I've thought about this a lot of late. What if you ate the exact same thing everyday at the exact same times and did the same amount of exercise everyday. You could figure all your injections precisely and never have a sugar high or low again . You'd know exactly what was happening and when and would never have to worry ? Sure you wouldn't be able to have sushi or ribs at spur of the moment but wouldn't that perfect stability be awesome ?
Or would it just be impossible. I find I always want to test myself and it's starting to irritate me this might be a solution ??
Diabetes is ever changing and more if you are a woman, we have lots of changes in hormones, ups and downs that come with menstruation and some people do not even have regular cycles! So, yes, it would be a good approximation of stability, but for me it would be really boring and then I would be more resentful towards my diabetes when the numbers shifted on me because of ovulation, because of stress, because of illness or a "technical issue" (i use a pump)... there is not a perfect solution, only an approximation so its up to you what you want to do or give up to get into that "perfect range". Some of us are perfectionist some of us are sloppy but we all get by, mostly ;)
Do what makes you happy in a balanced way!
I see what you're sayin but i think i resent never knowing always wandering more than if I had the same thing for every meal then I could do everything that makes me happy with less focus on my diabetes. I guess each to their own though I've always been a boring eater and never really cared that much but I'm sure for someone who likes new food it would be impossible. I'm going to try it out for 2 weeks and see what happens. If i die of boredome I'll let you know :)
Hahahaha, I doubt that you would die of boredom! Hey, some people like the security of a sure thing, I love to experience new flavors and can't live without sweets (diabetes is sort of a curse to my adventurous palate what can I say, but I manage).
I think is a great idea that you try it. At one point in time we all have to do it, to figure out what our body does even when we are not eating anything. Just wanted to give you a heads up so your expectations are not so high. As I said Diabetes is complicated and just because you eat uber healthy, do the same amount of exercise, eat the same thing every day, go to bed every night at the same time... is not going to guarantee perfect numbers all the time. Having said that, those 2 weeks will help you know yourself way better and what diabetes does to you. Don't forget to write everything down, you are doing research after all!
Best of luck!
I actually tried it for a couple months 5 years ago. My bgs certainly were not perfectly consistent, but considerably better than when I ate a variety of foods.
There are just TOO many variables within our bodies, day to day lifestyle, and emotions.
And yes, it was extremely boring, but sort of convenient regarding no need for menu planning.
Well, my assessment is different.
My read is that you need to monitor your body/blood and:
a) eat for energy balance. Very diet but whatch calorie load.
b) watch out for effects of aging - pancreas aging and dropping its basil and meal bolus quantities and compensate as necessary.
c) watch out for liver increasing its low level glucose feed and misbehaing due to age.
d) make sure sufficient exercise regular basis and watch glucose levels a1c.
I see no reason to stick to same identical diet but in fact:
- I eliminate any foods that prove problematic - pasta.
- moderation and glysemic index should provide options.
- eat at regular times and schedules to ease load on liver and its faulty FIFO operation. If liver works fine, one has more lattitue.
In the end, and I hate to say this; one is the pilot of his own body(plane) and must supervise its operation, watch the gauges and make sure all is working within good limits. When body working fine and no type 2 diabetes, yes all is on automatic and one can simply enjoy the ride.
As diabetes rears its ugly head, ones automation is no longer running tight and correct and one is more like a steam engineer on an old steam engine manually running everything just to get it rolling by seat of the pants - literally.
Best wishes and good luck with your health.
Thanks for all your advice ! Let's see how it goes :)
Hi Kathy
What type of things did you eat to cover all the bases ? Why did you stop doing it ? Did you have any bad lows or highs ? I've also recently read a book by Richard Bernstein about cutting out carbs completely - what was your diet like ?
Why is life so variable argggggg !
I agree with Kathy. I would also find life pretty damn boring if I did that, but I've also seen enough of my blood sugar variation to know that, for me, complete consistency is an illusion and I aim for just a reasonable approximation. There are variables we can't plan for such as hormones, stress, temperature change, illness, medication, etc. But even aside from that there is a certain ineffable something many of us choose to call "diabetic gremlins" that mean sometimes we can do the exact same thing but get different results. There are also, I've found, personal variables. Some of us work hard at our management with excellent, even flatline results. Others of us work our butts off and still have tremendous variation. Most of us (like me) seem to be somewhere in the middle. Try it if you're curious, but I think decent diet, frequent testing, tweaking of doses and prompt correcting will help you a lot more than boring yourself to tears!
Hi Jimm
Thanks for this ! I agree with you on everything and have had loads of tests recently to make sure everything is spick and span - lungs, heart, brain etc etc. I duno why I just have this compulsion to test myself recently and I think this might help. I inject and do manual testing and was also thinking a continuos glucose monitor and pump might help me .
Tnx for wishes - same to you
It's not imposable but life could be pretty dull if I stick to such a tight schedule and it would surely add pressure to my relationships with others. Can I get everyone to comply with this kind of schedule...NOPE?
I took off a year sabbatical to work on my BG and one of the most important things I learned was stop sweating the small things...and not everyone around me is vested in my problems, furthermore I cannot live in a parallel universe disconnected from family and frends...which is what I would have to do in order to achieve my best BG results.
