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Just a query about carbs and insulin

K

ks91

Member
Messages
5
Hi, hope you're all well.

I've been T1 for nearlya year now, and I've been weight-training seriously for the last couple of months and been really reading up on nutrition. Just have a couple of questions that I hope someone will clear up for me

In a non-diabetic person, when they consume carbs, their body releases insulin to stop their blood sugar level from rising. A diabetic person however has to inject this insulin to cover the carbs. From what I've learnt, in a non-diabetic person, the insulin released stores the glucose from the carbs as glycogen; is this is the same with injected insulin, because I have noticed that when I was injecting a lot of insulin my body fat levels rose quite dramatically. I've cut my carbs down to roughly 80g a day, but still having a tough time trying to lower my bodyfat level, even on a calorie deficit.

I find that exercise really drains my blood sugar, so usually I have a 40g carbs lunch and then hit the gym for 30 mins of high intensity weight training, at the end my blood sugar ends up being quite low. I take it the glucose from the 40g of carb just gets burned off and doesn't get stored as fat, right?

If I ate more/less carbs, would I gain/lose bodyfat, even if I'm on a calorie deficit/surplus?

Sorry for all the questions, but it's quite frustrating reading up various articles about nutrition and weight training and not being able to make sense of it from a diabetic perspective

Many thanks, K
 
Insulin, is insulin, is insulin; the fat storage hormone. So injected insulin has the same effect as natural. In fafct MANY insulin users gradually bgecome obese, especially if they don't carb count and have frequent hypos, which need correcting. This is more a problem in insulin dependent T2 I think, but T1s do sometimes have this problem.
This is why Bernstein advocates the doctrine of small numbers. This ensures low doses and SMALL corrections
Hana
 
hanadr said:
Insulin, is insulin, is insulin; the fat storage hormone. So injected insulin has the same effect as natural. In fafct MANY insulin users gradually bgecome obese, especially if they don't carb count and have frequent hypos, which need correcting. This is more a problem in insulin dependent T2 I think, but T1s do sometimes have this problem.
This is why Bernstein advocates the doctrine of small numbers. This ensures low doses and SMALL corrections
Hana
Click to expand...

Oh for goodness sake Hana, stick with what you know! :roll: :x

Nigel
 
Thanks for the response Hana

Just one more question

Someone I spoke to at the gym said that the best way to burn fat is to work out/cardio early in the morning, or a long time after a meal when you're body uses fat for energy, and not the carbs in your blood stream. I assume this isn't as simple in diabetics, as blood sugar levels drop during exercise. Its just annoying that I'm trying to keep carbs low, but yet have to take in so much carbs just to keep my blood glucose level up during the exercise

I'm on MDI by the way. I know on a pump you can just adjust your basal rate.
 
You might find some useful information here.
The articles concerning carbs Effective Dietary Practices of Active People with Diabetes, pt 1 and 2: and also Is It Really True that Exercise Won't Make You Lose Weight? have a fair amount of detail about carbs, insulin and diet.(unfortunately with some repetition ) There are many more that might help. The author has type1 is and has spent many years researching/lecturing and writing about exercise and diabetes. Also there is a place on her website to ask her individual questions which might be worth a try.
http://www.shericolberg.com/articles-resources.asp
 
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