Celtic.Piskie said:
If people wish to eat low carb, fine. But please, don't tell me it's killing me when i am in very good health, and always have been.
In very good health, apart from being a Type 1 diabetic...
As Type 1's we cannot hope to 'eat normally' and match the very tight control of blood sugars that non diabetics maintain; so we have to look at the best possible way to maintain good control. We need to up our metabolism by doing exercise, we need to reduce foods that cause fast (or any) blood sugar spikes and we need to try and limit how much insulin we take. The best way to do that is, with respect, reducing (sometimes drastically) our carbohyrdate intake.
As you know from being a Type 1 for so long the day to day management of diabetes is not the problem; it is the long term aggragation of debilitating conditions that result directly from failing to closely maintain blood sugars at optimum levels. It's not a question of fitness, it's a question of not making an enemy of our future.
You are saying that you are getting good HbA1c's but don't say what they are; on the assumption that they are between 6.5% and 7.5% (i.e. within the 'good control' required by NICE and our GP's), there is a problem that this is still much higher than a non-diabetic and the aim should not be these higher levels but to reduce our HbA1c's to non-diabetic levels. That's no easy thing, but it's what we should be shooting for. A large number of people on this site have found that the best way to do that is to drastically reduce their carbohyrdate intake. Read the success stories and the various debates here about that and about the benefits to be had from that approach.
As an alternative check out this statistic; this is from a study on average HbA1c's done by Liverpool University relating to Type 1 diabetics (Source; Fergus) - "Over 11 years, the total mean HbA1c was 9.19% . Only 3.4% of patients achieved an average HbA1c of <7% during the study period, and 80% of patients had average HbA1c levels of >8% ." I'll put money on the majority of those diabetics following the 'eat plenty of carbohyrdate' strategy. And it is literally killing them.
I know it is difficult and odd to be told the exact opposite of what your health care people have been saying but this is not a fad, or a craze it is a clearly thought out, logical and demonstrable way of improving our diabetic control and extending our lives. If you are getting good results now, just think what you could be getting if you drop the pizza and the pasta...
Dillinger