I’ve never been motivated much to prepare my meals. I know some people make a hobby out of it and I think that’s great. I think it’s wonderful to be able to prepare appetizing and healthy meals. It’s a great social skill.
I decided to make an effort to learn how to cook a little. My adult daughter agreed to join me for Monday dinners each week and prepare a meal together. She’s a good cook and can teach me what she knows. She likes to eat gluten-free and my preference is low carb paleo style.
I picked up a cookbook a few months ago titled, The Everyday Ketogenic Kitchen by Carolyn Ketchum. We’ve fixed about eight or so recipes and they’ve all been good. Tonight we’re making lasagna stuffed peppers. There is no pasta in the recipe. I’m using ground pork, parmesan, ricotta, and mozzarella cheeses, spinach, and tomato sauce with spices stuffed into bell pepper halves. Here’s a picture from the cookbook.
One serving is one half of a large bell pepper stuffed with all the lasagna toppings. It contains 297 calories, 17.7 grams of fat, 24.7 grams of protein, 8 grams of carbs, and 2.3 grams of fiber.
Before my Loop days, I would dose for the 8 grams of carbs, about 2 units, with a 30 minute pre-bolus. I would then use an extended bolus to dose for the protein and fat. The extended bolus would likely be at 1.2 units per hour for 3-4 hours. Your dose, of course, will vary.
I’ve never felt deprived eating low carb, high fat.
Terry and Dave: We found a short cut on pizza. For a low carb crust, use 4-carb pitas made with flax, etc from Joseph’s Middle Eastern Bakery in MA. Toast them lightly in the oven first, load them up with your favorite pizza toppings and broil them briefly. Makes a great individual pizza. Oh and we found it worked to make up a couple pizzas, prep one for eating now and save the other—especially if you keep some of your sauce to add just before cooking the second one so it doesn’t get soggy…
I too find home made pizza does not cause me problems. I make a basic pizza dough substituting chick pea flour for some of the wheat flour. The topping is not so very fattening, careful choice of tomato topping from the supermarket, or home made basil pesto, prawns or ham and grated cheese of choice, plus olives.
But one of the best ways to help yourself is to get a paleo, keto or low carb cook book which contains recipes for foods you like to eat. Some of the recipes are amazing and best of all taste good.
I’m also a follower of a lower carbohydrate style of eating. I usually stick to around 100 grams a day, which is possibly a bit higher than a lot of the others here.
Of late, I have allowed myself a bit more room with eating some more carby meals on special occasions (pasta or a bowl of Pho), but without a doubt it is harder to control those meals.
I know your specific question is how do you eat to maintain best control, but I’d also have to say even eating low carbohydrate, unless I’m regularly exercising I find I get spikes that I just wouldn’t get if I’m exercising most days.
I am on a diet to lose 20 pounds. My cardiologist says it will help my heart. The diet goes like this.
Breakfast
One small bowl of fruit. Canteloupe, honey dew melon, an apple, orange slices, whatever I have. And a cup of PG Tips tea with a splash of milk.
Lunch
Half of a sandwich and a salad, or a burger with no fried potatoes. The point is I eat less than usual.
Dinner
I eat whatever we have for dinner, but make sure to leave food on the plate. I eat several salads a day, because I love salads.
I have lost 11 pounds since February 27.
The point of this diet is that I cannot do exercise to loose weight due to the malfunctionning left ventricle.
If you can, totally skip the bread. Avoid all the white foods such as bread, rice, pasta, potato. I mostly have homemade soup for lunch. In fact, we through out more than a loaf of bread that was in the freezer, last week because I stopped eating sandwiches more than 3 months ago. There is very little use for bread, if you want to lose weight, and bread isn’t great for glycemic control. Bread for T1’s requires insulin. Most soups I eat require zero to 1.5 units of insulin.
I love salads too! But since I started dieting, I’m not eating as many of them as a main course, anymore. In fact, I’m almost never having them as an entree any more. If I were to eat them often, now that I’m dieting, I’d go crazy wanting to have a snack some time after consuming a supper consisting of even a huge salad.
