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Should a t1d follow a low carb diet ?

rebetic

rebetic

Active Member
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My doctor told me to eat whatever i want if im taking insulin for it but if it has high GI then i have to wait 15mins before i eat it he never said anything about a low carb or keto diet ? I’m eating what i want but im counting the carbs
Is this ok? I feel like something isnt right
 
A lot of T1's do not do low carb my son included he eats whatever he fancies. If he is right or wrong I have no idea
 
I don't eat low carb and I've never been told that I should (I've seen...probably about 10 diabetes doctors and several dietitians) I know some type 1s limit their carbs and some do eat low carb.
 
I eat moderate levels if carbs, around 120g per day and I find my glucose levels easier to control.

When I eat carb laden meals, the amount of insulin I need to control the spike, always seems to send me hypo later.
 
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rebetic said:
My doctor told me to eat whatever i want if im taking insulin for it but if it has high GI then i have to wait 15mins before i eat it he never said anything about a low carb or keto diet ? I’m eating what i want but im counting the carbs
Is this ok? I feel like something isnt right
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Rebetic, I'm neither T1, nor an insulin user, but as I understand matters, as a T1, you can eat whatever you want.

My take on your statement would be, provided you are confident in your carb counting, and adjusting your insulin, then if you want to eat a low carb of keto diet, then that's your choice.

From my reading, some T1s find their dosing changes a bit - not just the amounts, but the timings too for some lower carb or keto meals.

I would suggest if you do give it a go that you have plenty testing supplies, so that you can keep on top of how things are going.

Good luck with whatever you decide.
 
I eat low carb because I do not want to become insulin resistant (double D), gain weight or have the hassle of guestimating bolus doses for larger amounts of carbs
If you feel you are getting good control on your current regime and don't want to give up bread, pasta, rice etc. then that is your choice after all, unlike type 2, we can only ever manage our disease. Note that carbs are NOT essential though and also that diabetologists oddly do not seem to know much about nutrition and the dieticians are generally not taught to discuss the viable option of low carb for type 1.
Finally there is a lack of clinical experience of low carb hence a reluctance to recommend it given the fear of ketoacidosis that a very low carb diet arouses.
 
Hello :) low carb diet is an option for type 1. You don’t have to follow it of course but you could try if other ways are not working for you. It works very well for some and make their management easier. How many carbs do you eat a day and how do you find it ? If you are interested in trying I would say you could try around 100g a day and see how it goes ?
 
michita said:
Hello :) low carb diet is an option for type 1. You don’t have to follow it of course but you could try if other ways are not working for you. It works very well for some and make their management easier. How many carbs do you eat a day and how do you find it ? If you are interested in trying I would say you could try around 100g a day and see how it goes ?
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I'd agree that 100g is a good place to start but in case the OP is a newbie, it should be added that they would need to adjust their bolus does to reflect the change.
Also if you drop carbs you can swap them for above ground veg, more protein and fat to ensure you are not hungry!
 
This is a personal question irrespective of diabetes type, as poor control leads to similar issues.

I think it comes down to your visceral feel about all of the evidence you may have accumulated. Do you love carbs, hate em, tolerate them or feel indifferent. I actually hate them, but, I was at the extreme end of a Type 2 diagnosis and experiencing complications. I am aware others feel differently.
 
I’ve always looked at it a bit like driving. If they removed all the speed limits, so you could legally drive as fast as your car would go, would you drive everywhere at 100mph? Probably not, because it wouldn’t be sensible to do so - likely to fly off the bends, unable to react to hazards etc. But you might go that fast if you were on the motorway in the dead of night with no traffic.

I take insulin to match my carbs so in theory I can eat as much as I want to. But in this reality that’s too much stress every day - higher carbs = bigger doses = higher chance of error ie more likely to crash the car. So most days I eat 100-150g of carbs, and lower GI ones. Every now and then I have a day when I’ll eat more, but there is additional mental load to go with it and I can’t be bothered to stress about it all the time.
 
I like eating low carb, as it means my insulin doses are much smaller. My work day is very erratic; my mealtimes are too - so I don't like having huge amounts of IOB as I never really know what I'm going to be doing next. I stick to a maximum of 30g a day, mostly from green vegetables - it's quite restrictive, especially as I don't eat meat or dairy, but I feel much better on it and my levels are basically those of a non-diabetic and really stable.

Diabetes is a very personal condition, we all find our own way that works for us - took me nearly 20 years to find a lifestyle that works for me :)
 
Iv never been told to eat low carb but usually the advice is to just eat healthy as you should. With having insulin you can use that to help so it's ok whereas type 2s don't generally have insulin so need to moderate what their intake

Most days I probably have around 80-140g of carbs max but if we get a takeaway this can be alot higher depending on what we have.
 
