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Low Carb Diet Help

S

suziesue

Member
Hi Everyone

I am interested in changing to a low-carb diet and I have been reading this forum for a while and have already had some good advise from Fergus re books to read on low-carb diets (thanks!). There are a couple of things that I am a bit concerned about -

I am Type 1and have been for 40 years (I'm 46 now) but I have a very small amount of insulin -

Actrapid 3 times a day before meals and normally between 2-4 units each time, depending on how many carbs I intend to eat and I have just been changed to Levemir twice daily 7 units both times. I notice that one of the reasons for changing to this regime is that you can lower your insulin dose by quite a lot BUT as I don't have a large dose anyway if I cut my carbs down too much (I currently eat around 90grams per day split 30/30/30)and subsequently cut my insulin down, how will this affect me. I noticed in the book I am reading re this subject by Charles Clarke some breakfasts are listed as containing between 3-5 grams of carbohydarate, which would mean I would probaly need less than 1 unit of insulin. I am also a bit concerned that if I cut down my insulin too much I may risk getting ketones.

As I said in my last post I really need to lose weight I have tried other diets but I just can't seem to shift anything and I then get fed up because I'm not losing any weight so just go back to normal eating!!!! I only need to lose around 1 stone but it's just so difficult!

Any advice appreciated. Ta.
 
If you move to a low carb diet you'll probably need even less insulin, but don't worry about that - it's really not a problem. After all, the ultimate would be to need zero insulin - and I doubt anyone here would complain about that!!!

Your levemir should, in theory, be covering the background insulin you need without any food - so the theory being that if you ate nothing for a day, your blood sugar would stay at a nice normal level. This is actually well worth trying out sometime - have a day without any food and check that the basal amount is correct.

After that, you're injecting fast-acting insulin to cover food, primarily carbs. So if you eat fewer carbs you inject less insulin. You may well find that if you go low-carb you need to take small amounts of insulin to cover any protein you eat; I and many others on here find this. All of this is down to experimentation, but the great thing is that because the inputs are so small (i.e. small amounts of carbs and small doses of insulin) it's relatively easy to stay in good control while you learn your own reactions to it.

I know that on days where I don't eat a lot and have few carbs I can somtimes get by with 1 or 2 units of fast-acting for the entire day (before I went low-carb I'd need 30-40).

You may also find that after a period of adjustment, your basal dosages need to change as well as your insulin sensitivity improves. I found after a few weeks of going low-carb paleo I had to drop my background doses by about 15%.

There's no need whatsoever to worry about ketones. Ketosis through low-carb diet is a perfectly normal state for the body to be in, and is worlds apart from ketoacidosis (which is the scary one). Honestly, this is not something to worry about in the slightest. You can be in ketosis pretty much all the time on a low-carb diet, it's not doing any harm at all.

The other thing I'd strongly recommend is to make the actual foods you eat as unprocessed and unrefined as possible - think veggies, meat, fish, eggs, nuts and seeds. Food quality makes a huge difference, and a low-carb diet of natural foods is far better than one made up of processed stuff.

Finally, bear in mind that weight loss essentially comes down to eating fewer calories than you need. Going low carb will potentially help in various ways (it's great for controlling appetite, will help improve your insulin sensitivity etc.) but ultimately if you eat too much you won't lose the weight. This is another reason to try to stick to real food - it's far harder to overeat on steamed veggies and lean meat than it is on heavy cream and hard cheese!

Good luck with the diet and please do post back with any more questions. I'm sure others will chip in with advice as well!
 
Here's my chip.........

You may find that you need to up the fats to compensate for the lower carbs. The body needs fuel for energy - if it can't get enough from carbs or fats, it may well end up burning its own muscle tissue!

Yes, you need to watch the amount you eat, but even on higher fat intake, believe it or not, you can still lose weight. That's because you are then in, as Nick said, ketonic 'fat-burning' mode rather than glycogenic 'carb-burning'.

The other thing with fats is that because they make you feel more satisfied and control the hunger signals better, you are far less likely to need to snack.

