Hi All,
This is my first post but when I saw this in the newsletter I just had to give some input.
I was diagnosed T1D 3 years ago and while from the beginning always tried to stay low carb despite the 'advice' of the 'health professionals', I would always get strange readings that left me scratching my head.
About a month ago (by way of reading this forum) I came across Marty Kendall, a fellow Australian who is an engineer and also husband to a T1D wife. His site is called Optimising Nutrition.
To cut a long story short as I possibly can, protein causes a higher insulin response than the 'experts' have lead us to believe. Yes, when starting out I was told that protein contributes somewhat but it was never quantified for me. Through his analysis of the data obtained in the food insulin index (part of a 2014 study), Marty came to the conclusion that we should be counting approx half of the protein we consume as contributing to blood sugar levels. For example;
Say you inject 2 units of rapid insulin per 15g of carbs you consume. If you were to eat 15g of protein you would count half (.56 to be exact) and this would require an injection of 1 unit.
The 2 large eggs that your wife ate consist of approx 13g of protein, so she would need to inject approx 1 unit depending on her insulin/carb ratio. Keep in mind that protein processes at a slower rate than carbs so any injections accounting for protein need to be made around an hour after eating, while insulin for any carbs should be taken before/with as usual.
Taking this protein insulin response into account I decided that following a ketogenic diet would be the best option for me. I've been doing so for the past month and my blood glucose levels have never been better! A keto diet suggests that you should get around 5% of your daily caloric intake from carbs, 20% from protein and 75% from fats. This sounds like a lot but you also have to realise that fat gives us 9 calories per grams vs the 4 calories per gram of both protein and carbs. So you don't need as much fat to give you the equivalent amount of calories.
Lastly, I have been using the MyFitnessPal app to help me track the nutrient quantities in each food I consume. It tells me how many carbs, fat and protein are in each food/meal I eat and also keeps a track of everything I've eaten that day. To start out it will ask you your weight, height, daily activity etc, and suggest how many calories you should be eating each day. Then you can tailor it to a ketogenic diet by telling it the carb/fat/protein ratio you are aiming for. It even has a macros tab which gives you a chart to show you how you are progressing during the day at hitting this goal. It has a slight flaw in the net carb department and sometimes the dietary fibre (which has a very low insulin response compared to regular carbs) can be added to your carb count for the day, but overall this hasn't been a big issue for me.
Hope this helps, and that it wasn't too long