Everyone here has had great suggestions. Even though there are always curve balls, I have to say a lower carb and lower fat diet seems to work out OK for me. With that diet plan, I take smaller amounts of insulin, and I find I haven’t had as many hypos as when I followed a higher carb and higher fat diet with more insulin. I also tend to exercise every weekday. I think that also helps. A pump is definitely not for me so I do Humalog sliding and 2 shots of Levemir in morning and night. My A1Cs have consistently been in high 5’s / low 6’s so I think you can do it with MDIs. Good luck!
John , you are an awesome diplomat …thanks .
I love sweet potatoes! Do other type 1’s bolus for them as you would any other carb-count?
A good idea is to measure them on a scale example;
100 grams s.p
and try your luck
for me 100 grams is about 6 units on my novopen
ofcourse thats just me
tc and good luck
I bolus as per any other carb count.
I’ve been using 70/30 humulin for years. Lately, my bs has been all over the place. Lots of highs, extreme lows (21 !!) So my general prac. cut my dose by a quarter each time. I would take 20 units of humulin twice a day. Now that my doc has cut it for a couple weeks, no more extreme lows, but still all over the place. My a1c is 6.2 from all those extreme lows. So now I’m about to see an endo for the first time since '94 in a few weeks. Meanwhile my general doc has started me on Lispro and Lantus, which he says is much more common than the 70/30. I just spent all the money I had for groceries this week on the new stuff. I guess the more a product is used, the more expensive it’ll be.
I see Lispro and Lantus posted more on this site than others (besides pump) so I’m hopeful. I am always recovering from a high or low for weeks now and its driving me nuts.
The way I’ve heard it said, a carb is not a carb is not a carb. Simple carbs should be kept to a minimum, but complex carbs (the kind you get from veggies, especially low-glycemic-index veggies) are essential. We need carbohydrates, same as we need proteins and fats, so these diets that say “don’t eat [bad nutrient du jour]” are just going to harm you.
Michael Pollan says it best: “Eat food. Not to much. Mostly plants.” That means, leave out the processed stuff, the sugars, the high-glycemic-index stuff, and be sparing with the meat, and go for food that is still pretty close to the ground it grew from.
That philosophy will do anyone good, diabetes or no diabetes, and it should help keep BG in control and minimize insulin usage. Of course, I can’t use it on my little one… he’s still in the “chicken nuggets and PB&J” age range, where anything that isn’t the aforementioned is to be refused with screams of rage… but sigh someday his tastes will broaden and I’ll be able to get him to eat fresh veggies without having to slip them into chocolate cake first. 
Such a great idea the 3 week review…these past 2 weeks my bgl seem a it out of control (I am travelling) - it is a bit to high for my taste. So will try your 3 week review…see if it fits me 
John - it’s not silly advise that Mohamed has given here. I find when I eat sweet potatoes that my BG’s don’t spike they way they do with normal white potatoes due to their glycemic level (it’s lower, but all depends on how you prepare them, I bake them as well as mash them).
Also, sweet potatoes aren’t actually part of the potato family - they are part of the morning glory family - so if it makes it any better for you to understand - think of them as a vegetable.
Again, moderation in what you consume of any “potato” or carb is the key here.
Tenho vivido assim também. Hoje a A1c está em 6,4 mas nem sempre foi assim. Parece que temos a DM1 rebelde, por mais que façamos nunca está bom!!! Não tenho resposta…smente mais perguntas!!!
Eh? I don’t see the point of these non-english posts here. They are just a waste of time.
Hi Sarah, i’ve maintained an a1c in the 5’s/low 6’s for years based on very very strict control. It all depends on the type of person to who the lifestyle would fit but i am very regimented with my eating plan and exercise. I follow a low carb high protein diet,
breakfast- would typically be 2 boiled eggs and 1 slice whole grain ezekiel bread
lunch- grapefruit and maybe a skinless chicken breast or oily fish like sardines, tuna. very high in vitamin D. 1 Cup of green tea
supper- leafy green salad with chicken breast or some sort of protein, I like to mix it up a bit with squid, scallops, cod or some sort of sea food
and for snacks usually consist of - apple with 1 tblsp of natural peanut butter and maybe raw veggies with some Philadelphia cream cheese for dipping. very tasty. 1 cup herbal tea
supplements- multi-vitamen, fish oil, whey powder for after workouts
i usually try to get in 30 minutes of exercise everyday, yoga and pilates have worked wonders on my sugars.
I don’t push this lifestyle on anyone, but it keeps me feeling healthy and it’s done wonders for my blood sugar levels.
