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How bad was my binge??

mikej1973 said:
That's not a treat. It's a compromise. Great for your regular day to day diet. But a treat is proper pancakes. Fasting day for me I'm not talking about food Anymore!!
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Oh Gawd @mikej1973. "A fasting day!" I'd rather stick pins in me eyes!!! But hey...good luck with it hun.
Ali. X
 
mikej1973 said:
Indeed! Not everyone's cup of tea! Luckily I love fruit and can eat tonnes without using many calories!
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Oh! Is that what a fasting day is. I thought you were gonna abstain from food for a whole day. Just the thought of that makes me feel faint. So, am I right in thinking that a fasting day is fruit & water only? Is this something many people do, is it for health improvement or generally giving your body a rest? I'm interested & curious, so hope you don't mind me asking so many questions. X
 

It's not a real fast at all. 600 calories of anything (3 twix fingers if you want) 2 days a week. Then your bmr in calories the others.

I'm doing to lose weight. About 3 stone this year. I like the idea of giving my bits a rest 2 or 3 days a week. But I' have no idea how sound the science is. I also find by bs on fast days and the day after is amazing and pretty good the other days too. Without being too scientific I'm sure in my own mind it's played a part in my normal blood suga. And ask questions! It's what the Internet is for
 

Wow! Impressive weight loss. And hey, if it works for you without making you feel poorly, then go for it.
 
This thread has been cleaned up and all unnecessary posts removed, no more thread derailing please and lets get back on track with supporting Alisonjane.
 
I wouldn't feel guilty at all. I'm a newbie to all this (January) (although I'm type 1 so maybe different) and after my first few weeks of being totally clueless and just doing what I always done I found this forum and started seeing how to manage this condition better. I low carb to an extent but not all the time. When I started it I was very strict for weeks and never allowed myself to deviate from plan. Then I thought you know what, I'm 32, I can't live the rest of my life not having a treat or something I enjoy. I have a 2 year old, I want to go out for lunch with him and share dessert, I want to have ice cream with him and I want to have cake on his birthday. To me it's all about balance. For the last month I have been doing 6 days a week I stick to a low carb diet and one day I have whatever I want, usually a Wednesday as it's my food shopping day and I buy myself treats. Yesterday I had a big bag of peanut m&ms, 6 bourbon creams and 4, yes 4 scones! I took the insulin though to cover all that and on treat day I check my blood every hour and yesterday I never went above 6.7. I know I'm still probably honeymooning and everyone is different but it works for me. Ok on my treat day I have to have lots more insulin than on low carb days but as long as I take enough to match the carbs then I don't see the harm. I'm not trying to lose weight, I'm 5'10 and under 10st so I'm not overweight. It works for me. I'm not saying I will do it every week but if I want a treat I know I can have it then.
 
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People get very passionate about managing their diabetes effectively through LCHF. It's a lifestyle choice at the end of the day, and lots of forum members have had good results by following this eating plan. Yes, I've found it can be all consuming at times. However, in January my BG was 22.4mmols. Now, my weekly average is 5.4 to 6.0mmols. Huge improvement, & more importantly, I can see better now. I no longer have numb fingertips. So for me, low carbing has probably saved my life. I'm learning to adapt my diet to allow treats...pancakes, a few dates, an orange etc. I need to in order to stay motivated, as well as continue losing weight. After years & years of people being advised to eat a low fat diet with lots of whole grains etc, the tide is turning. Low carb eating principles work, & seem to be the way forward, not just for diabetes management, but for a healthy diet generally too. Finding what works successfully for ourselves as individuals is the key. It'll be interesting to see what the most popular nutrition & dietary advice will be around in 20 years from now. When I was younger it was all about Rosemary Conley, low calorie diets. Then the juicing & smoothie culture was the in thing. Now it's the 5 - 2 diet. Aargh! It can be confusing. Anything that is seen to be effective will last the distance though. So looks like low carb is here to stay. Good luck to us all in our endeavour to get on top of this dastardly disease....however we may do so. Now, where did I put my Jane Fonda Video....gonna get me pink Lycra leggings on & go for the burn!!
 
