Long term type 1 needing low carb advice

Hi all,

I have been type 1 since 1981 and have pretty much stuck to same foods, diet, carb counting for most of this time.

Visit to hospital last week gave me a shock as I was the heaviest I have ever been, around 102 kg. I dont tend to eat a huge amount of calories, typically 1500 per day but do have around 180 g of carbs, mainly bread, potatoes, pasta or rice. Dont really drink beer any more but have a few gin and diet bitter lemons per week

I am a 56 year old male and looking to drop my carbs initially to around 120 g per day

Lots of info out there and lots of conflicting things as well.

Would I still be OK to eat porridge for brekkie, typically 5 spoonfuls made with just water and milk with a little salt?

What do others have in the way of carbs for lunch and dinner. I know I can eat meats, fish, cheese, veg, eggs, What about adding some carbs to that . Would around 30 g of carbs be OK for each meal and what sort of things?

I know I also need to do some exercise, and intend to build up slowly starting with some walking. I am aware that I will need to test regular and adjust insulin both short acting and my Levemir.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Thanks for the replies so far, really appreciated. From reading numerous discussions on this forum my understanding was mainly that I really need to stop eating bread pasta and potatoes, especially as I am trying to lose some weight. Is that not the case???

Just a tad confused

Just a quick update spoke with dietician today and she advise not to drop carbs completley which I pretty much guessed anyway. She is happy for me to continue with porridge in morning due to its slow release.

Said if i wanted breads wholegrain and ones with seeds are not great but better than white breads

Just a quick one that came to mind after I spoke with her. My son takes Whey Protein after he works out in gym. He said I should try that to help increase my protein levels. It is very low in carbs <2 g per 30 g serving and around 25 g of protein. Seemingly it is pretty disgusting with water but with milk it tastes fine. Obviously I will have to include the carbs in milk if I do go down that route.

Anyone had experience of using Whey Protein shakes

Oooh this is a steep learning curve

Thanks for the quick reply. I need to keep some carbs in my diet and I am aiming for around 30g per meal, so not overly concerned about the carbs in cows milk

I am quite lucky that rarely do i feel hungry so dont snack as such

Thanks for the advice guys, much appreciated

week 1 and I am enjoying my new diet, I have had 1 potato and no bread or pasta and too be honest not really missing them a great deal----yet

As a type 1 diabetic for many years, my initial goal is to half my number of carbs in each day. the majority of carbs in at moment is my porridge in morning, the rest mainly coming from veg and cracker breads/ryvita wholegrain multi seed.

Now the weekend could be a slight problem. I do like my takeaway at weekend, got to have some guilty pleasures

Typically I will have either a chinese curry with rice, or a jalfreizi plus rice from Indian. I am confident in being able to adjust my insulin dose accordingly. Question really is it OK to have a "blow out" once a week

Found a really good website with all UK information. Gives details on carbs as well as calories and protein etc. It can be quite specific as well, eg type in Sainsbury granola and it brings up the exact product

https://www.fatsecret.co.uk/