Hello from Claire-Marie

Hi Claire-Marie, welcome along! You definitely do not NEED to eat carbs, cut down the carbs and you can cut down your insulin! Hope you will find the forum useful, Abbie x

Claire-Marie said:

Hi, my name is Claire-Marie I am 48 years old. I am married with two children a daughter 23 and a son 19. I live in London with my husband, my son and 2 cats Twiglet and Pringle. I love the South of France and frequently go there for a break. Mainly to Narbonne and Perpignan. I like all sorts of music and used to do Latin American dancing for fun, Salsa being my favourite.
I have haType 1 Diabetes since 1980 so 35 years. In August 2012 I had a massive heart attack which was a huge shock as I hadn't been ill or had any signs that things weren't right. I was rushed to hospital and spent time in intensive care. I had 2 stents put into the right coronary artery and after taking time to recover from the heart attack I had a triple heart bypass. I have since had an ICD implanted, but despite all this I am now in heart failure. My only hope now being a heart transplant. Unfortunately having had T1 Diabetes for the length of time I have though I'm having difficulty being accepted on to the waiting list.
I am now confined to my house most of the time as I am not able to walk even 15 metres with the heart failure. I hope that by being in the forum I will be able to chat with others about issues and concerns we all have from time to time. Unless you have lived with Diabetes it is difficult for people to fully understand how hard and complex keeping sugars in control can be. My biggest concern at the moment is my weight. Before my heart attack I was a healthy weight, fit and active. Now due to my sedentary life style and the need to eat carbs to balance against my insulin I have put on lots of weight. I eat a healthy diet but not being able to take any form of exercise makes things very difficult. Any ideas please.

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Oh my you have been through the wringer , so now your here with us on this forum you will find lots of good advice and much encouragement, i realise you are t1 but as many are discovering a form of low carb high fat regime is beneficial to all diabetics( under medical supervision) @ daisy1 will be along to give the info necessary to new posters, please feel free to ask as many q's as you want to.....no silly q's ...only silly answers! Hope to hear from you :)

Claire-Marie said:

Hi Clive thanks for your reply. Yes the last 3 years have been pretty horrific. Not sure what this low carb high fat regime is all about but high fat sounds a concern as I have to keep fat consumption to a low because of the heart. I will look into it though thanks x

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If you want to catch up on lchf try dr r bernsteins diabetes explained 3 rd edition he's been a t1 for 63 yrs , or jenny rhuhl's diet 101 both excellent , i have been t2 for 3 yrs now but it wasn't until i found this forum that i realised that the nhs advice was not good enough,since following lchf regime i have got back my bs's control( they were at 28.6 now averaging 5.0 also i suffered with neuropathy in my feet, but now its gone.:)

@Claire-Marie

Hello Claire-Marie and welcome to the forum

Here is the information we give to new members and I hope you will find it helpful. You will get plenty of good advice on here.


BASIC INFORMATION FOR NEW MEMBERS

Diabetes is the general term to describe people who have blood that is sweeter than normal. A number of different types of diabetes exist.

A diagnosis of diabetes tends to be a big shock for most of us. It’s far from the end of the world though and on this forum you’ll find over 140,000 people who are demonstrating this.

On the forum we have found that with the number of new people being diagnosed with diabetes each day, sometimes the NHS is not being able to give all the advice it would perhaps like to deliver - particularly with regards to people with type 2 diabetes.

The role of carbohydrate

Carbohydrates are a factor in diabetes because they ultimately break down into sugar (glucose) within our blood. We then need enough insulin to either convert the blood sugar into energy for our body, or to store the blood sugar as body fat.

If the amount of carbohydrate we take in is more than our body’s own (or injected) insulin can cope with, then our blood sugar will rise.

The bad news

Research indicates that raised blood sugar levels over a period of years can lead to organ damage, commonly referred to as diabetic complications.

The good news

People on the forum here have shown that there is plenty of opportunity to keep blood sugar levels from going too high. It’s a daily task but it’s within our reach and it’s well worth the effort.

