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Type 1/Diet

Danny Prince

Well-Known Member
Messages
92
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Pump
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I see alot of people suggesting on here to diet / have less carbs but when I went onto DAFNE i got told the complete opposite, that we shouldn't think that way and that we are aloud to have as many carbs as we want whenever we want, and I've always gone by that, Should i be worried if I have a high carb diet ( as I drink alot of energy drinks etc ), but my levels seem to be ok atm, between 10-15 they're usually above 25, Also why would it be suggest to have lower carb intake when the only difference it makes having higher carbs is the insulin amount, I understand diet/less carbs with Type 2 but I can't seem to justify any reason to do it with type 1
 
Dafne course/diabetic nurses/sport diabetic specialist consultant told me the same too that because of my lifestyle not to follow a low carb diet. They didn't mean to go out and eat fish and chips every night followed by ice cream but not to become so obsessive that I start cutting vital foods such as fruit just because it has carbs/sugars in. You can follow a healthy diet that still contains carbs I would definitely cut out the energy drinks your referring too-v bad for your sugar levels! I work as a gym instructor and have seen the ugly side to what constant drinking of energy drinks can do to the mind and body and it ain't pretty! Generally low carb diets are advised to type two's, however some type ones follow it due to their sugar levels not responding as well to insulin (that's what I was taught anyway) but personally I see it as if you want a cadbury's cream egg, eat it but just ensure you have injected correctly to avoid high sugar levels


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Hi Danny, BG levels between 10-15 are still high, way above target. DAFNE teach normal eating, they don't promote high carbs, they just say you can eat normally if you want to and inject accordingly. Trouble is if your diet is high in carb content, you need to inject a lot of insulin. Insulin is a growth hormone so not a good idea to take it in large amounts. Also, the more carbs you eat, the more the margin for error. It's difficult to accurately work out all the carbs which means there is a good chance of injecting too much or not enough insulin. This can then lead to hypo's hyper's. You're still a young man at present and will not be concerned with weight but as you get older you may find that large doses of insulin and high carb diet will lead to weight gain. This can lead to insulin resistance which means even more insulin. So the cycle continues.
Nobody is saying don't give up all the food you enjoy, just eat them in moderation. Insulin should not be used as an answer to a bad diet. Up to you whether you take this advice or not as DAFNE does preach eat normally but it's your diabetes and your body. Take care.
Mo
 
less insulin = fewer mistakes generally. thats why a number of t1s follow low to moderate carb diets. I tend to stay below about 100-120g a day which is no means low but reduces the insulin I need and means i eat loads of veg. I wouldnt touch an energy drink unless I was desperate as they contain taurine which is bad for kidneys.
 

Ah fair enough i get where you're coming from when I meant I have a bad diet i didn't mean it to the point that I eat alot of carbs every day for the sake of it as i have a really odd eating pattern at random times to be honest, and even then most meals I have don't have to many carbs it was just confusing me as to why people worry so much when it shouldn't really be a problem, However the energy drink thing I usually have 1 if not 2 per day ( mainly due to a terrible sleeping pattern and finding it hard to stay awake), could you go more into detail about what drinking them constantly would do?
 
As a type 1 i try to not have many carbs as this means injecting more, i prefer to have as little insulin as possible as i tend to end up rushing around or something and then going hypo, i do know lots of type 1s who eat totally what they want and inject large amounts..this is their choice but i prefer to be quite strict
 
Got a fair amount more responses then i expected, when i created the post i was thinking in the term that if you can carb count accordingly, then you should be okay to have what you like its good knowing some people go how I do, eat what you like inject the right amount, but it just seems there's far more people been worried about how many carbs they have, also when i said im levels are seeming to be ok at 10-15, that's actually decent levels to what they were i know they need to be alot lower though, still working at that just got put on the pump so my levels are all over the place, Thanks for all the responses
 
Energy drinks are very well known for mucking up sleeping patterns and making your sleeping patterns extremely terrible! It is generally advised to not drink more than one a day too due to the caffeine levels, even one can be very damaging to the body too. The gym I work at, we don't sell energy drinks such as monster due to the damage they cause and that it is actually far more beneficial to eat say a banana instead they cause mood swings as well, I've seen as well the aggression that can occur from daily drinking of energy drinks and it's very sad to see as it affects the people around them. Sugar content in them are very high too so you must have to inject for them? I am honestly not trying to lecture you, just giving you an insight into what I see from people drinking them. On my degree and gym instructing course, we covered the effects of energy drinks and how they should be avoided for optimal sporting performance and general daily mental concentration. By cutting out the energy drinks, I think your sleeping pattern would really improve speak to your doctor possibly on this, they can give you advice on how to improve your sleeping pattern


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I agree I don't necessarily avoid carbs all together but I do find that I have less hypos/hypers if I avoid foods such as crisps etc that contain high carbs. But I do treat myself every and then


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Good luck with the pump Danny and hopefully you'll soon get those BG levels down further.
 
