I’ve gone 100% low-carb (30 digestible carbs/day MAX) and I am really enjoying this new approach to eating.
I feel like I have more eating options now than I did on my low-fat/low-cal diet I needed to follow prior to diagnosis.
Please let me know what you’re struggling with and I can try to help fill the gaps. I am eating more sweets/deserts/snacks than ever before, as well as rolls for my burgers, not to mention pasta and pizza – and even cereal for breakfast.
It’s crazy what the keto movement has done for low-carb food innovation.
Honestly, with my bad metabolism my entire life, I could never enjoy any of the above on a regular basis. Now, with my low-carb substitutes, I can.
So, I feel like this is a great approach to intake that just so happens to fit my low-carb needs and not-gain-weight needs simultaneously.
I know you got plenty of answers already. It’s just that I visit the forum nowadays only once a week via the email summary.
I know exactly what you mean by carb addiction. All it takes for me is a single slip, and then a slow but steady downfall. By that I mean that I’ve been eating high protein and fat and low carb diet successfully for months on end, which makes me so proud looking at my numbers and feeling the improvement that it brings. Until I drink too much booze or feel a big low or whatever and then have a piece of bread or something else carby. A single slip shouldn’t be much to worry about, but for me it is. It always repeats itself and then fast forward a few weeks/months and am back to snacking ONLY carbs, injecting 20-30% more insulin, having 0.6% higher A1C and overall feeling like a sack of potatoes. I know.
Btw I have observed it quite often coincides with the dark autumn / winter months, which where I live are relatively very dark and long.
Onto my tips: follow a plan. Always have a plan. And don’t beat yourself about messing it up. Just like with meditation, pick up from where you are and focus back on it.
So the only thing that works effectively against my carb addiction is - no snacking. Have only three (BIG!) meals a day and just forget about snacking. Doing this will make you lose plenty of weight, if you have to spare and will keep your sugars not just in a healthy non-diabetic range non-stop, but also in controllable curves. I find the BG swings to be a big factor in me feeling bad and low on power and willpower.
I’ve been in a bad place for some months now, and only just 8 days ago (when you have written this!) did I find willpower to restart my non-snacking policy. I’ve seen immediate improvements: avg. BG drop from 135 to 112 and no values above 180. The hunger for carbs slowly recedes, although never really disappearing. I eat a ton, fat (like youghurt) and protein and veggies, then have a 5-6 hour break and then again. The first few days I look forward to each and every meal, like it’s a birthday party, until my keto adaption comes back online, then it gets a bit easier.
I just realized I wrote way too much. If I am missing something that feels obvious to me, but isn’t - let me know
This is EXACTLY how I feel!! It’s nice to know I’m not alone in this, but also not nice to know there are others struggling because it’s a BEAST to deal with.
The no snacking thing TOTALLY makes sense. I just keep going sometimes, so if I plan out the meal, pre bolus and STOP, and then don’t start up the snacking, I should be able to stay in my caloric and carb goal range.
I am drinking my morning cup o joe right now (with heavy cream and Splenda) and will stick to my 2 meals today (I rarely eat breakfast).
Thank you!! This is giving me motivation and a new goal for today–just don’t snack! It seems doable. Obviously it is, so I’m just going to commit to that one goal today!
So I broke the bank and bought a bunch of low carb specialty items (ie keto bread, etc.) and binged on those. I am my own worst enemy!! Clearly it’s mental…I treat the keto bread like I do regular bread. Even though the results are not so disastrous, it’s still a ME issue!
I think I need to totally cut out my addictive foods, even the keto versions and focus on veg and protein and fat. Yoo hoo, what a way to live. Constant food restriction or binge mode.
Sorry, down on myself today. Wish I could just have a normal relationship with food.
Are you interested in/able to see a psychologist about this kind of thing? Might be helpful to get some support and strategies as you deal with it. If you have access, someone who specializes in eating issues and especially if possible someone with understanding of diabetes would be ideal… might be worth asking your endo if they know of any therapists they like for this sort of thing?
I’ve had diabetes for 25 years now. Over that time, I’ve had instances where I ate high carb foods (eg Skittles ), didn’t dose properly, and then felt terrible afterward when my bg shot up (diabetes management was different for me 15 years ago). Over time, I found that I craved those foods less. It was almost like my body had a kind of muscle memory of how those sweet foods made me feel. As I realized this, I found that focusing on that negative feeling when I’d have cravings helped me seek out healthier options that make me feel better.
That being said, I still have cravings sometimes. I think it is helpful to not keep things in the house. When I’m really craving something, I can always go and pick up one item from the store. It’s helpful to not purchase a stash, but rather require myself to actually go pick up whatever I’m craving. Sometimes laziness wins in those instances, but sometimes it doesn’t. As long as I’m not frequently treating myself and I dose properly for the treat, I think that is okay.
I don’t eat super low carb though- probably have about 90-150 grams most days.