LooperCat said:
I like eating low carb, as it means my insulin doses are much smaller. My work day is very erratic; my mealtimes are too - so I don't like having huge amounts of IOB as I never really know what I'm going to be doing next. I stick to a maximum of 30g a day, mostly from green vegetables - it's quite restrictive, especially as I don't eat meat or dairy, but I feel much better on it and my levels are basically those of a non-diabetic and really stable.

Diabetes is a very personal condition, we all find our own way that works for us - took me nearly 20 years to find a lifestyle that works for me :)
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Hi I have just started this way of eating, trying to do around 30g carbs or less. I think it’s the way forward for diabetes, my blood sugar has never been as stable. Would this class as Keto or low carb?
Thanks
 
HayleyB123 said:
Hi I have just started this way of eating, trying to do around 30g carbs or less. I think it’s the way forward for diabetes, my blood sugar has never been as stable. Would this class as Keto or low carb?
Thanks
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As people eat a low carb diet in order to swap to being in ketosis, I think it is not really something to be concerned about.
I ate a low carb diet when I could get away with it long before I was diagnosed, as it was a way of eating my family tended to follow when I was growing up and I never felt right when pushed to eat a high carb low fat diet.
Although there are so many pushing plant based diets, I think that Humans ought to eat the foods best suited to their natural way of eating
 
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HayleyB123 said:
Hi
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I have just started this way of eating, trying to do around 30g carbs or less. I think it’s the way forward for diabetes, my blood sugar has never been as stable. Would this class as Keto or low carb?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Some people only call something Keto if it's less than 20gms of carbs per day (which is low enough to have almost anybody in Ketosis). Others talk about less than 50gms (at which some people will be in Ketosis and others actually keep measuring whether they are in ketosis or not.

Not of this matters because Keto is different things to different people. What matters is how manageable it is for you and how you feel on it. Does it make your insulin management and Blood Glucose management easier or harder?
 
HayleyB123 said:
Hi I have just started this way of eating, trying to do around 30g carbs or less. I think it’s the way forward for diabetes, my blood sugar has never been as stable. Would this class as Keto or low carb?
Thanks
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Hayley, good to hear you are finding your new way of eating returning you good results.

If you haven't discovered him already, Dr Ian Lake is a T1 on MDI who has been living low carb for a long time.:

 
Нам врачи сказали есть можно всё, главное считать углеводы и единицы инсулина. Если это жирное и сладкое....например торт, то ставить инсулин в 2-3 шага!!!! Сразу инсулин и через через час ещё раз инсулин. Жирная и сладкая не сразу разворачивается. И подъем сахара через 2-4 часа. Мы называем это хвост...Этот хвост надо скалывать дополнительным инсулином.
 
nevedoma said:
Нам врачи сказали есть можно всё, главное считать углеводы и единицы инсулина. Если это жирное и сладкое....например торт, то ставить инсулин в 2-3 шага!!!! Сразу инсулин и через через час ещё раз инсулин. Жирная и сладкая не сразу разворачивается. И подъем сахара через 2-4 часа. Мы называем это хвост...Этот хвост надо скалывать дополнительным инсулином.
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I think this post is in Bulgarian. Most readers here will not be able to understand its contents. Please use english in the forum as english is common parlance for most of us.
 
nevedoma said:
Нам врачи сказали есть можно всё, главное считать углеводы и единицы инсулина. Если это жирное и сладкое....например торт, то ставить инсулин в 2-3 шага!!!! Сразу инсулин и через через час ещё раз инсулин. Жирная и сладкая не сразу разворачивается. И подъем сахара через 2-4 часа. Мы называем это хвост...Этот хвост надо скалывать дополнительным инсулином.
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Welcome to the forum @nevedoma :)

I understand that English isn’t your first language, but we are an English speaking forum based in the UK, we welcome members from all over the world but we ask that they don’t post in their native language and that they post in English, you can use a translation site or app, for example Google Translate a link for you here

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If you translate it helps forum members read you posts and questions quickly and it may help you get more answers to your posts or queries.

Thank you for the understanding for this request and enjoy the forum :)
 
DAFNE does what it says on the tin. Dose adjustment for normal eating. Us T1DM are on the planet for many years so we have to live a normal life as possible. You cannot stick to a rigid diet or eating plan for life!

I recall the dark days of the 1980s when you were prescribed a diet and set insulin amounts. In retrospect you wonder why BG levels were hard to control. eg you get hungry. I recall being lectured by dieticians who themselves clearly were not following a healthy diet.

As for low carb etc. We are all different and live different live so do what works for you. Gd luck
 
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