• Guest - w'd love to know what you think about the forum! Take the 2025 Survey »

Reduced carbohydrate intake for Type 1's

M

mary123

Member
Messages
23
Location
Buckinghamshire
Type of diabetes
Type 1
I have been a type 1 diabetic for some 20years. Since moving to a pump I am able to pinpoint high and low BG's more effectively to see what may have caused them. My hunch is that if I consume more than 50g CHO at a time my BG's some hours later is adversely affected giving me a high. I am now experimenting with eating no more than 50g CHO at a time to see if I achieve more balanced BG's. So far so good. Does this sound familiar to others and have I been missing something I should have picked up on sooner.
 
Mary,

There are many members on this forum including myself have found that reducing their carbs at each meal-time beneficial in achieving stable blood glucose control, how far you reduce them is based on your own personal needs and your meter readings thereafter.

I typically eat no more than 30g of carbs for breakfast and lunch, and max 50g for my evening meal, which thus far keeps my bg within my own personal target range. As well as a reduction in carbs, I also use the low-gi approach too, which I find works extremely well together avoiding any post-meal spikes in my bg.

Interestingly, even though I have only been following a reduced carb/low-gi diet for less than a year, I have found that I have become more insulin sensitive, using much less insulin now than in all my 29 years of diabetes. Three weeks ago I went out for a family get-together at our local Indian restaurant, I estimated that I ate 120g of carbs and give the appropriate insulin ratio, and 90 mins later was 8.1, two hours forty five mins was 6.7, and five hours later was 5.9, the following morning I was 5.7, which I am more than happy with considering one time I would undoubtedly been in double figures for at least ten hours after such a carby meal.

So do try reducing your carbs and see if this improves your control, experiment and test is the best way forward and don't forget to detail and record all your results for future reference. Good luck!

Nigel
 
Thank you for your response and I am encouraged by the positive impact you have experienced from minimising carbs. I am already aware of the low GI and GL diets and I am using that more extensively as part of my strategy. The restaurant scenario is just the situation where I end up sitting up all night with first lows and then highs, particularly if the meal was Chinese! Regards Mary
 
mary123 said:
Thank you for your response and I am encouraged by the positive impact you have experienced from minimising carbs. I am already aware of the low GI and GL diets and I am using that more extensively as part of my strategy. The restaurant scenario is just the situation where I end up sitting up all night with first lows and then highs, particularly if the meal was Chinese! Regards Mary
Click to expand...

Mary,

Have a word with your dsn about splitting your dose for such meals as Chinese. The fat content of Chinese food means there is a delay in the foods absorption, so your insulin may kick in too soon hence why you may go low soon after eating, but high 3-4 hours later. Other foods like Indian and pizza's can have the same effect, I've used split the split dose method for a while now, but did so only after talking it through with my dsn, but as always, remember to test regularly.

Nigel
 
Back
Top