Type 1: What to eat

[joshluck]

Hi, I was diagnosed yesterday with type 1, all the information they give me has completely overwhelmed me, I would just like some suggestion of nice easy meals that are good to eat.

 

[azure]

Welcome @joshluck

What insulins do you take and when? Did your nurse or consultant or dietician explain the idea of carb counting to you?

What kinds of things did you eat before diagnosis?

 

[joshluck]

Levemir when I wake and sleep and novorapid before meals, they mentioned carb counting and other stuff but said we would go into it when I next see them. It's hard to really remember what I eat regularly to be honest, I lost my appetite at the start of the year as well as most my weight.

 

[azure]

Ok - well, the best thing to do is test your blood sugar lots. Test when you wake up, before each meal, and two hours after the start of each meal (eg start evening meal at 6pm, test at 8pm), then test before you go to bed. Also, test any time you feel at all 'funny'.

If you test two hours after meals, it will show you if the amount of Novorapid you had for that meal was right. That's where learning to carb count will help. Once you've been shown that, you'll be able to adjust your Novorapid dose according to the number of carbs in the meal you're about to eat. In the meantime, if you keep records of your food and blood test results, that will provide really good info for your team and for you.

It's hard to recommend particular meals but avoid sugary drinks unless you're treating a hypo as they'll put your bloodvsugar up fast. Also, you may want to avoid meals which are massive carb-fests (eg a big pizza, garlic bread, dessert) as they'll probably put your blood sugar up too high.

Here's what I eat very briefly:

Breakfast - cereal and full fat milk
Lunch - a sandwich or salad and bread, with protein like eggs, salmon, tuna, etc then fruit
Evening Meal - small/medium baked potato plus meat and veg, or a moderate helping of pasta plus sauce and salad, moderate portion of rice plus curry and veg, etc
Dessert - I either have a small serving of not too sweet Apple crumble, or Greek Yoghurt or cheese and crackers

So just normal foods, without excessive sugar, and not giant portions of carby food.

If you want a book, I highly recommend Think Like A Pancreas.

Do make sure you have hypo treatments near in case you need them - Lucozade, regular Coke, glucose tablets, etc

 

[noblehead]

Welcome @joshluck

Go with your own preference in what to eat, but if your DSN has you on fixed insulin doses then you must eat the required amount of carbs to match your Novorapid insulin.

Try not to worry or stress as all will become clear in a week or two, best wishes and take care.

 

[joshluck]

That helps allot thank you, i regularly test and keep records of it, thanks again

 

[rockape37]

Ok - well, the best thing to do is test your blood sugar lots. Test when you wake up, before each meal, and two hours after the start of each meal (eg start evening meal at 6pm, test at 8pm), then test before you go to bed. Also, test any time you feel at all 'funny'.

If you test two hours after meals, it will show you if the amount of Novorapid you had for that meal was right. That's where learning to carb count will help. Once you've been shown that, you'll be able to adjust your Novorapid dose according to the number of carbs in the meal you're about to eat. In the meantime, if you keep records of your food and blood test results, that will provide really good info for your team and for you.

It's hard to recommend particular meals but avoid sugary drinks unless you're treating a hypo as they'll put your bloodvsugar up fast. Also, you may want to avoid meals which are massive carb-fests (eg a big pizza, garlic bread, dessert) as they'll probably put your blood sugar up too high.

Here's what I eat very briefly:

Breakfast - cereal and full fat milk
Lunch - a sandwich or salad and bread, with protein like eggs, salmon, tuna, etc then fruit
Evening Meal - small/medium baked potato plus meat and veg
Dessert - I either have a small serving of not too sweet Apple crumble, or Greek Yoghurt or cheese and crackers

So just normal foods, without excessive sugar, and not giant portions of carby food.

If you want a book, I highly recommend Think Like A Pancreas.

Do make sure you have hypo treatments near in case you need them - Lucozade, regular Coke, glucose tablets, etc

Exactly as Azure has said.
You will learn and adapt, its early days yet for you so try not to stress yourself out you won't be expected to know it all and get it right at this earky stage.

Azure i would have puta "Like" on your post but haven't got that facility?

Regards

Martin

 

[azure]

@rockape37 Some people are missing the Like facility. I'm not sure why, but if it's suddenly disappeared since the forum reboot, then it would be worth starting a new thread and tagging Giverny and Captain Earle. Thank you for the implied Like anyway : )

@joshluck What @noblehead says above is correct. If you were told to,eat a certain amount of carbs for each meal, you should stick to that. Also, even if you weren't precisely told that, but your nurse/doctor asked you what you normally ate before deciding on your insulin doses, then try to eat normally and the kind of things you told them.

When you don't have diabetes, your body automatically releases just the right amount of insulin for your food. When you have diabetes, you have to take over this job. Carb counting isn't hard, once you get used to the idea, so please don't worry