I’m gluten and grain free now after winding up in hospital from digestive issues with crashing bg and high bg ketones about two years ago. I had been gf but when I started separating and sanitizing my dishes and elimating all grain, that helped.
I gained weight back and felt better over time. I eat fruit, veggies, meat, mostly chicken/ poultry, and eggs, cheese, and grain free snacks, nuts etc.
With all my digestive issues I still have to be very careful. Bg has been crashing more when I eat. I never know what will happen, sometimes I’m at 40-50 an hour or two into eating other times I spike.
But I’m no longer grinding up food etc which I did for a while at my worst. I am eating more cooked veggies and apple sauce instead of raw etc now as my digestion is worse lately. It is really hard to find a balance and not feel like I’m starving a lot of the time.
This almost exactly is my long-term strategy. I eat fairly low-carb, especially when I’m home. Holidays and travel I’ll eat higher carb meals (and treats), knowing full well that I’ll pay a price. When my BG (especially fasting) starts to creep up, I “reset” by doing strict nutritional keto (25g total carbs or less) for a couple of weeks. So far, it seems to work pretty well for the long term.
I really like the stability of eating very low-carb, but I’ve also found it unsustainable in the long run. If I allow myself to be a little human in my eating habits, it all seems to work out over significant periods of time.
On Jenny Ruhl’s site and in her book, she sites a study that noted large spikes were more damaging to the kidneys than a consistent higher glucose level. See study #5.
She also mentioned that even with large spikes the A1c can be the same as someone with more steady blood glucose levels. The A1c gives an average over time. It doesn’t say how high or low you were, just the average effect on you hemoglobin.
I’ve found that portion control seems to be more important to my good control than excluding certain types of food altogether or going on some kind of extreme high/low-whatever diet. I used to eat two slices of toast with breakfast, and I’d spike. Then I started eating one slice, and I didn’t spike, and nor was I starving by lunch time. (We North Americans tend to eat way more than we need to.) So I have a couple of slices of pizza, or a modest slice of fruit pie, instead of saying, “I can’t eat that anymore – it’s not worth the trouble.” At the same time, an overindulgence once in a while isn’t going to cause irreparable damage.
I switched to tresiba and it took awhile to get the right dose. My sugars are about 50!- 80 in the am. I take about 18 units every night at 830. If my sugars are over 150 at bedtime I take a unit or two of humalog depending on numbers. That usually works. I am still having high doses mid day. Working on that. I just check my sugars about 8 times a day. And add extra humalog after 3 hours if needed. But at times my sugars drop for no reason. I have hit 37. I am really trying now to figure out a good diet plan for me. Going to really try that low carb and just less eating . Teri always has such good suggestions
See, I can’t correct if I’m at 150! I go too low even with just one unit, no matter what my basal is. I only correct if I’m at 200 because I drop too low. As for eating; I’ve balanced more out lately and I think I’m back to my 1 unit per 10 carbs ratio which has helped. I think 17u of Tresiba is my sweet spot, because my big spikes have stopped. I’m hoping I’ve figured it out, so I can just eat like normal and not have to truly worry about it like i have been. I do know that it seems like if I eat more carbs with less fat my numbers are more stable. I tried low carb with protein for a few days and I was a mess, so I don’t think that route is going to work for me, as I was hoping it would fix things
Do you have the syringes with the half-unit markings?
When we were on MDI, we found we did need to be able to dose in smaller amounts. Locating a distributor that had syringes with half-unit markings was difficult (at least at that time) but we did obtain the half-unit marked syringes. Being able to (bolus) dose in half-unit increments was extremely helpful at the time.
Thank you everyone for their responses!! I haven’t been able to reply to everyone but know that I am seeing your posts and appreciate it
An update on me; I’m at 17u of Tresiba which seems to be what’s working now! I’ve also figured out that my carb to insulin ratio is back to 1u to 10g. I’ve also found that eating more vegetarian and lower fat helps a ton. It seems like really, that if I eat more carbs with less fat, that my numbers are better I can usually eat a whole bowl of rice or pasta with some veggies mixed in and get stable numbers, but if I add animal protein or eat low carb with animal protein, I end up all over the place. I do eat some sausage in the morning and seem to do okay, but if I eat any large amounts of say grilled chicken or anything like that, I don’t do as well.