Hi,
I’ve also been type 1 for about 15 years and for me it’s kinda like the movie “Groundhog day”! You just have to keep trying until you get it right:-)
I have had D for 43 years, many struggling to control my numbers.What has worked for me now is Dr Bs low carb. It is true once you start limiting your carbs you stop craving them , am I perfect, no but when I do stick to it my sugars are 80- 115 steady and no reactions. Small numbers ,small mistakes. I take 10 U of Lantus and between 1 1/2 and 3 u novalog per meal ,no pump. A1c in the 5s . I am very active which helps Find what works for you, this works for me . good luck
It’s different for everyone I think. I take lantus once a night and then count my carbs and use my ratio. Alot of exercise also helps… Hockey in the winter and golf in the summer keep them pretty manageable. Of course you’re going to run into a few snags every once in awhile but ya… keep on truckin:)
Sweet Potato, 1/2 cup = 48 gms carbohydrate
Sweet Potato, 5"x2" boiled in skin = 28 gms carbohydrate
high in potassium…lowers blood pressure
May be high in fiber, but it is also high in carbs…I always have to make sure I do not eat too much and that it is plain (with salt/pepper/butter…NOT how your Aunt makes it at Thanksgiving!). I make sure to measure and then appropriately bolus…and give it lead time. That’s just me:) still using old fashioned Novolog! Maybe less of a problem w/ Apidra and friends.
Agree:) and well said Anna. When I eat them, I keep them plain and do not mash them. I think it may also be harder for me to eat because I have really cut back on carbs…thus basals and I:C…so, less wiggle room. SP are certainly a better choice than white potatoes, rice, stuffing, etc. That is usually when I eat them…as a substitute for these higher glycemic starches. I also LOVE the squashes…spaghetti, acorn, etc. All can be seasoned the same way and have lots of vits/mins without major fluctuations in blood sugars. I have a copy of Netzer’s Food Counts and check everything before bolusing…that helps the most.
Hi Sarah,
Eating a “paleo diet” helps me tremendously with treating my type 1 diabetes. It’s a newer diet out there but it includes fruits, vegetables, meats, eggs, nuts, and seeds and eliminates grain, dairy, and legumes (foods that weren’t eaten for most of human history). It’s a strict diet however it’s not necessarily low carb but it’s very low-glycemic. It’s given me normal blood sugars (70-120mg/dl) and drastically reduced my insulin needs. My last A1C was 5.4. I think writing out the carb content and insulin units for meals helps too along with some exercise. Best of luck to you!
Well, the first (and shortest) answer is because Groups is a feature created in all Ning networks. If you have suggestions for how to change how Groups are viewed, definitely visit Ning’s website and submit your feedback. We here on the admin team have only limited control over certain features - and we have complaints ourselves about how Group activity is translated to RSS feed readers or how it doesn’t appear on the iphone mobile app.
The second answer is that some topics are better suited to smaller groups of people. When I joined here, my major goal was to bring my A1c down for pregnancy, so the discussions in the Oh Baby group appealed to me. If there were men in the group discussing their wives’ ovulatory cycle, I might not have been comfortable enough to develop the same relationship with some members here with whom I bonded over that common goal. I also appreciate that in the Diabetes and Texas group, we’ve been able to plan local meetups. Or in the Omnipod group, we can discuss tips, tricks, and gripes without having our anti-omnipod friends derailing threads. See my point?
My last A1c was 5.6. I don’t think of my life as ridiculously controlled, nor do I eat a strict diet (though doing Weight Watchers for about 8 months helped bring my A1c and my insulin intake down a LOT last year). I do eat the same breakfast every day, and I try not to eat out too much, but otherwise, I think my 10 biggest success tricks are the following (some of these are repeats from what other members - like Kelly - mentioned):
- insulin - taking my insulin 15-20 minutes before the meal (yes, fast-acting)
- pumping - extending portions of the boluses so that some of the insulin covers fat and protein in the hours after the meal
- pumping - variable basal rates
- highs - keeping my 1 hour post-prandial spikes below 165 (preferably below 140, but I rarely reach that goal) - your 1 hour post-meal BG is generally the highest number affecting your A1c throughout each day
- lows - treating lows more conservatively (2-3 glucose tabs rather than a sugary snack)
- diet - a low-carb breakfast of 15g or less (due to morning insulin resistance/dawn phenomenon)
- skin - a wider rotation of where I inject/pump the insulin to improve absorption
- monitoring - my CGMS - the Freestyle Navigator
- monitoring - keeping a meter near my bedside (for testing before bed and when I wake) and another in my purse so that I never have an excuse not to test
- monitoring - never eating a bite of food without knowing the actual BG number