sugary stuff I will find a lot more difficult to bolus for as well - I am also on a bolus/basal regime, but I can deal with it if I do have something very sugary (though rarely)