- Messages
- 369
- Type of diabetes
- Type 1
- Treatment type
- Pump
Hi all. The other day, I met with a friend I'd not seen for a long time, who's also type 1. I was waxing lyrical about keto and ended up promising to write her an email with all the resources I'd used along the way. (By the way, the fine folks on this forum are certainly one of the greatest among them.) Having composed the email, I thought I'd redraft it slightly and leave it here for anyone who's interested...
I had always followed the standard advice given by diabetes nurses and doctors, and Diabetes UK. Carb-counting and the pump were supposed to free me from the shackles of taking regular, fixed doses and always eating roughly the same things at the same times each day. Well, they did do that... to an extent. However, my HbA1c never improved at all. It seemed like, no matter how hard I tried, I could never get it down anywhere near the elusive goal that all Type 1's are supposed to aim for. Well... as it turned out, there was quite a lot of information missing from the guidance I'd received.
I've long had background retinopathy, but about two years ago I decided to get serious and do something about it. Searching online, I came across Dr Richard Bernstein, himself a T1, diagnosed in the 1930s. By the time he was my age, he had debilitating complications, but one day resolved to change things around. He was an engineer and his wife a medical sales rep, so he had access to all the medical journals and stuff, so he started educating himself, eventually ending up as a fully qualified doctor. He has since reversed all his complications and is still practising medicine to this day. He is truly inspirational.
So I read his book, 'Dr Bernstein's Diabetes Solution', which explains everything very clearly. All his experiences with his own diabetes and that of his patients chimes with mine so closely, that I felt I must be on the right track. Basically, he says that diabetes - T1 or T2 - is effectively an intolerance of carbohydrate. This made perfect sense to me. It took me about six months to get my head around the idea of giving up bread, pasta, cakes, etc., but I resolved this by considering that it's those things that have made me so sick over the past 28 years. It may seem extreme at first - as it did to me, actually - but for many, it's the perfect solution.
From there, it was a logical progression to the ketogenic diet for me. By making the body favour fat as its primary fuel source, it then becomes less reliant on glucose and thus blood glucose fluctuations become much less severe. For example, in times past, I would typically average one hypo a day, and BG readings in the high teens were commonplace. Nowadays, I'm unlucky if I go above 8 mmol/l, and hypos are down to one or two a week, sometimes even less. Historically, my HbA1c was usually mid- to low-60s, and the best I could ever reach with diligent carb-counting was 57 mmol/mol. Now it's 47 -- almost non-diabetic. In terms of my long-term health, this is the single most important factor.
The resources that have helped me along this journey are as follows.
I had always followed the standard advice given by diabetes nurses and doctors, and Diabetes UK. Carb-counting and the pump were supposed to free me from the shackles of taking regular, fixed doses and always eating roughly the same things at the same times each day. Well, they did do that... to an extent. However, my HbA1c never improved at all. It seemed like, no matter how hard I tried, I could never get it down anywhere near the elusive goal that all Type 1's are supposed to aim for. Well... as it turned out, there was quite a lot of information missing from the guidance I'd received.
I've long had background retinopathy, but about two years ago I decided to get serious and do something about it. Searching online, I came across Dr Richard Bernstein, himself a T1, diagnosed in the 1930s. By the time he was my age, he had debilitating complications, but one day resolved to change things around. He was an engineer and his wife a medical sales rep, so he had access to all the medical journals and stuff, so he started educating himself, eventually ending up as a fully qualified doctor. He has since reversed all his complications and is still practising medicine to this day. He is truly inspirational.
So I read his book, 'Dr Bernstein's Diabetes Solution', which explains everything very clearly. All his experiences with his own diabetes and that of his patients chimes with mine so closely, that I felt I must be on the right track. Basically, he says that diabetes - T1 or T2 - is effectively an intolerance of carbohydrate. This made perfect sense to me. It took me about six months to get my head around the idea of giving up bread, pasta, cakes, etc., but I resolved this by considering that it's those things that have made me so sick over the past 28 years. It may seem extreme at first - as it did to me, actually - but for many, it's the perfect solution.
From there, it was a logical progression to the ketogenic diet for me. By making the body favour fat as its primary fuel source, it then becomes less reliant on glucose and thus blood glucose fluctuations become much less severe. For example, in times past, I would typically average one hypo a day, and BG readings in the high teens were commonplace. Nowadays, I'm unlucky if I go above 8 mmol/l, and hypos are down to one or two a week, sometimes even less. Historically, my HbA1c was usually mid- to low-60s, and the best I could ever reach with diligent carb-counting was 57 mmol/mol. Now it's 47 -- almost non-diabetic. In terms of my long-term health, this is the single most important factor.
The resources that have helped me along this journey are as follows.
- 'Dr Bernstein's Diabetes Solution' - a must-read for all diabetics, T1 and T2, whatever stage they're at.
- 'The Ketogenic Diet for Type 1 Diabetes' by Ellen Davis and Keith Runyan. Runyan is himself another T1, and his blog is worth looking at too.
- 'Think Like a Pancreas' by Gary Scheiner. Although he doesn't do low-carb, this book is a great resource for all type 1's, even if it is based on carb-counting etc. There is lots of advice in it about all the other myriad factors that can influence BG control, and it's written in a very accessible and friendly way.
- 'Bright Spots and Landmines' by Adam Brown. This guy does do low-carb, having realised that it's the most practical way to manage his type 1, and again his book is written in a very friendly, engaging style.
- 'Pumping Insulin' by Walsh and Roberts. A little dry, but a good one to dip in and out of for any pump user. Very comprehensive and clearly explains a lot of the things that diabetes nurses never quite seem to have the time to...
- Diabetes.co.uk forum. Not to be confused with the charity (Diabetes UK). Many of the people on this forum are very well informed and very friendly and helpful. This has been my go-to source for all kinds of advice.
- Typeonegrit group on Facebook. Mainly for followers of Dr Bernstein and keto.
- Dr Ian Lake - a Stroud-based GP with T1 himself also following the keto diet.
- Dr Carrie Diulus - another doctor with T1, who's also vegan and a keen athlete.