Maybe the 17u of Tresiba is truly what I needed. If I end up eating this way and yet again having issues, I’ll play around with more adjustments, both to my eating and my insulin. But so far, I’m no longer experiencing huge spikes in the evenings, and as long as I don’t skip meals I seem to be doing okay!
I know that good control is more than just what you eat, but for me the food has never been an issue. I just figured I would see what everyone does! it’s good to look back on if I ever need to change things up again I also need to re-incorporate exercise but I didn’t want to do much switching to Tresiba, since I didn’t know how I’d react. I’d say that since I’m pretty stable on 17u, I’ll be getting back into my daily yoga!
@beacher
I have pretty good portion control! I get full quite easily so I don’t tend to eat a ton at once. However, something like 2 slices of toast wouldn’t bother me lately, where as a full piece of grilled chicken and broccoli with a small side of rice would. It seems like I figured out that too much animal protein has been the culprit. I adjusted my basal to 17u, which seemed to help but if I eat too much animal protein, I still end up too high. Just sticking to vegetarian again to see if it works out with my new basal dose.
@Dave44
I seem to have the opposite affect now that I have figured out my right basal dose! Carbs seem to help my bolus work better. If I eat a low carb high animal protein meal I end up all over the place. I’m definitely not trying to lose weight, but my husband who isn’t a diabetic, prefers to eat the opposite of me; lower carb with lots of protein, but he is trying to lose weight.
I tend to choose high fiber breads, sweet potatoes, brown rice. I tend to feel better overall eating more vegetarian based than not, so sticking with it to see if it works for me this time around. Low carb (what everyone else calls low carb anyway) never really has for me, even though I still limit my carbs for each meal. I’m not eating 100g per meal or anything insane, but I do watch my portions and amounts!
I’ve never really had to or wanted to count calories, but I’ve also never eaten a ton either. I get full pretty quickly and I’d say I stay around 1800 daily or less. I would for a few days eat very low carb, with no help. Others I would eat the same meals in a row to see if that made a difference. I finally settled on 17u for my basal and it seemed to help a lot! But also, when I got rid of animal protein again and stuck with vegetarian meals, my numbers stabilized. I’m thinking that maybe I just don’t digest animal protein well. I’ve always felt better without it. I don’t eat super high carb, I still limit carbs and my portions, but I have noticed I do better without a lot of fat or meat. I’m hoping I hit my sweet spot with eating and insulin doses! We shall see!
Definitely the opposite for me. When I eat more than a small amount of carbs, the insulin I need to take to try to cover them causes me grief. Either I get too high or I go low. There never is perfect carb coverage for me. Keep in mind, I’m still eating carbs–just not like I used to. A typical meal is now less than 28 B, 30 L, and 30 Dinner. I used to breads (wheat didn’t help, over white), potato, rice, pasta. All the whites. LOL!
Instead of needing at least a dozen units at supper, I might take a couple. Less fat, and less carbs and I’m not getting dawn phenonomen either. I can now have my overnight basals be identical to daytime basals. In the past, they were almost 1u/hour. Now they are .55
@Dave44 I probably eat 60g or less for each meal; usually around 40 I’d say! It’s strange how one thing works for one person, and not for another! I wish doctors would realize this. Some are good about it, not so much others. I’m glad you figured it out! I’m still working on it, but for now I can’t complain after the few weeks of ups and downs I’ve had, happy to be where I am!
etc now as my digestion is worse lately. It is really hard to find a balance and not feel like I’m starving a lot of the time.
I can usually eat a whole bowl of rice or pasta with some veggies mixed in and get stable numbers, but if I add animal protein or eat low carb with animal protein, I end up all over the place. I do eat some sausage in the morning and seem to do okay, but if I eat any large amounts of say grilled chicken or anything like that, I don’t do as well.