Documentary on Type 1 diabetes

Dr. Bernstein’s treatment with the very low carb diet has been saving my life and preventing complications for years.

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Just to make sure people know, not everyone desires or needs to low carb. I don’t and I have excellent control with no complications. My last A1c was 4.9% and a TIR of 96% between 65-160.

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I followed Dr. Bernstein for 11 yrs and ate no more that 30 carbs a day during that time.

I was very ill before I was smart enough to leave that way of eating far behind. While it works beautifully for Dr Bernstein, it doesn’t work well if you have high LDL or arteriosclerosis. I ended up with two heart stents. I also was suffering with bad migraines and was also passing out with sudden bouts of low blood pressure. When I fell I would hit my head and that required an ambulance more than once.

Once I started a mostly vegan low fat diet, I got better. I eat lots of vegetables including potatoes, fruits, legumes and grains. No more headaches and I stopped passing out. My LDL is much much lower now. I have been eating this way for 6 yrs now.

Except for the stents, I am doing very well after 63 yrs of type 1.

I would never go back to eating so much fat.

Oh yes, my last A1c was 4.6 while eating 260 healthy carbs daily, I am usually in range over 93 percent of the time, and I rarely rollercoaster.

I take 10 units of Tresiba and 7 to 10 units of Novolog. I don’t make any of my own insulin. Lately I have been taking less Novolog and replacing it with Afreeza.

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@John_Bowler What do you mean what do I do for carbs? I eat whatever I want whether it’s 10 carbs or 120 carbs at a meal. As long as it’s vegan. I just dose properly for it. Timing for me is a key to good control.

PS Besides a CGM, a pump and being retired all helping!

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I did not do well with that diet, I had even more lows than now and I was literally starving. Too low carbs for me put me almost in dka and in the hospital also but after I stopped that diet. that’s another story.

I still eat lower carb maybe 120 - 150 a day. But I still feel like I am starving a lot, it is the insulin. Lots of foods I can no longer eat. Grains, starchy veggies etc. bg will be 250 stat no matter what I do.

I was vegetarian and then vegan before dka at diagnosis and I believe it brought on type 1 now, among other factors. I would never do it again, it was very unhealthy for me.

@meee Being a vegan or vegetarian has nothing to do with getting type 1. Ways of eating doesn’t play a part in it. The strongest belief is you inherited a gene or combo of genes that gives you the ability to get it. Then a virus(es) starts activating the process. Sars and covid seem to be causing it, but there is also research that the enteroviruses might have a link, and the vaccine for the rotavirus for infants cut down on how many ended up developing type 1.

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Can you link more info on this?

@MM1

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Thanks! Will pass info on to my niece, with young infant.

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@John_Bowler I actually don’t follow a limit per se, lower or higher, but I do have a tendency to be around 120 carbs a day as an average. I don’t really eat a lot. I have a bad back so I am not super active, although I do make sure to ride my exercise bike 10 miles every day (except when my back is completely haywire) and I swim off and on. I don’t really care if it’s 0 or 200, for a day. A pattern for me is too many days over 120 and I will gain weight because I am eating too much for days in a row.

So far I’ve eaten 110 carbs…and I will be eating something from 4 carbs plus this early evening with some vitamins, it just depends whether I grab 2 crackers, pineapple or a piece of FFL raisin bread or?

With respect you don’t know if it had anything to do with me getting type one. I believe it did play a role for “me” and I would never do it again. Many people have become very ill after being vegan especially and have almost died, so it is not hard to fathom it could also play a role. For me, I felt sick being vegetarian and especially vegan, and type one dka happened not long after all of that. I also had a reactivation of ebv while on that diet. So being vegetarian and vegan was very bad for me personally. There are many videos posted by former vegans on yt who became ill and some who nearly died on that diet, it is not healthy for everyone. People need to respect that just as Bernstein’s diet is not healthy for everyone either. I was also taking the appropriate recommended vitamins and so were these people so it was nothing to do with that.

Truth be told no one really knows for sure why each person who ends up getting type one gets it. I am well aware of the viral theories and I have researched them. Viral triggers are one factor but there are others including stress, injuries etc. as well as hereditary factors that play a role. Stress and viruses in the intestines can be caused or aggravated by a diet which is not healthy for an individual as well. The key words in one of the studies linked and I imagine in the others as well are “ seems to ““may be…” etc. So in other words infants, children and also adults should get those vaccines imo but that sadly that does not guarantee they won’t get type one.

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John, do you consider my 260 carbs low?

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I am 5’ 107 lbs.

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So I am eating quite a few carbs for my small size. I ride the exercise bike for 1/2 hr after breakfast, and I try to do some walking and other exercises throughout the day.
I am 71 and have been a type 1 since I was 8.