I find that if I have enough fats I'm not even bothered about chocolate! :o

PS. Chips are not recommended. :lol:
 
HIya - I was on lantus 28u and novorapid 6u three times per day before I started low carbing, I now take apx 8 u lantus, no novorapid (hurray! no hypos) and three metformin three times a day. I reduced my insulin gradually, testing to make sure I wasn't going too low. I found it easiest to keep on with the long acting and drop the short acting, underdosing rather than risking taking too much and going hypo, but testing a lot until I foudn the right balance. I also lost two stone and it has stayed off. Best of luck :D
 
Hi Everyone

Thank you so much for the advice, it's very much appreciated and I'm still learning!! It makes much more sense now.

One more thing I go to the gym 2-3 times a week so bearing the info you have given me in mind would I be better having more fat to give me energy? And what do you recommend? My cholesterol has been creeping up but I want to stay off the statins if I can!

Thanks again. x
 
Hi suziesue,

Exercise nutrition is a massive topic, and a lot depends on what you do and how well-adapted you are to burning fat and what you're doing. At 90g carbs per day you're probably reasonably well-adapted, but it's a very personal thing.

The long and short of it is that people can usually get by very well on low-carb diets for:
- Short, very intense exercise (e.g. heavy weight lifting - not the typical gym circuit stuff; sprinting, hill sprints etc.)
- Long, low intensity exercise - like hill walking, fairly sedate cycling etc.

It's the stuff in the middle that typically needs carbs to fuel it - the medium-intensity stuff like running, hard aerobics classes etc. You'll tap into your glycogen stores quite heavily with this kind of exercise, and low carb eating may not be enough to replenish it - with the result that performance dies off quickly. In a non-diabetic doing this type of exercise I'd suggest a mixed protein-and-carb meal straight after the workout to replenish glycogen stores, but of course for diabetics this has implications for your control. If you're lowering the amount of carbs you take and you do this kind of exercise, you'll notice the impact.

If you can give me a bit more info on what you typically do at the gym I can maybe give you a bit more info.
 
Hi NickW

I currently go to the gym twice a week and would like to build up to 3 times. I do 45 minutes per session and it's all on machines - upper & lower body such as running machine, stepper, strider, cycling, chest press, two different arm machines (to work biceps & triceps). I'm due to have a review soon but will just include a different variety of the same machines as I enjoy these! I never do aerobics or excercice classes.

I hope this info is OK and thanks again.
 
Hi suziesue,

To be honest I'd simply see how it goes.

Start off just eating your normal diet (i.e. your new, lower-carb diet) and keep a careful eye on how you feel during and after exercise. If it's totally wiping you out you might need to eat a small amount of extra food during or after the exercise; if you manage fine without it then don't worry about it.

One thing that might help is to take some of your carbs, along with some protein, straight after the exercise. You say you currently eat 90g of carbs and want to reduce that; so let's assume you move to eating 60g carbs per day (just an example). On a non-exercise day you might split that 20/20/20 breakfast / lunch / dinner. On an exercising day, you might do something like 10/10/20 and eat the 20g carbs that you've "saved" straight after your exercise, along with 20g of protein. I would still tend to make these healthy choices, so don't head for a sugary drink or anything - a piece of fruit or a small sweet potato is a far better choice for your carbs than Lucozade or bread. And of course, test your blood and make sure this doesn't spike it too much!

I wouldn't worry too much about it though, just see how you feel and use common sense - if you get through the session without being unduly exhausted or suffering with hypos then you're doing just fine!

Cheers,
Nick.
 
I agree that exercising on a low carb diet is something that the body learns to adapt to.
I have to say that my own experience has been that a low carb diet has significantly improved my stamina. I enjoy road cycling at pretty high speeds and for decent distances (40-80 miles) and find my endurance doesn't tail-off as it once did when I ate more carbohydrates. My riding buddies, whose diets are 'normal' often need energy gels and such to keep themselves going. I always carry Dextro tabs in my back pocket for emergencies, but my non-diabetic buddies get a lot more use out of them than I do! :D
It seems pretty clear that they are using only glucose for fuel and when it runs low, as it often does, their energy levels plummet. On a zero carb pre-ride breakfast (bacon, eggs etc.) I'm not going to be running on glucose but on alternative energy stores instead - ketones, free fatty acids etc. Those stores give access to much greater resevoirs of calories around the body instead of the rather limited resources provided by glucose and glycogen.
Quite a number of professional athletes claim to be training on 'lo-carb' diets these days, although their low probably isn't that low by some of our standards. That may be a consequence of their much higher calorie output, but the principle remains.

All the best,

fergus
 
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