Low carb for a T1?

xorsyst

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Hi all,

I've been Type 1 for 15 years, now in my 30s. I've always had 'ok' control - mostly due to not paying enough attention more than any endemic problem with management.

I'm reasonably fit and healthy, but my Hba1c is higher than I'd like at 8.1 (down from 8.9 last time).

At the moment I'm on a highish carb, vegan diet (been vegan for years). I keep hearing about low carbs being good for diabetics, but I have 2 questions:

1. Is it true for Type 1s?
2. Is low carb even possible without meat/fish/dairy?
 

noblehead

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Welcome to the forum! :)

1) Yes you can low-carb whilst type 1 and there are a few members on here who do it quite successfully.

2) Could be difficult as you replace the lost carbs with protein & fat but hopefully someone will be along soon to advise.
 

Dillinger

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I agree - definitely can low-carb as a Type 1; obviously you will need to reduce your insulin and carefully monitor your blood sugars.

Are you a Vegan for health or for ethical reasons? If the latter you probably could do it but you may end up eating lots of tofu/soya products and that's probably not a great long term strategy.

If you are doing it for health reasons I would suggest that you reconsider as your diabetes trumps other health considerations in my opinion.

The 'bible' for low carbing as a diabetic is Dr. Bernstein's 'Diabetes Solution' but there are a number of other books you could try Jenny Ruhl's 'Blood Sugar 101' as well.

Best

Dillinger
 

elmacri

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I am doing low carb for my partner now. His BG is lower ( he had to reduce his insulin too)
Lots of avocados and nuts should be in your diet and soya too. i´m guessing you don´t eat eggs ...........if you do they are great for of pure protein
Hope this helps a little. :problem:
 

Flossiealexis

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Hi I am low carbing and it is great I have struggled a while with my BG and yes sometimes it is hard to eat something on the go but generally it is good. I work and commute and so on so couldn't do Dr Bernstein as strictly as he advises but I just kind of adapt it for me.

I think the theories are correct so maybe try reading his book it can be a bit tough going at times but none the less.

Do I think that you could do the diet being vegan? um no probably not as like it has been mentioned before you need to replace the carbs with protein to make your body cope. In addition for me personally my mother and grandmother had breast cancer and so my sister and I have been advised not to touch Soya products by the hospital so would be cautious in replacing carbs with too much of this.

I am pumping and have found this works for me but I also know a couple of people who instead of doing low carbs they do strict regular amounts of carbs at each meal in order to regulate their insulin in take and learn how their bodies cope.

Sorry not sure that this any help I hope you find something that works, take care.
 

Etty

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Rescue some chickens, treat them kindly and let them live out their full lives. Or find a local farmer who will do this for you and provide the eggs.
 

xorsyst

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Thanks for all your responses. To clarify:

There are several reasons behind the veganism, and it's not going to stop anytime soon, unless there are some extremely clearly proven health problems with it. Etty, I agree with your theory from a morality point of view, but there's no way I'm putting egg in my mouth. Yuech!

I've decided to try to "lower"carb my diet - which for me means limiting to 1g/lb bodyweight, so about 180g a day. That might seem a lot to people on here, but it's still a reduction of about 100g/day on my existing diet. (I was originally prescribed 330g/day when I was diagnosed in 96).

The first step to this has been to change my large breakfast of weetabix with rice krispies or shreddies to plain oatmeal (made with soya milk) with a few chopped nuts for flavour (and a teaspoon of fructose for sweetness).

Next step, which I'm still thinking about, is changing my lunch. This usually consists of 4 slices of best-of-both bread with various fillings. I'd welcome suggestions, but it's got to be something I can assemble in under 5 minutes in the morning!
 

noblehead

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Any reduction in carbs (no matter how small) should see improvements in your bg readings and insulin requirements. Try adding seeds and berries (both low-carb) to your breakfast porrige and supplement the 4 slices of 50/50 bread at lunch for 2 slices of a seeded loaf like Burgen (or similar) and include a piece of fruit like an apple or small bannana.
 

SamJB

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After posting a similar question on here a few weeks ago and hearing the advice from other posters I decided to go low-carb. I tried it for a few weeks, but it didn't work as well as I'd hoped. I was finding that despite eating very few carbs, my sugar levels were going high (presumably because my body was metabolising fat and protein into glucose) and I found it difficult to predict what my levels were going to be.

However it did teach me that I ate too much carbohydrate, so I'm now on a lowish carb diet (about 100 grams per day) paying particular attention the glycemic load and that has made a big improvement to my sugar levels. I don't get so many peaks and no longer have to snack between meals to stop my going hypo.

So if you're scared of going on the low carb diet, instead look into a low glycemic load diet.
 

hanadr

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xorsyst
Definitely read Benstein. It's difficult for vegans or veggies to low carb, but I'm sure it can be done.
Hana