Thanks for the response, I wasn't thinking you were lecturing me but it's nice to know never really asked anyone about them, always known its a bad habit however, I'm going to try to start cutting down on them
 


They were wrong to tell you that on the course and that isn't the official line according to the DAFNE handbook, in the handbook it states that diet is 'an individual choice'........ therefore they don't recommend any particular dietary path to follow, at the time of my own course I was eating somewhere around 120g a day and there's was another chap who was eating around 150-180g and this was never an issue with the course leaders.

Certainly the higher the carbs in the meal the more insulin you need to inject and it's best to keep things within reason, as the saying goes ''everything in moderation''. I now eat around 180g a day but can occasionally well exceed this on a weekend or on special occasions and not see any increase in bg levels or insulin usage, the reason for this is exercise, I'm more active on a weekend and exercise increases insulin sensitivity so any little extra treats are soon taken care of.

Regarding the energy drink Danny, they are high in glucose and caffeine and not something you should be drinking as a diabetic, better that you leave them on the shelf and if you want something healthier for a energy boost then try a bananna........they are a powerhouse of nutrition!!!!

Hopefully once you get on the pump you will see a great improvement in your bg levels, for now try a few simple changes to your diet and get more active and hopefully your bg will come down a bit.
 


Thanks for the response, i have been looking for other energy boosts but i don't like bananas is the thing any other suggestions?, and yeah alot of people have told me the pumps difficult the first few weeks/months but I'm starting to get consistency atleast
 


Just have a look yourself Danny and find something suitable for your tastes, I eat bananas everyday as I enjoy them and take one with me on long walks as an energy boost; from what people say the pump is hard work in the first few months but is worth it in the end, put it this way very few want to give them back and return to MDI.
 


I'll have a google search later when i get in from work , Thanks for the advice
 
I think your DAFNE course was wrong to suggest you can just eat what you want; that's rather silly and I'm afraid typical of some DAFNE courses. The problem as others have said with having too many carbs whilst on insulin is that weight gain is quite likely and the result can be insulin resistance and you get into a nice vicious circle. I've seen many posts from people in that circle. Yes, you get larger blood sugar swings the higher you insulin intake which makes hypos more likely. Your blood sugar level is too high when it's over 10. So set a sensible carb level and match to that. As for energy drinks I'm afraid you have been influenced by marketing hype (sorry!). You don't need these so save you money and your health.
 

To be fair i wasn't influenced by marketing as i've never seen adverts for them, I only have them because I like them, eg you may have cup of teas not because they're known just because you like them, anyway I think I've been missleading by saying eat what you want, yes they teach you to does adjust for normal eating, but I never ment it as in eat everything you'd be fine I just ment it was you shouldn't need to be so careful with your carb intake, But thanks for the advice, appreciate it
 
Hi Danny,

I find that by dropping carbs as much as possible all my levels balance out; you get off the rollercoaster situation with 'normal eating'. Also, the thing is that there are a lot of variables with insulin and carb counting; on one side none of us can constantly perfectly estimate the carb content of food (so there will be errors there) and insulin absorbs at different rates depending on where you inject, and your sensitivity to insulin will change during the day and also in response to exercise, illness and stress (so more errors there). That means that carb counting and insulin ratios are quite imprecise; and the more carbs and more insulin you have the bigger the mistakes will be; so less is more in this situation.

You know; to hell with 'normal eating' that's all very well if you have a functioning pancreas but if not then something needs to give and carbs are the ones in my opinion.

The other thing with stuff like energy drinks is that if you are drinking glucose based ones your blood sugar will spike really quickly and it'll be very difficult to match that with insulin (which I'm assuming you are), also caffeine in and of itself can affect your sensitivity to insulin so problems can be caused there.

It's a sobering thought but there's quite good evidence that damage from high blood sugar starts to kick in at about 7.8 mmol/l - which is pretty low don't you think?

Best

Dillinger
 


You actually made alot of sense haha, thanks, I can see what you mean by it's alot more convenient having less carbs and then having to carb count less and getting a better estimate. Did not have a clue that caffeine can affect sensitivity to insulin, Thanks for the response
 
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