Question for longtimers

[hanadr]

I'm not a longtimer only about 10 years T2. My husband is over 30 years a T1
I'm curious to know what dietary advice people were given in the past. My husband didn't get much at all mostly he was told how much insulin to take. Initially once, then twice daily and how to do urine tests.with a mini test tube and reagent tabletss. Strips for blood came much later. Also how to cope with hypos. I now suspect that his BG was running high nearly all the time. Hypos were certainly pretty rare and urine testing isn't all that useful a tool for control. He does have multiple complications.
I do wonder if folk were given advice which led to controlling carbs.
I remember my cousin, who lives in Germany being told about exchanges for carbs and how many exchanges to eat with which meals.. Although in fact, she has had some complications too,particularly with her eyes. She's been diabetic on insulin since her gestational diabetes over 30 years ago. She, a tiny woman, gave birth to a 12lb plus baby. He now has 4 children of his own and is perfectly healthy and physically fit.

 

[robert72]

I had a fixed amount of (animal) insulin - regular and isophane - which I drew up from vials into metal/glass syringe. Was also given a diet sheet which listed how many carb exchanges I should have for each meal, which added up to 200 grams carb/day. I learned to judge how many carbs were in common food items. There wasn't so much processed food around in those days and we were not encouraged to eat that sort of stuff.

Also had reagent tablets and test tubes, but being a teenager, I wasn't really interested in all that mucking about Didn't get into testing blood until the 90's and didn't get into carb counting until I got my new-fangled novopen which I think was mid '90s.

I'm not sure I stuck to the original diet very well until I got retinopathy in the late 90's. But then sometimes wonder if I'd have been better off since on the old carb exchange regime.

 

[noblehead]

The same as your husband Hana and Robert, told to inject insulin twice daily and eat a set amount of carbs with each meal and test urine, carb counting was in 10g exchanges which was very basic compared to the nutritional information we now have on packaging and good books such as Calorie, Carb and Fat Bible.

To be fair I've been lucky with regards to complications despite bad control in the early years, I've had/have diabetic retinopathy but it's been in remission for the last 7 years.

 

[Sarah69]

I've been a type 2 diabetic since 1997. I had gestational diabetes in 1991. As far as I can remember I was never told about carbs, I was told to cut down on sugary things, but with a raging sweet tooth and addicted to chocolate, I couldn't do it. The only change that I made was changing from sugar to sweetener in tea. Obviously I went onto insulin. I had DKA in August 2010 and was referred back to the hospital diabetic clinic, my 1st appointment was early 2011. The DSN asked if I carb count and I had no idea what she was talking about. I had no idea that carbs affected blood sugar and I sometimes still can't believe it! I always thought it was about cutting out sugar! I went on a 2 hour crash course which was very confusing as I had no idea what food had carbs in! I carb count by just using a carb counter book and sheer guess which I don't always get right.

 

[Neicy0412]

I started on a fixed amount of mixed insulin twice a day, the only dietary advice I was given was to eat healthily, I was told a healthy diet is a healthy diet whether you have diabetes or not! So, cut out fats and sugar eat brown bread, plenty of fresh veg and fruit in small amounts. Have to be honest it didn't really work for me, and I have struggled for years. My saving grace has been DAFNE, before I had no real understanding of how my insulin worked with my diet.