My favorite low carb meals are deluxe salads. Yesterday I had a salad with red leaf lettuce and arugula, fresh mushrooms, tomatoes, red onions, smoked salmon, black pepper, and sunflower seeds with olive oil and balsamic vinegar drizzled on top and a piece of toasted sprouted bread (foodforlife brand). I like to scoop some of the salad onto the toast. It’s very scrumptious!
The big asterisk in this is that it’s all great when the CGM is working normally. Unfortunately it is not always up to par about how quickly BG is changing. The first day after a sensor change is usually the wild card day for this. The arrow will seem like it’s stuck unchanged for a longer than usual period after a dose or meal and then suddenly changes dramatically - CGM reading will plunge down or rocket up 40+ points in 20 minutes. Then it’s all hands on deck.
So I’m trying to train myself to use the meter backup regularly on that 1st day because I do not like the BG roller coaster ride.
I feel this way the first few hours after an Omnipod change. ESPECIALLY if I put it anywhere other than my stomach. It’s a crap shoot. I usually give myself 1/2 to 1 unit when I do the change and IDK where it goes, but rarely changes my levels, then I try not to eat for a few hrs. If I do that it seems to MOST times be MY winning combo, but nothing’s ever consistent.
T1’s, I think, can be prone to feelings of being deprived of a common human experience of eating until we’re satisfied. We have to eat knowing our BG will likely “tell us” to stop before we’re ready. So we try every way to meet that satisfaction goal, including low carb, keto, liquid or veggie everything, etc. and presto! We’ve eaten a lot, we’re still not satisfied, and BG is all over the map.
My working model has switched to 5-6 small meals a day. The inevitable BG rush of putting a day’s worth of carbs into 3 meals is not working anymore (I’m 65+). More opportunities to eat regular food (not a between meal snack) might be helping with the satisfaction thing because I rarely crave anymore. Of course, I could just be getting old.
I’ve tried. The advice I get is usually really annoying and essentially either not to focus on counting so much (??? I’m a T1D who takes insulin). Or, just eat what I want/dose accordingly (??? hellooooo that doesn’t work for me when I have no self control I just go high as @&^&).
I’m doing pretty good these last few days, by good I mean disciplined. I’m sticking to my calorie limits, not trying to KETO these days, but also not going cray cray with carbs. I was able to talk myself out of a few snacking attempts that I recognized were boredom and that I KNOW would have not satisfied anything and would have led to a binge.
I am using the assumption that sugar, AKA sucrose and High fructose corn syrups and the like,are addictive: In a similar fashion to chewing a cocoa leaf is not the same as snorting the concentrated chemical, cocaine. Like drinking a mildly fermented fruit drink is not the same as downing a cup of “Everclear”. Chewing a sugar beet or sugarcane is not the same as eating a sugar cube. I am presently using the aforementioned scenarios to train my mind into realizing what is good for me, how much is good for me and how often I can ‘go off the wagon’. Just because a substance is not regulated does not mean it is not dangerous, if not immediately, then over time, its accumulation in a person’s eating habits can have life altering effects.
I think the issue here is that carbohydrates are not unhealthy and we need some.
The problem is simply volume.
Highly processed food is bad for us, carbs or fat or even processed protein is not healthy.
Instead of giving up carbs, you might find it easier to switch to a healthier carb.
Instead of a snake of crackers, you could have a snack of fruit.
Eating whole vegetables, even corn and carrots is healthy, even thought the carb content is high.
I eat moderate amount of carbs and I also limit fats because fats cause me to have lower insulin sensitivity.
I think you can have a very large impact on glycemic control just by eliminating processed foods.
And I agree Vera sweet and very carb rich processed foods are kind of addicting, but I think it’s more habit.
Once you get away from dumping sugar in your coffee, you might find drinking it black is actually very tasty. After a few months you will think the old way was too sweet, because you are not used to the added sugar.
It’s real hard to break old habits, I know that from experience.
It took me quite an effort to give up diet drinks. I think they mess with our metabolism.
Start small. Try this , eat anything you want except
Candy
Cake
Soda
Then after a while you might think of other things you don’t want to eat, but I don’t think going all in, from high carb, highly processed food etc to a low carb diet is the most productive way.
I agree!! I was on a road trip and stopped at Panera to eat a pastry. I ramped up basal ahead and over bolused. By the time I had finished eating that lovely sugary goodness I no longer craved it. My BS stayed in range never going above 140 snd I no longer desired the sugar. Was it healthyz? Not really but this was unusual. If you give in occasionally but super bolus and take care of it you won’t see spikes. Just look at Dr Ponder’s graph or Arden Benner. Neither restrict nor spike.
I don’t know how I missed this discussion when it was fresh but it’s a good one with lots of useful info on managing a tricky and often very personal problem. Thank you to everyone who participated.
), didn’t dose properly, and then felt terrible afterward when my bg shot up (diabetes management was different for me 15 years ago). Over time, I found that I craved those foods less. It was almost like my body had a kind of muscle memory of how those sweet foods made me feel. As I realized this, I found that focusing on that negative feeling when I’d have cravings helped me seek out healthier options that make me feel better.
