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Type 1s: Best Diet

crazychris

crazychris

Member
Messages
6
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Hi everyone ..

I'm very new to this site . I've been insulin dependent since 2009 and it's been a battle as I also have schizophrenia.

I would grateful if someone could advise me on the best diet that I should be following please ?

Thank you

Chris
 
I am type 2 , so my advice is probably not good to you, but I am sure that tomorrow there will be plenty of people here again to answer your with a lot of good advice

but I can @daisy1 WHO will give you the very valuable information that everyone new gets here
 
Hi Chris,

Different diets work for different people. It's partly about personal preference and partly about the fact that people's bodies don't respond the same way to the same diet.

It is generally a good idea to minimise processed foods and eat plenty of vegetables.

Diabetes management tends to be easier if you also minimise carbohydrates (grains, rice, bread, pasta, potatoes, sugary things). However, this is not necessary for well-controlled diabetes.

I have heard of people getting better outcomes with schizophrenia by following diets low in carbohydrate and free of processed food (like the "Palaeo" diet). I am not sure how much truth there is to this, but you can try for yourself.

Note that major changes in your diet will change your insulin requirements, and create a significant risk of hypos. Get the assistance of a medical professional.

When I tried a low-carbohydrate diet a few years ago, my insulin needs dropped over 50%.
 
The only way my body and brain functions well is a VERY low carb diet. Mostly eliminating all grains and dairy. Might look up the whole 30 diet or paleo. In a sense they are elimination diets that eliminate foods people are most intolerant / reactive to. Cleansing diets. Nothing to lose trying them!
 
Welcome @crazychris :)

The best diet is the diet that works for you. One size doesn't fit all. By "works" I mean keeps your blood sugar in range and keeps you in good health.

Most Type 1s find a moderate carb diet does that :) If you can tell us about any issues with your current diet, then that might help.
 
Hello @azure

Thank you for the welcome .

I guess the biggest problem that I have is finding an alternative to bread as I have sandwiches most days for lunch plus toast in the mornings. I have a good appetite also so 2 slices plus cereal in the morning and 4 slices at lunch is not unusual .

Any suggestions for an alternative would be welcome
 
Morning Chris and welcome to the forum.

I'm not too sure there is a best diet for type 1's as we all have individual tastes and some of us can handle more carbs, fats and protein than others, but personally I try and follow the Mediterranean Diet as close as possible as it's said to be beneficial when it comes to cardiovascular heath.

http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-l...ting/in-depth/mediterranean-diet/art-20047801

Maybe in a morning try having some scrambled eggs on your toast and leave out the cereal, obviously you would need to adjust your insulin as you'll be eating less carbs but that is one example of a meal to consider.

Most mornings I eat tradition porridge oats (not the instant variety) with seeds, natural yogurt and blueberries added, the addition of fats/protein from the seeds and yogurt make it a filling breakfast and I never feel hungry afterwards.
 
If I was a newly diagnosed T1 diabetic (which I am not) I would follow Dr Richard Bernstein. Many many T1 diabetics find his regime too restrictive, but to me it makes perfect sense, minimise the Carbs in, minimise the Insulin, minimise the risk of errors, minimise the risk of long term complications, achieve true non-diabetic numbers.

http://www.diabetes-book.com/
 
crazychris said:
Hello @azure

Thank you for the welcome .

I guess the biggest problem that I have is finding an alternative to bread as I have sandwiches most days for lunch plus toast in the mornings. I have a good appetite also so 2 slices plus cereal in the morning and 4 slices at lunch is not unusual .

Any suggestions for an alternative would be welcome
Click to expand...

I eat cereal and bread too :) They're both ok unless you've been told otherwise. As long as your blood sugar is in range, then that's the main thing.

If you're just trying to reduce the amount of bread you have, then you could try bulking your lunch up with salad, etc and cut out a slice of two of the bread. Soup might also be an option. Or you could try lower carb bread alternatives so you can eat more of them eg Ryvita or oatcakes. Those plus protein and salad might fill you up.

Omelettes are good for lunch too, and, again, can be accompanied with toast and salad.

How are your blood sugars?

The bible' for Type 1s is the book Think Like A Pancreas. If you don't already have it, then it's well worth looking at :)
 
I try to avoid bread as much as I can, having it just occasionally. I too used to have sandwiches for lunch but moved to salads about 4 yrs ago containing around 25g carbs (using tomatoes and some root vegetables plus sweet corn, couscous....).

I'm on a semi low carb diet, having 55g breakfast, 25g lunch and 50g dinner. If I got low during the day I eat apples and small oranges so average about another 15g each day with these. Total about 140 ish for a normal day, but I do vary with curries, chinese, KFC, thin pizza probably once or twice a week with an 80-90g lunch or dinner.

This has allowed me to get to my lowest ever HbA1c without going low all the time.
 
Hello Everyone ..

Sorry for not replying to you individually and I am very grateful for all of the input.

A Mediterranean diet sounds great @noblehead as I love this kind of food..and I hadn't even given porridge a thought !! What a great idea as well as the scrambled eggs (not at the same time though ) , thank you for the great ideas and for helping me ...
Thank you @azure again, the ideas are great and as soon as I finish work I will be heading to Sainsbury's and stocking up and I will certainly be buying Think like a pancreas also .
Thank you also @Chas C as again, what you have said has been great and again has and will continue to help me in the future!!

Would each of you have any objections if I were to save you in my favourites and perhaps contact you on occasion for advice?

Thanks
Chris
 
Try searching the web for "paleo recipes", "low-carb recipes", "mediterranean recipes" and so on.

Cereals tend to be digested very quickly (this means your blood sugar spikes quite high before coming back down, since NovoRapid is too slow to match it). Test 1 hour after eating to see what happens in your case.

Porridge tends to be pretty good, though.

If you are really attached to particular things there is usually a way to make it work, but often if you just change your habits you will find you don't miss the old stuff after a couple of weeks.

And sure, feel free to contact me in future!
 
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