Type 1: What foods to avoid/eat to bring down HBA1C for T1?

There is a bodybuilding thread on here somewhere. You can search for it. @TorqPenderloin lifts heavy and can probably help in size and diet.

R32 said:

So my question to you guys is, what foods should I be avoiding (or eating more of) in order to really bring my HBA1C down to the levels it should be?

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@R32 simce you've been on the DAFNE course you'll know that the message of the Dose Adjustment For Normal Eating course is: eat what you want, get your insulin to cover it correct.

Whatever you eat isn't going to magically change your hba1c - it's how you are dosing to cover the food that does that.

The DAFNE message is probably a little over simplistic and I'm sure you will receive advice on reducing carbs etc. But before considering diet adjustments the first step is getting on top of your dosing with:-

1. Careful monitoring of blood sugar - what are your levels like 2 hr after eating? What do they look like overnight?
2. Basal testing - https://mysugr.com/basal-rate-testing/
3. Checking bolus dose and timing - http://www.bertieonline.org.uk/ ; http://www.diabetesselfmanagement.c...blood-glucose-management/strike-the-spike-ii/

Hi @R32 The simple answer to that is none (although you may have to consider portion size).

The key to getting your HbA1C down is carb counting and appropriate use of insulin. If you test frequently, you'll see where you rhighs are eg do you go high during the night? Do you always go high after meals?

I suggest doing a basal test to make sure that's set at the right level, and then to look at your meal ratios to make sure your BS is in range after eating. You may also want to inject more in advance of your meals as that gives the imsulin a chance to start working and stop any spike.

Lowering your a1c and gaining lean mass are two completely separate goals. They can certainly be accomplished at the same time, but I'd like to hope that lowering your a1c is your first priority.

As a diabetic, it's not a very good idea to "Dirty bulk." I don't care what some people say, you can't just eat whatever you want and give yourself insulin. No one is that good.

I'm 28 and was diagnosed with T1 a little over a year ago. I was in the gym less than a week after my diagnosis. HOWEVER, my primary focus was learning to the daily challenges of T1. After I got that under control, I started working to "Fine tune" things more and put a stronger emphasis on getting bigger results in the gym.

Bottom line: You can have a great a1c and bodybuild. In fact, I'd say that bodybuilding has been a strong contributor to my low a1c (5.4%). However, you're setting yourself up for failure if you prioritize your goals in the gym above your goals of lowering your a1c.

Rye and oats! When I rowed relatively intensely, I centred most of my meals around either rye or oats, as they allowed me to get carbs and smooth out the spikes that I found myself having with pasta and rice. I don't know when you work out but timing meal times around when my blood sugar peaked and dropped, e.g. after weights I would go home and eat almost immediately but if I had been doing cardio, depending on intensity I could wait slightly longer to get rid of the peak bs from exercise.

I'm a big fan of cardio.

I notice that whenever I come home from the gym my bloods are sky high..It won't be until early hours of the morning that my blood will rapidly drop. Of course then once you're low, you rebound straight back up.

Then just to make things worse, if your working out and you're stressed & want to let off some tention, you're working out with a high blood sugar due to stress, then pushing your blood up more when you start to excersize, which makes the drop even worse.

I've been having this problem for a while now so I work closely with my dietician. According to her if you do weights before cardio your bloods will drop, cardio before weights will make you high.

If you're a weights fan then perhaps eat long lasting carbs rather than fast ones so it's a slow release and you avoid your bloods jumping straight up.

This post doesn't really answer your question, apologies! But hope my notes help you along the way.

P.s don't let diabetes stop you achieving your dream body!

isjoberg said:

When I rowed relatively intensely...

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meg7024 said:

I'm a big fan of cardio.

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Rowing and cardio aren't exactly conducive to gaining lean mass. If you ever look at Olympic rowers (aside from the coxswain) they're almost always super tall and lean.

Don't get me wrong, I think cardio is incredibly important in managing my T1D, and I try to run at least 4-6 miles every morning, but it's a much different type of exercise compared to heavy resistance training. It will also have a much different type of effect on your body composition.

Either way, they both raise excellent points as different types of exercise can have a tremendously different effect on your blood sugar. What you're eating before/after your workouts can also significantly effect the equation as well.

meg7024 said:

I've been having this problem for a while now so I work closely with my dietician. According to her if you do weights before cardio your bloods will drop, cardio before weights will make you high.

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There was some research done at Swansea university that covered this. What they found was that it's complicated (!) and that typically resistance (anaerobic) training will increase bg levels and cardio (aerobic) will decrease them. However (and there's always one of those) HIIT, which looks like Cardio but is typically anaerobic, increases levels while extra sets on the end of a resistance training session will stop Hyerglycaemia as a result of the anaerobic exercise.

In addition (and as a result) a set of resistance training or HIIT after aerobic cardio will reduce the risk of hypo post aerobic cardio, whereas aerobic cardio post anaerobic exercise still results in hypos.

@R32 That's the complex bit. The reality, as @TorqPenderloin has said, is that A1C is the most important factor, and A1C reduction is best handled by reducing overnight blood glucose levels to stay within range and avoiding spikes post meal, usually by better timing of bolus insulin. The bottom line is that you need to get your insulin levels right for everything else to work, and you don't need to eat carbs to bodybuild.