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how many T1s use low carb diet

weeezer

weeezer

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hi

new to this forum :wave: ...finding it really interesting, and after years of feeling very alone (even tho my mum has it also)& ill informed, am hoping this will re-invent my understanding of this pesky condition.

when i was diagnosed in 2000, it was kinda wishy washy advice...my mum had been diagnosed 25 years prior and controlled it by 'exchanging', she had a set amount of insulin and had to match her carb portions to that dosage every meal. she rarely ate a sweet let alone a pudding. my advice was based on guessing...working out 'what worked for me', and adjusting it up or down according to what i decided to eat. i could even have sweet stuff if i had it after a meal and had a little bit extra insulin. i could even decide how much insulin to inject after the meal, so it wasn't a drama if i only decided to eat half of what was on my plate. the only constant was that i should plan all meals to include carbohydrate. suited me, i loves me toast/crumpets/bread/potatoes/pasta/rice etc etc.

this worked, my A1c's were all 6 point something and the HCPs were happy with this (have taken my foot off the pedal lately and latest A1c has high jumped to 10.7, a shock as have never had 1 in double figures before, scary).

anyway, lived in australia for a few years and attended their version of DAFNE which helped me understand a bit more about it all...it seemed with careful adjustment of background insulin, one could drop carbs, this was all new to me so didn't play about with it much.

how many of you T1s live a low carb life? have any of you tried it out and found it difficult to balance? any tips or advice/opinions?

weezer
 
weeezer said:
how many of you T1s live a low carb life? have any of you tried it out and found it difficult to balance? any tips or advice/opinions?
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weezer,

Tell us how you define 'low-carb' and you'll maybe get more of a response, for example do you mean below the RDA or a Bernstein/Atkins style low-carb diet?
 
thanks noblehead

i mean just generally deciding that for tea today you want chicken & roast vegetables with no potatoes/rice/pasta - or just fruit & yoghurt for brek, that kinda thing. and how this would reflect in your insulin dose? not uber-specific i know, but just interested in how often t1s eat this way. i was taught to always include starchy carbs...but this was 12 years ago, has thinking changed? :?
 
Hi

I started eating a large 2 egg omelette with about 3 small mushrooms broken up in it and no bread about 10 days ago.

Its having a good effect on my bg sugar levels but that might be because I now use a pump. At the moment Im using 0.5u bolus for the omelette and my basal rates for the morning are about 0.50u/hr. On MDI however, I needed to use about 6u bolus to cover the same omelette so that was more bolus than I would have needed to cover a slice of bread. :shock:

I stopped eating bulgar wheat for breakfast as it started to cause me to have bowel problems (going to the loo a lot). It did cause less of a spike than using oat porridge though. Bulgar wheat is good at keeping people regular if they suffer from constipation :thumbup: :thumbdown: :lol:

Its just the omelette that is low carb. The rest of my meals are usually about 25g and 35g carb and I also drink milk in tea and sometimes eat a small snack mid afternoon or mid morning if I need or want to.
 
weeezer said:
i mean just generally deciding that for tea today you want chicken & roast vegetables with no potatoes/rice/pasta - or just fruit & yoghurt for brek, that kinda thing. and how this would reflect in your insulin dose? not uber-specific i know, but just interested in how often t1s eat this way. i was taught to always include starchy carbs...but this was 12 years ago, has thinking changed? :?
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Thanks, yes there are type 1members on the forum who exclude pots, pasta, rice, bread & cereals and eat less than 50g of carbs a day, hopefully they'll see your post and respond sometime soon.
 
Hi Weezer,

I cannot speak for all t1s but can tell you about myself. I avoid rice, bread (as much as possible), stay completely away from cereals (they are often carb loaded), and only have pasta very rarely. I do tend to eat some sugary fruits in the mornings simply because having some carbs first thing helps your brain perform better during the day. Fruit seems to do the trick just perfectly without overloading the system.

Lunch is tricky since I often do need to be on the go and rushing about like a madman, so I end up having sandwiches if time is short. It works fine since by mid afternoon I will be in the gym working out those increasing sugar levels. Then in the evenings if I am lowish on sugars 3-4ish I will have some potatoes with my meal otherwise I'll have another vegetable instead. When I do go a little crazy on the carbs I make sure I take some cinnamon supplements before, they seem to stop as much sugars being absorbed for some strange reason.

Hope that helps,
Frankie
PS: found that brown breads sky rocket my readings so I opt for white when I have to eat bread.
 
i have found this very interseting as my son has bn t1 for two years now,i have never bn told to carb count until last week,i havent got a CLUE, his sugars always drop before lunch,run normalthen drop again,but doesnt feel any effect until in the 2s.
But when i think about it he has cereal in the mornings, sandwhiches at lunch with crips yought choc bar, then at dinner he is a fussy eater so he tends to have some thing with pasta,patatoes,or rice, do you think this is why his bloods are not good.
 
i mean just generally deciding that for tea today you want chicken & roast vegetables with no potatoes/rice/pasta
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That does happen occasionally, and doesn't pose any problems - I just don't take any insulin with that meal. At other times, I may feel like eating a large Chinese takeaway, which is fine too.

how many of you T1s live a low carb life? have any of you tried it out and found it difficult to balance?
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No, and I don't see why I should. I am aware of various theories, and I've read Dr Bernstein's (who literally wrote the book on low carb) Diabetes Solution and didn't find it particularly convincing (14 "customer testimonials" in the first chapter should have sent anyone running for the hills).
I concede that it may have some merit for T2 patients because we do not have, as I understand it, sufficiently effective treatment for insulin resistance but this is unrelated to any of Dr Bernstein's arguments.

