Fergus wrote
We all need insulin of course, but there's much to be said for not using it to excess.
You (Fergus)control your diabetes by reducing the carb content to very low amounts with correspondingly increased fat from all sources. Personally,for a variety of reasons, I don't think this is good advice for everyone but it works for you and you take a small amount of insulin.
It is possible to eat what is conventionally accepted to be a healthy diet (ie one with enough energy from carbs for individual needs, restricted in sat fat, with adequate protein) and inject a 'normal' ie non excesive insulin dose.
To me it's all down to balance, as Steve says, the person without diabetes would think in terms of a healthy lifestyle, a healthy diet and exercise.. too much of the first and too little of the other may well indeed lead to weight gain and insulin resistance
Like Steve I eat the Sunday lunch with all trimmings,(including sat fat) but counterbalance it by eating less excessively at other times and
adequate amounts of exercise. My Sunday dinner is often acompanied with comparatively small insulin dose because I'll have had a good exercise session that morning. If I haven't done the exercise, I'll need a higher insulin dose or have higher post prandial levels.
Naturally, people with larger amounts of insulin resistance will need more insulin and I'd argue here that enough exercise is again key in reducing insulin resistance.Increased aerobic exercise should result in lower insulin resistance, starting a downwards spiral of insulin needs rather than an ever increasing one.If a person eats more more than they need, then no doubt they will need to cut back. Again it's no different to the person without diabetes.
Of course a pump is brilliant in enabling people to reduce insulin requirements, and I'm lucky to have one. Contrary to recent statements on some forums, it's best use is not to enable lots of uncontrolled eating (that would be self defeating) but it allows better adjustment for the individual parts of the day, ie it's a better mimic of natural insulin production. Most people use much less insulin with pump. Its a good argument for pump therapy and It's a great pity that they aren't more easily available in the UK. ((though I do keep reading of more people getting them.) When I started the pump I immediately reduced an already fairly low TDD by 20%.
I've just realised that I haven't answered the original question. I take between 20 and 26 units per day and have good control. (Hba1cs in the 5s)
another thing I learned is that my 'ideal' BG is 6 and that is also personal to me, others in the group picked 5 or 7 and one lady picked 8. I don't think they will let you pick 14 but you get my point :lol: 
