Diet

[SeanAshy]

What to eat?

Basically im 25, 6foot, 14 stone, type 1 diabetic.

Ive never had any advice on what to eat and I generally have ate rubbish for the last 2 years. My hba1c is 9.2, and my aim is to lower it and lose weight. Ive been diabetic for about 6 years, and over thelast 2-3 years my hba1c has generally crept up..

Typically I eat cereal in the morning with semi skimmed milk, sandwich for lunch (store bought generally on white baguette etc) and something like spag bol, cottage pie, fish + chips, fish pie, chicken/pasta etc for my main meal. I also snack during the day on crisps (1-2 packs a day), fruit, and the occasional chocolate bar/biscuit

I take 34 units of Lantus in the morning (but im thinking of taking it at night instead as my morning readings are always high) I use Novorapid after each meal.

My work is quite physical, and I cannot afford to have hypo's in work as I work on a production line for a premium car manufactures (1 minute stoppage costs the company £50,000, and I want to keep my job ;-))

I need help with an eating plan, im also running a half marathon in 6 months so need to take this into account.

Any help/ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Sean

 

[alaska]

Hi Sean

I see the issue you have. You need to avoid hypos at any cost, but in other ways the carb-heavy meals may be partly responsible for pushing up the blood sugar levels.

I see some of the things you're eating probably won't help too much with the weight. I'd find a way to straight cut out the crisps as I can't see the combination of carbs and poor quality vegetables oils as being helpful in either the weight or cholesterol department. I wouldn't eat chocolate as a general rule. I'll have the occasional couple of squares of chocolate but it's a rare thing for me.

I've found a low carb diet as a type 1 to be helpful for my overall blood sugar control. I used to yo-yo frequently between 3 and 17 mmols/l through the day -usually being high and hence I had high A1c values.

On a reduced number of carbs, my control is better. I still get my fair share of hypos but that's a lot to do with the fact that I'm aiming for the 4 to 7.5 mmols/l window.

I dare say that if I aimed to go for a more modest window of 5 to 9 mmol/l on a lower carb diet, my hypos would be significantly.

One of the troubles for us type 1s on a lower carb diet can be getting the calories in. However, there are still plenty of options.

Given your work situation, I wouldn't advise any drastic reduction in carbs. If you're confident about adjusting your insulin, you might want to gradually phase in a lower amount of carbs and see how things go.

The other option is to opt for slower release carbs. Pastry based food and bread can push the blood sugar up pretty quick.

 

[Fallenstar]

Hi Sean
I'm like Alaska in that I find a low carb diet much better for stable blood sugars, to be honest even on NO carbs which I have done for a few days I still need nearly the same amount of insulin I need when eating carbs (weird) but I am so level with my control...no spikes and no peaks and troughs.
I am low carbing now and am eating a lot of foods really for the calories, more variety and food than when I was eating carbs, as even with dose adjustment I found carbs to be unpredictable with my control . I got fed up of being on a rollercoaster with them included into my diet that I thought I would go back to the Atkins type principles which I had used in the past, twice to blitz post pregnancy weight gain.
I agree with Alaska really try to ditch the chocolate and crisps, go for a banana or some pineapple chunks instead ,or rice cakes if you need/want the carbs.
You do sound like you don't eat a bad main meal but fish and chips would kill me for high sugars,along with pasta. I have a bolognaise but with a variety of steamed mixed veg, broccoli cauliflower, peas and a small salad with dressing on...very nice it is too. Cottage pie sounds fine if it's with plenty of veg...and not chips :lol:
It really is about making small, achievable,steady changes at first and monitor your BG a lot to see where this is taking your control. I can fully understand your work predicament, I have a very physical job and low blood sugars would put mine and other peoples lives at risk ,so it really is impossible form me to even consider this at work. So I used to run them higher when working keeping them topped up with carbs ...now with low/no carbs they are steady nearly all of the time and I am getting my confidence back to not check as much.
You could possibly try the changes when you are next on holiday and see how you go, or over the weekend. When you can test and Hypo's are not as serious to you.
It really is trial and error to find what gives you optimal control and also enable's you to carry on with daily life. It is a balancing act for us all, but do experiment because there will be a better way for you somewhere ....and hopefully better health along with it.
I run a lot and have just done a full marathon on my low carb diet and had the best steadiest control I have had in years the whole way through it...My sugars stayed between 7/9 the whole way and I ended up with a reading of 5.2...on a full cooked breakfast..low carbs...And a better time to boot
Hope some of this ramble helps, and good luck