The Other Way Round
Newbie
This is a short article from my website: The Other Way Round
So one of the biggest challenges facing someone with diabetes is the way to manage your insulin intake, carbohydrate intake and maintain a stable blood glucose level. After many years of racing I have managed to find systems and methods that seem to work for me. I have also learnt that trying to use the systems that other diabetics have used may not always work and can sometimes do the opposite of what you were trying to achieve This is due to the fact that we are all different and often our bodies respond differently to different food types. I will continue to go through what works for me and how I approach an event so that people can get an idea of what it takes and will hopefully be able to benefit from it.
I am not going to focus on how I train, as this is generally a standard format for most sportsman whether you are diabetic or not. One of the things I am going to emphasis on though is the importance of maintaining stable blood glucose levels. This should not just be before a race however and should rather be a constant goal of anyone with diabetes. It is incredible the effect of letting your blood glucose levels get out of control, it can often sap you of all energy and greatly effect your racing output. Due to this effect, the week before a race I become paranoid about my blood glucose levels. I often double my checking of levels and adjust insulin and carbohydrate intake to keep the levels stable. My diet I try to keep stable and not varied from my usual but refined products, especially sugars are a huge no no. I have found the reason to avoid these is because having them usually means that you require a larger amount of insulin to counter the effects of the increased carbohydrate intake, this in turn causes a lose in my energy levels and leaves me feeling unmotivated and lazy. So all in all just make sure you keep your blood glucose levels stable, it will make the WORLD OF DIFFERENCE!
The next key importance that I find is the evening before’s meal. Make sure you have a good meal and are comfortably full from the meal. I generally find a good mac and cheese does the job. This will help build up your stores of carbohydrates that are vital for the longer events that you do. In saying this though it is still extremely important to keep your blood glucose levels stable (I am going on about this but yes, it is EXTREMELY IMPORTANT). The morning before you should wake up with stable blood glucose levels. I make sure I have another good meal at least two hours before the start. This may mean a very early morning but it will also mean that by the time you start, your body is not so busy trying to break down your meal and can focus on using its energy to get you through the event. I have two sets of insulin, a long acting (Lantus) and a short acting (Humalog) that I use to maintain my blood glucose levels. So before the start I do my long acting but instead of doing my normal dosage amount I drop it by up to 5 or 6 units depending on the duration of the event. This prevents me from having hypoglycaemia during the event. I also do slightly less dosage of my short acting so that by the time of the start, my blood glucose levels are about 1 or 2 units above the normal. This systems just works for me but may not for others, it is always best to check with your doctor before changing you management routines. On multiple day events I also only do long acting insulin at a lower dosage rate as the exertion from doing the event eliminates the need to do any short acting insulin. This however is only because of a balanced carbohydrate intake which is what I will get into next.
During the event it is important to continually take on food and supplements to replace what is being lost during the event. For me this was the hardest part of any race in the earlier days as race supplements where not catered towards diabetics and when one did become available it did not always say around for long. Luckily these days really good supplements are available. Generally someone with diabetes is going to want a supplement that has a low glycemic index. By focusing on these it eliminates the need to have to use short acting insulin to counter the effects of the rapid increase in blood glucose levels that will also result in a loss of energy and stamina. I have been fortunate to find supplements that work for me in the form of 32 GI that I use as a liquid supplement and GoZo which is a booster that is taken after the first hour and then every half hour after that. Keeping hydrated is also very important and this also helps to keep the supplement intake constant. This system of nutrient intake works well for me on events up to about 2.5/3 hours. On longer events however I have found that further, more solid, food intake is needed. I have found that the best for this ranges between; peanut butter sandwiches, banana bread, bananas, peanuts and raisins all depending on what I am feeling like.
These methods have given me great results and I have been able to improve in my abilities by adapting to them. However it is not always possible to get it right 100% of the time and so I carry on me at least two sachets of Glucojel that help to get me back on track quickly after I have become hypoglycemic so that I can finish my event.
So I hope that you are able to take something away from this to help improve your adventures and the fun you have doing them. Hopefully see you out adventuring soon!
