Mixed feelings about 'Type One Talks' on YouTube

Hello @RobertJ

Have heard of this but not seen any, however his message doesn't surprise me, it sounds like Dr Bernstein, personally i'd take what I want out of it and leave the rest, i'd struggle with anyone telling me how to manage my diabetes, as we all have our own unique way of managing it and we all know of own bodies and systems are different from others, I would switch off from the guy if you find him depressing, I think we have enough to cope with each day without some self righteous know it all telling us how to do it !

Type 1 diabetics are like people without diabetes, we can eat what we want , whether we should is another thing, but that’s no different for anyone, the secret or the goal is to try and keep blood sugars “ within range” , as we are diabetics we have to accept that this isn’t going to happen all the time.the types of food we eat can affect this doesn’t mean we can’t eat them just means we have to find a way , whether that means splitting insulin or taking insulin after we eat, whatever , it’s all about finding what works which means experimentation , I spent many years eating to the insulin I was taking and that’s somewhere I never want to go back to , everything in moderation as my old auntie use to say,

I've been T1 since I was 8, so 52 years.

I know when I was in my twenties the eye doctors told me I'd need laser treatment before I was forty, still haven't had any. The background retinopathy has come and gone for at least twenty years though I think it's stabilised at "I've got some but they don't want to treat it yet". (Goes off to touch every piece of wood I can find).

I'm reminded of the joke where the doctor tells a patient he has only 1 year to live. The patient asks whether there is anything he can do. The doctor tells him to give up sex. alcohol, smoking, any enjoyable food etc etc.
"Will that make me live longer?"
"No, but it will feel like it".

My recommendation would be to find a balance that works for you, whatever that is. It may or may not be the same as the balance that works for others, though it's always interesting to see what others do. Modern technology (cgms etc) mean you can keep as close an eye on your bgs as you want, but it's up to you what you want to do in terms of keeping in range, as well as what that range is.

Good luck.

RobertJ said:

Who here has seen Type One Talks? He has about 90k subscribers so is very popular. He mainly focuses on diet and fitness in relation to Type 1.

I'm not sure quite what I make of him, though, because his message is the opposite of the message I gleaned after doing my first DAFNE course in 2007. I'm not saying who is right but the message from DAFNE was: Now you can eat whatever you want and as little or as much as you want, just like everyone else.

The message of Type One Talks, however, is nothing like this. It's more like: As far as possible do not eat anything with carbohydrate because it's not worth the having a spike in BG and don't ever drink alcohol again. So the message is that rather than trying to live like your friends, you should live very differently.

I'm at a bit of a crossroads now in life. I'm approaching 20 years of Type 1, I've been diagnosed with background retinopathy (as many people have) and I'm not sure viable it is to try and operate like a normal person or how far I should become a "I have diabetes, I can't eat that" sort of person. I'm also definitely not giving up alcohol.

Don't get me wrong, I'm interested in trying new things and very into fitness, I just ultimately find his message quite depressing because of how strict it is.

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Haven't seen this YouTuber but I'd concur with his message and yes it is depressing that the information given to me when I was diagnosed age 10 i.e. be very controlled with your carbs but fill up on protein and fats seems spot on to me.
I have a pump and I have been on a Dafne style course but my cgm tells me reliably that I can't get ahead of a carb spike. If I choose to indulge, as I do about once a week, then I am going to have to accept that my line won't be in range. I started one meal at a time with it though and did believe, or chose to believe, that carbs were essential for working out! They are not.
However I've got used to the strategy and it fuels all my exercise (my job) and I've got good blood pressure, kidney health and a good trig/hdl ratio (a bad one is far more predictive of heart disease than LDL C).
Sadly the medics seem to be stuck in the paradigms of only considering blood glucose levels then medicating for the damage, and also the paradigm that doing carb/insulin maths is practical and effective. I find it hard to believe that anymore.
Ps you are right to be at a crossroads in that 20 years in can be the time for microvascular (kidneys and eyes) stuff to go awry. |type 2s get this sooner because they have too much insulin on board as well as high bgs so when I find myself having to chug in loads of bolus to correct a high, I certainly bear that in mind. Sorry if that is bit of a downer but this is what I'd say to you in real life!

For me it isn't and I see how miserable chasing their blood glucose levels makes my diabetic friends! There is always someone in my group who is experiencing 'random' highs and lows or has been told to do better yet not been given much help to achieve this on a higher carb diet.

I ran into this channel recently in my attempt to connect my Libre 2 to the xDrip app.......

I remeber seeing him going through his LibreLink logbook and all his readings were in the green......this can only really be achieved with a limited amount of carbs, which I am aware of, but I enjoy carbs so need to try a little bit harder.....

Its all avout balance.....and not all diabetics have the same fear of complications either........

RobertJ said:

Thank you for your replies @NicoleC1971 and @EllieM. I wish I'd thought outside the box earlier in life. I should have been bolder with trying meals with little or no carbs. I really think I took the DAFNE message on board too greatly and never thought about the idea of simply making it easier for myself.

Perhaps I will now start to see the really nasty and scary effects as I surpass twenty years with the condition. The crazy thing is I didn't used to think about diabetes in the context of what my life would be like in my thirties, forties and beyond when I thought about the future. I've worried about my career going nowhere, not having children and things like that, but never stopped to think retinopathy, kidney failure or nerve damage would also feature. In some ways my priorities have been the wrong way around.

Even though compared to many diabetics I take it very seriously, taking it seriously does not automatically mean good control and I think I didn't realise what tight levels of control are possible until this year.

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Don't beat yourself up. there is no disease that asks more of us the patient so its good to chat with people who experience it in real time and also struggle with carb restriction in a carb centric culture. On the plus side i feel that the fact that I've got this has made me healthier in the long run than people who can get away with ignoring things until their 50s!

RobertJ said:

Who here has seen Type One Talks? He has about 90k subscribers so is very popular. He mainly focuses on diet and fitness in relation to Type 1.

I'm not sure quite what I make of him, though, because his message is the opposite of the message I gleaned after doing my first DAFNE course in 2007. I'm not saying who is right but the message from DAFNE was: Now you can eat whatever you want and as little or as much as you want, just like everyone else.

The message of Type One Talks, however, is nothing like this. It's more like: As far as possible do not eat anything with carbohydrate because it's not worth the having a spike in BG and don't ever drink alcohol again. So the message is that rather than trying to live like your friends, you should live very differently.

I'm at a bit of a crossroads now in life. I'm approaching 20 years of Type 1, I've been diagnosed with background retinopathy (as many people have) and I'm not sure viable it is to try and operate like a normal person or how far I should become a "I have diabetes, I can't eat that" sort of person. I'm also definitely not giving up alcohol.

Don't get me wrong, I'm interested in trying new things and very into fitness, I just ultimately find his message quite depressing because of how strict it is.

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You might like to take a look at this T1 GP.. he often talks a lot of sense and practises what he preaches.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1590783303380250624