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Robinredbreast said:
How are you feeling today, more positive ? x
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I'm good thanks RRB. Forgiven myself, put my binge meltdown into perspective & took on board all the advice from the good people on here. I think I'm definitely a drama queen. Lol. X
 

Great post Trixy83. Love your attitude. And very nice photograph too btw. Your little boy looks adorable.
 
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Alisonjane10 said:
I'm good thanks RRB. Forgiven myself, put my binge meltdown into perspective & took on board all the advice from the good people on here. I think I'm definitely a drama queen. Lol. X
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Whether low carb, high carb, no carb, we all make mistakes ( well not everyone, so I've read), that's why we have rubbers on the ends of pencils just erase yesterday out and move on, all the best RRB x ps we are human beings and as fallgal said, we are not robots take care.

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This sounds pretty good to me I don't deny myself things either. I eat healthily for the sake of being healthy but eliminating things just results in me binging.

With type 1 to me your just providing the insulin externally rather than your pancreas so I see no real reason for my diet to change from pre-diabetes.
 
@Alisonjane10

I'm curious how you felt the day after your binge day?

The reason I ask is that if I go above a magic number of carbs, I get carb cravings. It's a sort of restless gnawing around the inside of my ribs. A restlessness. A distraction. And I find myself thinking about all those glorious mounds of mash and family sized Dairy Milk bars that are just whispering my name...

If you don't get carb cravings, then the odd binge will do you no more damage than any sudden rise in BG (and I don't think it is possible to measure it in such detail)

But if you DO get carb cravings then a single binge can be very difficult to get over. A single carb fest can lead to a seesaw of cravings, binging, cravings, binging...

We've had people come to the forum deeply distressed that a single wedding breakfast, or special birthday meal led to days, weeks and months of out-of-control eating.

So my answer to your original post is basically - it depends.
But I think it depends on whether you get carb cravings, or not. Because that is (IMHO) the deciding factor on whether occasional treats work for you, or not.
 

Hi Brunneria

Hmmm. That's a difficult one, and not as clear cut as it appears initially. Since commencing lchf, my diet has been very limited. I didn't cheat, I ate very low carb every day (<20) & got good control of my BG. Lost weight easily too. But the lack of variety eating like that gave me absolutely no pleasure. I was eating because I had to. It was all so depressing. I suppose it was inevitable that such a rigid eating regime would lead to a binge. But, to be honest, that binge was NOTHING in comparison to the binges I'd go on prior to my diagnosis. I'd literally eat until it hurt. And none of it was "good food." Anyway, so yes, I have had cravings since my binge. But I'm making appropriate carb choices rather than eating trash. For example, an orange, apple, burgen bread toasted & similar foods. I've had to increase my daily carb intake to allow for these choices, but it's certainly more realistic & allows for greater flexibility. I'm now looking at around 50 - 100g of carbs daily. And I'm happier for it. I'm testing after eating the fruit, and so far, no BG spikes. But obviously I'll continue to monitor that & adapt where necessary. I do crave carbs...but I did even before my binge. I will always miss being able to have exactly what I want...chocolate, McDonald's, Danish pastries. The difference being, I don't have them. But if and when I do, it'll be the occasional treat and not a daily occurrence. It's disappointing that I'm not currently in ketosis. And I'm not sure what to do about that or how to get to that state quickly again. But mentally, it's better that I have relaxed my strict lchf regime.,.as effective as it was, it was brutal. In short, yes I have carb/sugar cravings. I always did & guess I always will. Common sense will prevail overall though. Thanks for your informative & insightful reply.

Ali. X
 
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Good to hear you're back in the saddle Alison.

