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Is a diet necessary for Type 1 diabetics?

A

Aurlito

Member
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Is it necessary for a Type 1 diabetic to follow a diet? I mean with using insulin, going on with a diet isn't that vital is it?
 
ALL diabetics need to watch their carbohydrate intake because it is the carbs that raise your blood sugar levels.

Even when taking insulin most diabetics count or reduce carbs so that they do not have to take too much insulin.

Too much insulin makes you put on weight which, in turn makes you insulin resistant, leading to the need for yet more and more insulin.

A vicious circle.
 
I hate high carb foods. even before I got diabetes and I barely ate pasta or rice, but what about sugar? I make milkshakes for myself and they don't change my blood sugar too much.

Also another question. is gluten considered as a high carb food? because I eat one bread a day, and it's inevitable not to.
 
We are all on a diet. Diabetics, non-diabetics, type 1, type 2, etc. It is a way of life. Some people have bad diets and some people have good diets. A lot of people don't agree on what is good and what is bad.

At the end of the day, the most important thing for diabetics is monitoring how much carbohydrate one is eating and inject an appropriate amount of insulin. And as Sue said, if you reduce your carb intake, you can reduce your insulin doses, and hence won't put on weight as quickly.... or you may start losing weight. Low carbing gives a better margin of error and smaller swings of blood sugar level.

It's each to their own and it is the individual's responsibility above all others to make sure they are living in a healthy way.
 
Sugar is definitely something to avoid......

As regards Gluten. A constituent of most breads, however you can get gluten free bread if you want. Bread is a starchy carb which will increase your Bg levels. You need to test to find out how it affects you.

Check out the advice we hand out here regarding avoiding certain foods, bread, potato, rice, pasta and starchy root vegetables. That should help clear things up.

Ken
 
The problem is that I don't know what the conventional blood sugar level that doesn't cause complications is.
 
It sounds like you need to schedule a meeting with your diabetic nurse and a dietician so they can give you the advice relevant to your lifestyle and answer all the questions you have.

Adult blood sugar should be around 4-6.
 
I would try and stay a bit higher than the 'recommended' 4 as below 4 is hypo and it's a fine line. Find a target which works for you (5 or 6 or even 7) and use that as your guide. If you do this with advice from your DN team you should find it achievable
 
We don't have diabetic nurse here. the only source I have is a J*** off endocrinologist who I only visit because his secretary knows that I hate waiting in the office so she sends me in before everyone. and this doctor doesn't even know what novorapid is. I have to jump through hoops to find artificial sweeteners, and cuisine here is deeply comprised with rice, that as far as I know, is poison for a diabetic. and the j*** off doctor said that "Main food of diabetics is rice and bread", hopefully he'll realize that he's deadly wrong when one of his patients dies.
anyway, I better stop whining and ask the main question, because as I said, we don't have diabetic nurses here. my blood sugar is always beneath 8.8. slightly above what you guys are suggesting. is it dangerous?
 
The official NICE 2010 guidelines for a Type 1 Diabetic Blood Glucose levels are:

Fasting (waking) ................between 4 - 7 mmol/l.
2 hrs after meals................no more then 9 mmol/l.
Obviously if the post meal readings are lower then so much the better.

So, your under 8.8 mmol/l figure is not too bad, so long as it isn't always the higher end !

Ken
 
if it's always below 4 then it would be dangerous but below 8.8 won't be dangerous, on the contrary! there are 'guidelines' which suggest that starchy carbs are what people need to maintain good BG control but I think the majority of people on this forum will tell you otherwise :wink: Having said that, I am type 1 and I enjoy rice, pasta and bread but I don't have a portion the size to feed a small family, just a 'me' sized portion and I dose accordingly. As someone has already said, diabetic or not, we are all on some kind of 'diet' or 'food plan' so if you like carbs and can count for them as a type 1 then so be it. If you don't like them, then keep an eye on your BG and no worries
 
It isn't vital as unlike type 2 you can either inject more insulin or less but I think you generaly feel better with a healthy meal plan (I hate the word diet ).
 
It can depend on what sort of insulin regime your on. I have to space out all meals and snacks to work in with Khaleb's basal/bolus schedule. It's just easier and more predictable this way for us.

With regard to insulin putting on weight ... Wouldn't it be that too many calories have been consumed with the correct amount of insulin causing the weight gain?
 
Info
Gluten is a protein, typically found in cereals, so associated with starch.BUYT NOT A CARB.
Probably Fewer people are gluten intollerant than think they are. A recent study showed that very few people who think they are intollerant to or allergic to, gluten, lactose or nuts, actually are.
Hana
 

that's interesting, do you have a link to the study? My friend has 3 children who suffers from various intolerances/allergies so I would be keen to find out more about this, especially if there could be another reason for their reactions to certain foods..poor woman can't cook a family meal that they can all eat!
 
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