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Type 1 Low Carb Diet

M

michelle6960

Newbie
hi I’ve been following a low carb diet for 5 weeks. It doesn’t matter what I eat I still have to inject insulin-is this right? I eat salads (spinach,cucumber, tomato and tinned sardines) for lunch and inject 5units of insulin. I’m struggling to be honest. My bg levels have lowered which is great but I haven’t lost any weight which is one of the reasons I started eating low carbs. Any help/advice would be great
 
I’m a type 2 but @Mel dCP is a type 1 who eats low carbs, I hope she can help you.

Edit, sorry how rude of me, just realised this is your first post. Welcome to the Forum!
 
Hi and welcome! Tagging @daisy1 for the newbie welcome pack too.

Can you tell us a little bit about your insulin regime - what are you on, and how much? Have you been diagnosed long? What are your other meals like?

Sorry for all the questions, but the more we know, the more we can help. From what you’ve said so far, I’d wonder if your basal is high enough, it should cover a meal like that unless you’re eating half a ton of fish, especially fatty fish like sardines.

Look forward to getting to know you
 
Hi. I assume you are on the Basal/Bolus insulin regime? You need to start carb-counting. That means adjusting the mealtime Bolus insulin to match the carbs in the meal. This is essential to properly lower the risk of hypos whilst allowing you meal flexibility. Ask your DN to advise you or come back here if you can't get the right support. If you keep following a low-carb diet I'll be surprised if you don't gradually lose weight
 

Hi @michelle6960 ,

Welcome to the forum.

Low carbing is what I do myself. But not for weight reasons. So can't comment on that side.
In answer to to your initial question about still having to inject? Yes we do.
For me. My reason is to stabilise my BG in a buisy daily schedule.
I would advise liaising with your HCPs on this. But tweaking your basal first is a great foundation, whatever diet one requires?
Link here. https://mysugr.com/basal-rate-testing/
 

Hi I’ve done the daphne course so know about carb counting. I inject 2 units of insulin per 10g of carb at breakfast. 1 unit of insulin per 10g carb at lunch and 11/2 units per 10g carb at dinner. I was diagnosed 15 years ago.
Breakfast is pancakes made with egg, cream cheese, cinnamon and sweetener.
Dinner is roasted carrots,onion, cauliflower and broccoli and chicken.
I’m on levemer and novorapid.
 


Have you done any basal testing? it sort of sounds like you could be making up for missing background with extra lunch basal. are your doses similarly high for breakfast and lunch?

what time do you inject background?
 
@michelle6960

Hello Michelle and welcome to the Forum Here is the Basic Information we give to new members and I hope you will find it useful. Ask as many questions as you want and someone will help.


BASIC INFORMATION FOR NEW MEMBERS

Diabetes is the general term to describe people who have blood that is sweeter than normal. A number of different types of diabetes exist.

A diagnosis of diabetes tends to be a big shock for most of us. It’s far from the end of the world though and on this forum you'll find well over 235,000 people who are demonstrating this.

On the forum we have found that with the number of new people being diagnosed with diabetes each day, sometimes the NHS is not being able to give all the advice it would perhaps like to deliver - particularly with regards to people with type 2 diabetes.

The role of carbohydrate

Carbohydrates are a factor in diabetes because they ultimately break down into sugar (glucose) within our blood. We then need enough insulin to either convert the blood sugar into energy for our body, or to store the blood sugar as body fat.

If the amount of carbohydrate we take in is more than our body’s own (or injected) insulin can cope with, then our blood sugar will rise.

The bad news

Research indicates that raised blood sugar levels over a period of years can lead to organ damage, commonly referred to as diabetic complications.

The good news

People on the forum here have shown that there is plenty of opportunity to keep blood sugar levels from going too high. It’s a daily task but it’s within our reach and it’s well worth the effort.

Controlling your carbs

The info below is primarily aimed at people with type 2 diabetes, however, it may also be of benefit for other types of diabetes as well.

There are two approaches to controlling your carbs:
  • Reduce your carbohydrate intake
  • Choose ‘better’ carbohydrates
Reduce your carbohydrates

A large number of people on this forum have chosen to reduce the amount of carbohydrates they eat as they have found this to be an effective way of improving (lowering) their blood sugar levels.

The carbohydrates which tend to have the most pronounced effect on blood sugar levels tend to be starchy carbohydrates such as rice, pasta, bread, potatoes and similar root vegetables, flour based products (pastry, cakes, biscuits, battered food etc) and certain fruits.

Choosing better carbohydrates

The low glycaemic index diet is often favoured by healthcare professionals but some people with diabetes find that low GI does not help their blood sugar enough and may wish to cut out these foods altogether.

Read more on carbohydrates and diabetes.

Over 145,000 people have taken part in the Low Carb Program - a 10 week structured education course that is helping people lose weight and reduce medication dependency by explaining the science behind carbs, insulin and GI.

Eating what works for you

Different people respond differently to different types of food. What works for one person may not work so well for another. The best way to see which foods are working for you is to test your blood sugar with a glucose meter.

To be able to see what effect a particular type of food or meal has on your blood sugar is to do a test before the meal and then test after the meal. A test 2 hours after the meal gives a good idea of how your body has reacted to the meal.

The blood sugar ranges recommended by NICE are as follows:

Blood glucose ranges for type 2 diabetes
  • Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
  • 2 hours after meals: under 8.5 mmol/l
Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (adults)
  • Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
  • 2 hours after meals: under 9 mmol/l
Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (children)
  • Before meals: 4 to 8 mmol/l
  • 2 hours after meals: under 10 mmol/l
However, those that are able to, may wish to keep blood sugar levels below the NICE after meal targets.

