T1 and high protein diet

I bolus for protein. I generally follow the Bernstein plan of bolusing for half my protein. I do eat a few (5) carbs per meal. HOWEVER, I do not eat high protein. Anything more than 3 oz and I need to split boluses. Lchf is not high protein. You only need and use a certain amount of protein and anything above that can turn to bs or body fat. Guidelines are about .8-1 g per kg of LEAN body mass. Most people only need 4-6 oz a day.

Lowering carbs and exchanging them for healthy fats as well as keeping protein in the moderate range should help you lose a few pounds.

As far as when to bolus or correct, that will be up to your meter. I have no clue what your meals, carbs or boluses are right now. I assume you know your carb ratio? Timing your bolus will matter too.

I bolus 1/2 unit for 2 oz protein, a few veggies (5 carbs) , 1/4 avocado and some olive oil. Of course, weight, activity, gender, insulin resistance etc all have different effects on us.

GBS_82_ said:

Hi all

Hope everyone is well and in range!

I am thinking about switching to a high protein / low carb diet - not because of anything to do with my blood sugars - I'm just keen to shed a few pounds and tone up a bit.

I understand that some people have to bolus for protein if they have a carb free meal. Therefore I was wondering if it would be best to have a small amount of carbs with each meal so that I could calculate a bolus dose for that. Or, would it be best to just check 2-3 hours after eating and correct if necessary.

Thanks so much!

Gareth x

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Hi Gareth, since you are considering a High Protein diet, which I've done in the past, let me give you some of the insights that I gained.

Even with a small amount of carbs, I found that I tended to need to bolus for protein, so you might as well not bother with the carbs. The other question is about how much protein you are talking about. At my peak, I was eating 200g a day, aligned with exercise, and I found that I needed to inject as though it had an I:C ratio of twice that of carbs with the meal (i.e. if 1:10 carbs, 1:20 protein). I also found, when on pens. that I needed a further 50% of the meal bolus around 2 hours later. The other thing I found with no carbs was that I needed to inject immediately before the meal, rather than pre-bolusing.

It's worth investing in a Freestyle Libre if you can afford it as it will make this process, and getting the timings right, a whole lot easier.

As with all of these things, YDMV, but you will need to test quite a bit to catch the delayed rises that occur.

So Tim, are you saying the same thing as I was ? Bolus protein at half the carb ratio ( like Bernstein suggests) but then needing another bolus later? That's what I need to do. If I bolus for all the protein at once I drop then spike. So it needs a split bolus. Actually I think I learned this from you!

Hi @GBS_82_ Trial and error is maybe going to be the way to go until you find the right balance.
If I go high protein I find I have to double my bolus ratios compared to carbs.
Gluconeogenesis is a condition where unused/ excess protein in the body gets used as sugar and can affect blood sugars.
My motto is ............ if I up my protein i have to up the weights...............
Good luck.

therower said:

Hi @GBS_82_ Trial and error is maybe going to be the way to go until you find the right balance.
If I go high protein I find I have to double my bolus ratios compared to carbs.
Gluconeogenesis is a condition where unused/ excess protein in the body gets used as sugar and can affect blood sugars.
My motto is ............ if I up my protein i have to up the weights...............
Good luck.

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Hi @therower when you say double your bolus ratios do you mean twice as much insulin or what @Kristin251 and I have described?

Hi @tim2000s . Sorry for confusion. Didn't explain it quite as well, but yes I was just going along with yourself and @Kristin251 .

So if I'm having a meal with 2g of carbs and 16g of protein, I tell my pump I'm having 10g of carbs (2g of actual carbs + 50% of 16g of protein, so 8g). Then I tell my pump i want the carb bolus up front (so in that meal I want 20% now) and the rest, the protein bolus, over the next 2hrs or so.

I think that works out pretty similar as what you guys say you're doing?

@catapillar Yes, sounds about right.

tim2000s said:

@catapillar Yes, sounds about right.

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Except, what you don't want to do is forget to press extend (which was this mornings trick ) ... I might have to have cookie to be able to walk to work!

catapillar said:

Except, what you don't want to do is forget to press extend (which was this mornings trick ) ... I might have to have cookie to be able to walk to work!

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Ouch!