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<blockquote data-quote="KK123" data-source="post: 2210125" data-attributes="member: 451727"><p>Hi [USER=505154]@Mad76[/USER], some great replies already. My own experience (after nearly 3 years) is that technically, yes you can eat what you want (like any non diabetic person) if you can only inject the exact amount of insulin required. The problem with that philosophy though is that our bodies do not work as well as a body with its own supply of insulin, and it is impossible to be able to inject the EXACT amount of insulin at EXACTLY the right time 24/7 that a 'normal' body does. NOBODY can achieve that as our bodies are complex machines and adjust our (other) hormones every second during the day & night. As an example, I have just got a libre and am astonished to see how much fluctuation there is every 15 minutes or more. When doing finger prick checks (prior to the libre), I thought my levels were fairly steady, ie a reading of 6 at 4pm followed by another reading of 6 at 8pm meant that the 4 hours between were also around 6. NOT so. My levels (without eating so as not to complicate matters) went up & down between 4 and 7. I checked every 10 minutes (my new toy) and each reading was different by around a point or more or less.</p><p></p><p>My point is that you can chase your levels by 'eating what you want' and trying to match it with insulin and that's fine BUT it can be quite chaotic if you are an active person with a job (or even if you aren't).</p><p></p><p>I found that the best way to stabilise my levels are to watch the carbs I eat and to go mainly 'low carb', for me that means around 30/40 carbs per meal (although I do have 2 meals a day so that may affect the hb1ac too). I find that by keeping the carbs per meal lower I can inject say 3/4 units of insulin and know (for now anyway) that my levels won't rise drastically and will always come down fairly swiftly.</p><p></p><p>I am not a Saint and I do have higher carb meals occasionally but when I eat a meal with say 100/150 carbs, if I take 10 units I sometimes crash down into a hypo 90 minutes later or sometimes I don't and I stay higher for a few hours. You see?, how on earth do you get it down to an exact degree?</p><p></p><p>My approach is not to go low carb but not to eat extremely high carbs either or eat high carb meals or snacks constantly during the day as this means injecting all over the place too, an added nuisance for me. I think you need to find your own levels and whilst I would never tell someone 'my way or the highway', what you describe seems to be frustrating for you and not particularly as stable as YOU would want.</p><p></p><p>Can you tell us your regime, ie, what do you eat & when and what your ratios are etc. Honestly you can still eat what you want on a lower carb diet, bread/pasta/rice (measured out), just maybe not unlimited amounts and so on. As an aside I have just completed a type 1 carb counting course and was able to observe all the other type 1s. Without exception those who ate 'whatever they wanted' whilst trying to match insulin complained of high & low spikes constantly and those who were more measured did have more stable levels. The advice given by the Diabetes team on the course was 'Carb count and use insulin' but it was very clear to me that this was far harder to achieve than you would think. There were biccies all over the place too and I also noticed how many people grabbed during the day without taking insulin for it, I am NOT trying to shame anyone but speaking to the attendees during the course hardly any of them seemed to think 2/3 biscuits may require insulin. Of course any person can eat what they want but in the end you may have to accept that you may need to adjust (if only slightly) to combat this yucky condition. x</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="KK123, post: 2210125, member: 451727"] Hi [USER=505154]@Mad76[/USER], some great replies already. My own experience (after nearly 3 years) is that technically, yes you can eat what you want (like any non diabetic person) if you can only inject the exact amount of insulin required. The problem with that philosophy though is that our bodies do not work as well as a body with its own supply of insulin, and it is impossible to be able to inject the EXACT amount of insulin at EXACTLY the right time 24/7 that a 'normal' body does. NOBODY can achieve that as our bodies are complex machines and adjust our (other) hormones every second during the day & night. As an example, I have just got a libre and am astonished to see how much fluctuation there is every 15 minutes or more. When doing finger prick checks (prior to the libre), I thought my levels were fairly steady, ie a reading of 6 at 4pm followed by another reading of 6 at 8pm meant that the 4 hours between were also around 6. NOT so. My levels (without eating so as not to complicate matters) went up & down between 4 and 7. I checked every 10 minutes (my new toy) and each reading was different by around a point or more or less. My point is that you can chase your levels by 'eating what you want' and trying to match it with insulin and that's fine BUT it can be quite chaotic if you are an active person with a job (or even if you aren't). I found that the best way to stabilise my levels are to watch the carbs I eat and to go mainly 'low carb', for me that means around 30/40 carbs per meal (although I do have 2 meals a day so that may affect the hb1ac too). I find that by keeping the carbs per meal lower I can inject say 3/4 units of insulin and know (for now anyway) that my levels won't rise drastically and will always come down fairly swiftly. I am not a Saint and I do have higher carb meals occasionally but when I eat a meal with say 100/150 carbs, if I take 10 units I sometimes crash down into a hypo 90 minutes later or sometimes I don't and I stay higher for a few hours. You see?, how on earth do you get it down to an exact degree? My approach is not to go low carb but not to eat extremely high carbs either or eat high carb meals or snacks constantly during the day as this means injecting all over the place too, an added nuisance for me. I think you need to find your own levels and whilst I would never tell someone 'my way or the highway', what you describe seems to be frustrating for you and not particularly as stable as YOU would want. Can you tell us your regime, ie, what do you eat & when and what your ratios are etc. Honestly you can still eat what you want on a lower carb diet, bread/pasta/rice (measured out), just maybe not unlimited amounts and so on. As an aside I have just completed a type 1 carb counting course and was able to observe all the other type 1s. Without exception those who ate 'whatever they wanted' whilst trying to match insulin complained of high & low spikes constantly and those who were more measured did have more stable levels. The advice given by the Diabetes team on the course was 'Carb count and use insulin' but it was very clear to me that this was far harder to achieve than you would think. There were biccies all over the place too and I also noticed how many people grabbed during the day without taking insulin for it, I am NOT trying to shame anyone but speaking to the attendees during the course hardly any of them seemed to think 2/3 biscuits may require insulin. Of course any person can eat what they want but in the end you may have to accept that you may need to adjust (if only slightly) to combat this yucky condition. x [/QUOTE]
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