What sort of blood results are you getting after fruit? I really missed fruit when I first reduced carbs, but after some months I tried again, with slightly better results. Curiously, those subsequent tests were with tropical fruits, which are usually scary for most people. (I'm just plain odd!) I used to enjoy grabbing a banana on the go, but have to pass on those now, which is incredibly annoying, bearing in mind we have banana plants in our garden here.

Regarding nutritional ketosis. If you are aiming for 50-100gr you probably won't achieve ketosis at anything other than very much the lower end of that range. My understanding is most people achieve it below 50, so fingers crossed for you. I also understand that to get into ketosis, fast, one can try low carb + restricted fats for a few days, but that sounds like purgatory to me, and rather a lot like you were doing initially?

Take it steady. As you know, this is a long haul, so finding something sustainable is really very important.
 

Hi AndBreathe

Good to hear from you. How fantastic that you have Banana plants growing in your garden. I'm well jealous. I can just about grow a Cactus. As for my blood glucose after eating fruit...well, it spikes to around 6.0 to 6.5 for an hour or so only. I really wasn't sure what to expect as I'd avoided all fruit apart from the occasional Apricot or Kiwi since going low carb. It's good to know I can introduce fruit back into my diet. Making daily good carb choices seems to be the way forward for me.

I need to get back into ketosis in order to continue losing weight to be honest. Definitely a work in progress. But you're right, I don't want to be doing what I did initially. "Purgatory" describes exactly what it was like eating less than 20g of carbs a day. And it was often less than that in reality...Probably around 5-10 grams. I don't want to go that low again, and make myself miserable. My plan is to gradually reduce my carb intake over the following week, look at my calorie intake & see how I go on 50g at the most. I can tinker with that number, but no way can I sustain sensible intake with my old way of eating carbs.

Managing this dastardly disease is a tricky business. Your advice about it being a "long haul" problem, so finding a sustainable way to manage, are very wise words. I appreciate your kindness & support. Thank you so much.

Ali. X
 
Hi everyone - I'm new to the site and was really interested in this post and the advice given
I was diagnosed as type 1 16 years ago whilst pregnant with my daughter
I have struggled ever since - I have binged so many times and restricted my insulin and pretty much made a mess of the whole thing - I'm trying to sort things out - but I feel like I always fail
I am hoping that this site and members can offer me some advice and support - so that I don't feel like in alone and a total freak
 


Hi and welcome!

Hopefully you won't feel alone here any more - cos we are all freaks here!

@Alisonjane10
Good to know you have your carbiness under control.
I did a while of very very very low carbing too - and found it equally boring.
Ended up rebounding to higher-than-50g-a-day for a while, but felt so dreadful (I'm v carb sensitive) that I drifted downwards again. This time with a renewed determination to eat more variety in the form of herbs, spices, flavoured mayo, different meal choices... Seems to be working at the moment. I definitely agree that below 20g/day can be monotonous.

Did have one thought that might help you though - I have recently discovered that some specific carbs cause bigger, nastier cravings than others. Wheat is my nemesis. Other grains less so, but still far more than starchy veg.
(I'm never going to crave carrots, for example!). And sugar... well that an interesting one. Grains spike my BG far more than sugar, but I just don't seem to be able to stop once I have started with the addictive white powder. I just keep on eating it.

You may find that you have much more craving leeway with certain foods than with others.

Hope that helps.
 

Hi Sparklysue

You've certainly come to the right place for help, advice & support with your diabetes. And believe me, you're not alone and you're certainly not a freak. Well, no more than the rest of us anyway. Lol. This disease has a way of messing with your head, as well as making us feel like a failure at times. But we're not. Like everyone else, in any avenue of life, we're gonna get things wrong sometimes. I've learnt, we have to forgive ourselves, mark it down to experience and move on. Can I suggest you go to the "Forums" tag on the site & introduce yourself. You'll be warmly welcomed. You'll see the link to the Type 1 discussions too. Have a good rummage around the site...it's amazing how much we can learn about our disease, and how to manage it better. Good luck hun. I wish you well.

Ali. X
 
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