So one of the biggest challenges facing someone with diabetes is the way to manage your insulin intake, carbohydrate intake and maintain a stable blood glucose level. After many years of racing I have managed to find systems and methods that seem to work for me. I have also learnt that trying to use the systems that other diabetics have used may not always work and can sometimes do the opposite of what you were trying to achieve This is due to the fact that we are all different and often our bodies respond differently to different food types. I will continue to go through what works for me and how I approach an event so that people can get an idea of what it takes and will hopefully be able to benefit from it.
I am not going to focus on how I train, as this is generally a standard format for most sportsman whether you are diabetic or not. One of the things I am going to emphasis on though is the importance of maintaining stable blood glucose levels. This should not just be before a race however and should rather be a constant goal of anyone with diabetes. It is incredible the effect of letting your blood glucose levels get out of control, it can often sap you of all energy and greatly effect your racing output. Due to this effect, the week before a race I become paranoid about my blood glucose levels. I often double my checking of levels and adjust insulin and carbohydrate intake to keep the levels stable. My diet I try to keep stable and not varied from my usual but refined products, especially sugars are a huge no no. I have found the reason to avoid these is because having them usually means that you require a larger amount of insulin to counter the effects of the increased carbohydrate intake, this in turn causes a lose in my energy levels and leaves me feeling unmotivated and lazy. So all in all just make sure you keep your blood glucose levels stable, it will make the WORLD OF DIFFERENCE!
The next key importance that I find is the evening before’s meal. Make sure you have a good meal and are comfortably full from the meal. I generally find a good mac and cheese does the job. This will help build up your stores of carbohydrates that are vital for the longer events that you do. In saying this though it is still extremely important to keep your blood glucose levels stable (I am going on about this but yes, it is EXTREMELY IMPORTANT). The morning before you should wake up with stable blood glucose levels. I make sure I have another good meal at least two hours before the start. This may mean a very early morning but it will also mean that by the time you start, your body is not so busy trying to break down your meal and can focus on using its energy to get you through the event. I have two sets of insulin, a long acting (Lantus) and a short acting (Humalog) that I use to maintain my blood glucose levels. So before the start I do my long acting but instead of doing my normal dosage amount I drop it by up to 5 or 6 units depending on the duration of the event. This prevents me from having hypoglycaemia during the event. I also do slightly less dosage of my short acting so that by the time of the start, my blood glucose levels are about 1 or 2 units above the normal. This systems just works for me but may not for others, it is always best to check with your doctor before changing you management routines. On multiple day events I also only do long acting insulin at a lower dosage rate as the exertion from doing the event eliminates the need to do any short acting insulin. This however is only because of a balanced carbohydrate intake which is what I will get into next.
During the event it is important to continually take on food and supplements to replace what is being lost during the event. For me this was the hardest part of any race in the earlier days as race supplements where not catered towards diabetics and when one did become available it did not always say around for long. Luckily these days really good supplements are available. Generally someone with diabetes is going to want a supplement that has a low glycemic index. By focusing on these it eliminates the need to have to use short acting insulin to counter the effects of the rapid increase in blood glucose levels that will also result in a loss of energy and stamina. I have been fortunate to find supplements that work for me in the form of 32 GI that I use as a liquid supplement and GoZo which is a booster that is taken after the first hour and then every half hour after that. Keeping hydrated is also very important and this also helps to keep the supplement intake constant. This system of nutrient intake works well for me on events up to about 2.5/3 hours. On longer events however I have found that further, more solid, food intake is needed. I have found that the best for this ranges between; peanut butter sandwiches, banana bread, bananas, peanuts and raisins all depending on what I am feeling like.
These methods have given me great results and I have been able to improve in my abilities by adapting to them. However it is not always possible to get it right 100% of the time and so I carry on me at least two sachets of Glucojel that help to get me back on track quickly after I have become hypoglycemic so that I can finish my event.
So I hope that you are able to take something away from this to help improve your adventures and the fun you have doing them. Hopefully see you out adventuring soon!