Controlling your carbs

The info below is primarily aimed at people with type 2 diabetes, however, it may also be of benefit for other types of diabetes as well.
There are two approaches to controlling your carbs:

• Reduce your carbohydrate intake
• Choose ‘better’ carbohydrates

Reduce your carbohydrates

A large number of people on this forum have chosen to reduce the amount of carbohydrates they eat as they have found this to be an effective way of improving (lowering) their blood sugar levels.

The carbohydrates which tend to have the most pronounced effect on blood sugar levels tend to be starchy carbohydrates such as rice, pasta, bread, potatoes and similar root vegetables, flour based products (pastry, cakes, biscuits, battered food etc) and certain fruits.

Choosing better carbohydrates

Another option is to replace ‘white carbohydrates’ (such as white bread, white rice, white flour etc) with whole grain varieties. The idea behind having whole grain varieties is that the carbohydrates get broken down slower than the white varieties –and these are said to have a lower glycaemic index.
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/food/diabetes-and-whole-grains.html

The low glycaemic index diet is often favoured by healthcare professionals but some people with diabetes find that low GI does not help their blood sugar enough and may wish to cut out these foods altogether.

Read more on carbohydrates and diabetes

Eating what works for you

Different people respond differently to different types of food. What works for one person may not work so well for another. The best way to see which foods are working for you is to test your blood sugar with a glucose meter.

To be able to see what effect a particular type of food or meal has on your blood sugar is to do a test before the meal and then test after the meal. A test 2 hours after the meal gives a good idea of how your body has reacted to the meal.

The blood sugar ranges recommended by NICE are as follows:

Blood glucose ranges for type 2 diabetes

• Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
• 2 hours after meals: under 8.5 mmol/l

Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (adults)

• Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
• 2 hours after meals: under 9 mmol/l

Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (children)

• Before meals: 4 to 8 mmol/l
• 2 hours after meals: under 10 mmol/l

However, those that are able to, may wish to keep blood sugar levels below the NICE after meal targets.

Access to blood glucose test strips

The NICE guidelines suggest that people newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes should be offered:

• structured education to every person and/or their carer at and around the time of diagnosis, with annual reinforcement and review
• self-monitoring of plasma glucose to a person newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes only as an integral part of his or her self-management education

Therefore both structured education and self-monitoring of blood glucose should be offered to people with type 2 diabetes. Read more on getting access to bloodglucose testing supplies.

You may also be interested to read questions to ask at a diabetic clinic

Note: This post has been edited from Sue/Ken's post to include up to date information.

Hello and welcome.
You've had a dreadful time of it.
Hope this place can be good for you.
The low carb high fat has been a real turnaround for many of us here as the NHS advice is so out of date and plain wrong but .... I have no idea if it would be sensible going your own way and trying this.
It's not a temporary diet but a life change.
Have a read but consult with your doctors first.
Maybe even provide them with this link but it's a no no I think doing this without consulting them.
http://www.dietdoctor.com/lchf

Hello Claire-Marie

What a frightening time you're going through.

Are you on MDI or do you use a pump? Using a pump has enabled me to fine tune the amount of insulin I need very specifically so that I have a lot better control and fewer hypos . I'm limited in what exercise I can do for a different reason as I 've got both my legs in casts due to my bones collapsing and breaking from diabetic neuropathy but I've tried to adapt what I do food/insulin wise to keep good control and not change shape.

I don't eat much carbohydrate, it's just how I've always been and I only realised I was following a low carb diet when I started reading others experiences on here. It helps me to stay at a happy weight, require only a small amount of insulin, avoid blood sugar spikes and because I have no hypo awareness,it keeps my insulin requirements low and limits the length and severity of my hypos. Have you been given any help with establishing a diet that is best suited for your situation ?

It is such a tough juggling act with so many things to balance. It is so difficult trying to get holistic help as each specialist seems to focus solely on their 'bit' with the occasional "how's your control" thrown in, we are left to muddle our way through trying to keep everything balanced.

I hope your situation improves and you can be accepted on to the waiting list .I also hope that you are able to find a better balance with insulin needs, food and avoiding hypos. I wish you well