Generally, I tend to eat about 60g of carbs from rice/pasta etc each meal (plus vegetables and beans but I don't count those) which seems to be working well enough (HbA1c 5.7% over Christmas)
 
Hi Weeezer!

I try to keep my total carb for the day below 50g. I rarely eat bread, rice, potato etc, althoguh I have just reintroduced 20g Lizi's granola for breakfast. Before that I was eating one low-carb sausage and scrambled egg for breakfast, but I was finding i need to inject 1 unit of Apidra for the sausage and egg or 2 units for the 20g granola, 50g raspberries and 75g Total full fat yoghurt , so not much in it really. I'm LADA, and my condition is progressing at the moment, so trying to keep any kind of balanced BG if I eat a carb-based meal is very difficult. I find the larger the insulin dose I need to take, the more unpredictable the outcome :roll: So, for me, my BG is far more stable when i keep to a low-carb diet. My consultant has been supportive of this. I might review it when my pancreas stops producing its own insulin altogether, but for the moment, I'd rather go for low-carb and an element of predictability than the constant swinging between too high and too low depending on what my pancreas has decided to do for the day!

Smidge
 
I find that any sizeable portion of carbs sends my numbers onto a rollercoaster of highs and lows.

My carb intake is likely not more than 60g each day.

I don't think an HbA1c below 6.5% (48 mmol/mol) would have been possible for me without drastically cutting my carb intake down.

Ed
 
Hi weeezer

I'm a type 1 (for 20 yrs) and started trying out low carb 3 weeks ago. Now I'm on week 4 I'm finally getting the hang of it, and have much more even and predicable blood sugars! Have been having between 50-80g carb per day - possibly more than I was on before! I got quite lax about counting carbs over the years, so reminding myself (a lot of homework!!) has been very useful. I've been shocked by carbs in various veg, e.g., carrots etc, and now eat far more green veg than ever before. Dessicated coconut in curries is this week's triumph - it's a great low carb 'filler' (6g carb/100g). I'm definitely eating more meat, so trying to stick to chicken and fish. I hardly ever roast any veg - it's always a disaster for me! I have been having more lows than normal (but not v low) but that's partly due to my incorrect calculations as well as my entire range being lower. I've also needed to reduce my long-acting insulin by a couple of units. It's all work in progress...

Hope this helps

Riesenburg said:
When I do go a little crazy on the carbs I make sure I take some cinnamon supplements before, they seem to stop as much sugars being absorbed for some strange reason.
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That's very interesting. I heard about the properties of cinnamon, but didn't believe it up until now! Didn't know it came in capsules?

PS: Going on a 'DAPHNE' course myself soon, which I hope will help!
 
low or reduced carbohydrate eating is a good way to get control of wayward blood glucose. As you are eating less carbohydrate you are injecting less insulin which makes things a bit more predictable.

I ate around 60g - 80g of carbohydrate for a year and found it to be an easier way to keep my blood glucose in the 4.0 - 5.5 mmol/l range.

For a couple of months now I have been 'getting fit'! which involves walking / jogging around 8 - 10k per day and cycling around 10 - 15k in the evening.. The exercise although not my cup of tea has actually made a massive difference to my blood glucose (and my weight - 8 kg lost). I am injecting around 30% - 40% of the insulin that I was whilst low carbing yet eating 2 - 3 times the amount of carbohydrate. My control is not quite so tight as it was before although I still fully expect an HbA1c in the mid 5%'s I am having to let my blood glucose run higher than I would especially 1 / 2 hour post meal in the evening in order to facilitate exercise.

So if your like me and like pasta, rice, bread then a more active life-style may suit you better than a low - carb diet.
 
Hi there, I don't low carb on purpose but since using a pump, I do find I tend to skip the carb option of the meal, particularly if I am not preparing it myself. However, I won't skip dessert if I fancy something sweet! it really varies from day to day. I remember the 'exchanges' and I was taught 26 years ago to inject the same amount of insulin twice a day and ALWAYS have starchy carbs included in the meal. I was only allowed desserts on special occasions too! Probably explains a lot about my sweet tooth now ;-) I don't think there is a right or wrong answer to your question, try some options and see what works best for you :-)
 
Nice to see you back Debloubed, I didn't know (or forgot :crazy: ) that you changed to a pump.
 
thanks! been pumping for 2 years now, best thing ever, think everyone should have one (I know, I know, not everyone can get them but they are marvellous!!)
 
Debloubed said:
thanks! been pumping for 2 years now, best thing ever, think everyone should have one (I know, I know, not everyone can get them but they are marvellous!!)
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Yes, you never really hear of anyone who changed to pump therapy and regretted it. Pleased things are going well for you! :)
 
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