Im interested to hear about the year off . I feel like I need to do that but how do you fund it ? What did you do during your year off and did it help ?
Agreed about getting other people to stick to it but i live by myself and 90 % of the time eat by myself so could just do it myself.
For breakfast: 2 boiled eggs and 1/2 English muffin with 1 tsp butter
For lunch: Salad made with measured amounts of romaine lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, scallions and one can of tuna plus an apple with one tablespoon peanut butter and 6 low fat wheat thins
For dinner: 4 ounces (cooked weight) of chicken thighs, 5 ounces of oven baked potatoes drizzled with 2 tsp olive oil, 6 ounces of orange segments, 3 ounces each of green beans and broccoli
Bedtime snack - one container of plain Greek yogurt
So the one variable here was the fruit - different stages of ripeness make a difference in carbs. I weighed the orange pieces but did not weigh the apple as I felt I was pretty good at eyeballing it.
My activity was very consistent.
And no, I did not have too many highs or lows, but still a few. Lows were always treated with 4 glucose tabs, nothing else.
I lost 6 pounds over the 2 months.
Why did I quit - I was flippin' bored and wanted to go out to eat for social occasions. I thought I'd scream if I saw another green bean!
Also, with mercury levels, etc, it is probably not a great idea to be eating tuna every day.
Char,
What do you think is too much testing ? 8-12 times a day is not unreasonable for a type 1, more if something is going on. You need to at least test before and after meals, on waking, before sleeping, etc. Even with a CGM, I test at least every 2 hours while awake.
It is possible to reduce the number of highs and lows and still have a varied diet by going to moderate carb and having well tuned basal rates and I:C ratios for different times of the day.
The problem is , adjustments are still required as, as others have noted above, outside factors besides diet are always changing - body hormones, illness, equipment malfunction, weather, exercise levels, etc.
I think your plan may be better worded as “reducing variability”. Reducing variability will certainly lead to better consistency and stability, but there are still going to be problems. Science does not understand all the factors that can effect BGs and some of them may be out of your control (like stress). Diabetes is just too complicated and intertwined into too many aspects of the human body for this too work perfectly.
That being said, I usually eat the same breakfast and lunch during the work week and 85% of the time my BGs are quite predictable. Having my BGs being steady and predictable during work hours really helps me to preform my job and I have found it invaluable.
But, I still have those days where dawn phenomena kicks in and my 17 gram carb breakfast shoots me up to 220. A slightly kinked canula provided high BGs after meals last week. My basal rates change every 2-4 weeks as well and I will have to make adjustments as my BG is slowly floating up/down. IMO with type 1 you are aiming at an ever moving target and you will not always hit it.
While I don't eat the exact same thing everyday, I do run through several menus on a regular basis - 5 years of keeping a Dietary Journal took all of the guess work out of it. I know what works well, and what doesn't.
Through weight loss and other factors, I have adjusted insulin and oral medications I take rather than adjusting my meals. I like what I eat - complete with a cheat day to curb cravings and as a reward for doing that which has to be done.
I am fully aware what getting/being sick or stress does to my BG, so if I get a jump in my readings I do not over react. Its nice when I know I am getting sick before the nasty stuff starts. I can take Vitamin C for a cold BEFORE I've got a completely stuffed up head with runny nose, coughing, and body ache to cut down how long it lasts.
Just some random thoughts for you,
John
I've eaten the same meals for weeks at a time. I can't eliminate lows from the variable absorption of Lantus but otherwise I've gotten good results.
I would log what you eat and how much you bolused and refer to it the next time you want to be stable for a while. I would go back and forth between periods of more stable vs more adventurous eating.
"All things in moderation, including moderation."--Socrates
You will want to live it up
The problem with consistency is that we can only deal with the variables that we are aware of. Of those variables, there are any number that are simply beyond our control. If you know that getting stuck in traffic is going to negatively affect your BGs, you can only avoid bad traffic for so long.
I don't know why I can eat a PB&J sandwich and see normal BGs two hours later 9 times out of 10, but the 10th time be skyrocketing above 200 2 hours later. The only thing I can do is go with what I know works best most of the time and hope that when I deviate from what works best most of the time, it doesn't completely blow up in my face.
For a long time, I ate very close to the same thing every day...for breakfast and lunch (eggs/ veggies/ toast and 1/2 peanut butter sandwich, snacking on veggies and cheese at work). I've sort of changed that as I've been cooking more and having leftovers so it's out the window.
At night, I generally take a big bolus to cover dinner plus a couple of beers afterwards, while I hang out in my lair (sunroom w/ xmas lights...) reading and listening to music. It usually works out ok but, if I overbolus, there's always microwave popcorn and other goodies around? I found that the big use of eating regularly is that I got used to managing off bits, whether low or high, pretty conservatively and I think that informed my approach to crazy time usefully. The numbers during the "conservative" part of the day provide feedback about how accurate ratios and rates are that, in turn, allow me to better manage evenings of more "liberal" approaches.
I don't have any foods I say that "I won't eat that" except for bananas, because I loathe bananas. Anything else, if I want some, I'll figure it out and give it a shot.