Access to blood glucose test strips

The NICE guidelines suggest that people newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes should be offered:
  • structured education to every person and/or their carer at and around the time of diagnosis, with annual reinforcement and review
  • self-monitoring of plasma glucose to a person newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes only as an integral part of his or her self-management education

Therefore both structured education and self-monitoring of blood glucose should be offered to people with type 2 diabetes. Read more on getting access to blood glucose testing supplies.

You may also be interested to read questions to ask at a diabetic clinic.

Note: This post has been edited from Sue/Ken's post to include up to date information.
Take part in Diabetes.co.uk digital education programs and improve your understanding. Most of these are free.

  • Low Carb Program - it's made front-page news of the New Scientist and The Times. Developed with 20,000 people with type 2 diabetes; 96% of people who take part recommend it... find out why

  • Hypo Program - improve your understanding of hypos. There's a version for people with diabetes, parents/guardians of children with type 1, children with type 1 diabetes, teachers and HCPs.
 
Cool, so you know all about how to work out your carb intake, which is the most important tool in the box after insulin! Are you using the DAFNE guidelines for your veggies? Because carrots and onions contain a fair bit of carbohydrate (hence their sweet taste), so many of us have found that they do need accounting for when working out doses, despite what DAFNE teaches. I need to count the carbs in any root veg, so I avoid all but tiny quantities, but I try to keep to <30g a day (which may be way less than you’re aiming for) - what is your target carb intake per day? Those pancakes sound amazing!

I’d second @Engineer88 with the need for basal testing, it also sounds to me like it may be a little low and that you’re having to make up for it with bolus. There’s a great guide to it here:

https://mysugr.com/basal-rate-testing/
 
Hi thanks for everyone’s advice!
I inject my background at 8am (8 units) and 8pm (12 units) this morning I’ve increased my morning to 10 units. I’m going to do this for a few days and see how it goes.
At breakfast I inject 10 units and dinner 7/8 depending on what I’ve eaten.
I might have to stop/reduce the carrots and onions.
Any suggestions on different veg? Meal ideas?
I’ve not got a target carb intake per day. How do you do <30g a day?! What’s your typical meals throughout the day?
 
 
michelle6960 said:
I might have to stop/reduce the carrots and onions.
Any suggestions on different veg?
Click to expand...
Hello Michelle, I am trying to keep under 30g carbs daily, so to my great discomfort onions had to go. However I have found that a few chives give quite a strong oniony boost to eg an omelette. Chives contain so little carbohydrate, I think they could be regarded as carb-free.
https://www.fatsecret.com/calories-nutrition/usda/chives?portionid=34090&portionamount=1.000

Sometimes when chives are not available in the winter I use the green shoots that onions put up. I sit the onion on top of a narrow-topped jar full of water, the way people do with hyancinth bulbs, and after a while the roots grow down and the shoots grow up. In that way, I get lots of fresh green shoots from one onion.
 
I don’t generally eat breakfast because I’m not hungry in the mornings, but if I do it’s something like smoked salmon & scrambled eggs; boiled eggs with mushrooms & asparagus fried in butter; or half an avocado with mayonnaise and peanut butter. Lunch (if I have it, I often skip that too!) would be a protein shake (pea protein and almond milk with some flavouring) or maybe similar to the breakfast kind of things; a sardine toastie on low carb bread, egg mayo salad, olives/cheese/cauliflower hummus/roasted aubergine, leftovers from the night before maybe. I often save it all up for dinner, it’s basically intermittent fasting. Fish often features heavily, as I can’t eat meat or poultry. I’d fry it in butter or coconut oil, or wash it in egg and coat in grated halloumi cheese before frying to make a great alternative to battered/breaded fish and have that with chips made from turnip or celeriac (along with cauliflower, they’re great alternatives to spuds for mash as well.) Radishes cooked low and slow are good substitutes for roast potatoes and in potato salad. Veg is above ground, non starchy stuff, with the exceptions of the ones I’ve already mentioned, mange tout and fine green beans are pretty low. Lots of leaves! Dietdoctor.com has some great visual guides to the carbs in fruit and veggie that you might find helpful.
 
Some help needed. I'm type 1 and to try to lower my levels I made the decision to lower my carbs. I've cut out totally bread, potatoes, rice and pasta. I was hoping it would help me lose some weight which it did initially. In 2 weeks I lost a stone. Great result! 6 weeks into the reduced carb diet I don't seem to have lost any more, although my shape has changed totally. I only eat 1 meal a day (I know I should eat more but don't feed if not hungry). As the weather has been warm recently I have mostly eaten salads with fish and meat and eggs. Am i doing something wrong. Pls pls can anyone shed any light?
 
Initial big losses are often water, and it slows for a bit. Then you might lose more in a big “whoosh”. I’ve not lost a massive amount, maybe 12lbs since January. But I have lost 6” from my waist, so I’d take that! Nothing wrong with eating once a day, as long as you’re getting enough food to keep you satisfied and your sugars are ok
 
Hi @ michelle6960,
I would just caution you to check your diet out with a dietician. Some of the foods you are rejecting contain iodised salt.
You may be needing to correct by adding other things in, There may be other potential deficiencies in other vitamins and minerals possible.
When I was on basal/bolus my Levemir night time doses used to be slightly less than daytime ones, but each to his or her own.
Best Wishes with reaching your objectives!!
 
 
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