Ok, so i am 17 years old and i have been type 1 for almost 3 years now. My HgbA1C is usually aroud 6%.
3 monts ago i tried LCHF way of eating but at the same time i was afraid of fats so it was more like high protein diet. After a month i lost a few paunds (that wasnt really my goal because i am not overweight) so i went back on high carb diet. for the last month i have been reading books (including Dr. Bernsteins Diabetes Solution) about LCHF diet because i want to do it right this time but i still have a few questions.
Should the transition into this diet be gradual or rapid?
I am 190cm tall (6 feet and 2.8 inches) and my weihgt is 80kg (176 pounds),
i am also quite active so i need to eat around 2900 kcal per day. when i am on high carb diet i have to eat around 300g of carbs and 90g of fat. but if i want to eat just 30g of carbs a day i would have to eat around 240g of fat. i just dont know where to get all that fat.
i have started the transition( i am currently eating 150g of carbs and 160g of fat) and a few days ago i started felling weakness and dizziness which are the common symptoms of going in to the ketogenich state (or just being starved)
now i just dont know should i cut out the rest of my carbs or should i do it gradualy?
and also is it possible not to lose any weihgt during the transition in to the ketogenic state?
At 17, you are probably still growing, so you need more protein than a full grown adult. From your height, can I assume you are a boy?[ a girl doesn't go go on growing so long] You are definitely NOT overweight and don't need to lose..
I would suggest you transition fairly slowly and get your fats from Butter, cream, high-fat cheeses, fatty meats/charcuterie and oily fish.
I'd also say keep your food as natural and unprocessed as possible
You sound like a very well put together young person, one whose parents can be proud of.
Hana [ mother and grandmother!]
I’m 32 and very athletic. I eat very healthy. Mostly protein, vegetables, and some fruit. Very little carbs such as bread, rice and pasta. I follow Dr Bersteins plan, but not as strict as he prescribes. Eating high protein low carb has been the best for my diabetic care and weight management. High carb foods are too hard for diabetics to process and they ruin my blood sugars for hours. Get your energy from lots of vegetables and fruit. You don’t need a lot of complex carbs. Eating healthy is the key!! Join Type 1 fitness on Facebook. Lots of healthy people there all with type 1!
As an insulin user I would think it would be better to go gradually so you can adjust your insulin a bit at a time. I'm not on insulin and I went cold turkey, for me this was the correct choice, although I felt unwell for a while because my body was used to high blood sugars. This gradually passed. The down side is that you may have to deal with carb cravings, but be assured they will go away. At 150g of carbs you are probably not in ketosis all the time. Although it varies from individual to individual most things I have read say the transition comes at around 70g of carbs.
I have experienced dizziness due to lack of sodium while eating LCHF. Make sure you get enough salt. As soon as I started salting my food the dizziness disappeared.
I hybrid Bern and Eat to Live. I eat high fat but I get my fat from eggs, heavy whipping cream in my coffee, avocado, oils, ect. I have the best blood sugar control I have ever had. I am on 40-70 carbs per day. All veggie based. NO GRAINS! I recommended a gradual transition on insulin. My pump went nuts when I jumped into it. I started at 150 and took the carbs down by 25 a day after an initial hypo fail fest! Made it easier to change my dosing. I went from (T1) on 75 units a day humalog, to 25 units total.
thank you for your suggestions
i didnt really say that i am overweight, i would actually like to gain a few pounds
the reason why i am concerned about losing weight is because once i lose two or three pounds it takes forewer to get them back.
o and yes sorry for that, i am a boy
yes, i agree that i am probably not in ketosis all the time. i am probably experiencing dizziness and other simptoms because going from 300g to 150g of carbs per day in short time is a mild shock for the brain. i actualy started taking more salt yesterday. i will do the transition gradually, thanks.
The first thing that struck my eye is that you say you are afraid of fats. That's good ol' propaganda (and I DO mean OLD!!) smacking you in the face. Fats are NOT the enemy. The truth is that you can never eat unprocessed carbs without fats -- even vegetables have some % of fat, and meat and dairy have fat, and grains definitely have fat, so it's omnipresent. And no one could eat fats alone -- you would never have a teaspoon full of butter alone -- yuck!! So stop worrying about the fats! :-)
That said, different people have different tolerances for carbs, and it seems to me that enemy number one is sugary drinks and desserts. Processed sugar is the one carb that has no fat, but that CERTAINLY doesn't make it your friend.
If you are very athletic and don't have a weight problem, then unprocessed grains and potatoes in reasonable amounts would probably not be a problem for you -- you'd just burn off the calories. The place where you could get into trouble is that grains and potatoes are the foods most likely to raise your BG, but on the other hand, if you eat them before exercising, they just might supply you with the easily accessible glucose you need, and you then wouldn't go low during exercise. Meanwhile, you can get excellent nutrition from meat, dairy, eggs, vegetables and a little fruit.
My best advice would be for you to join the exercise-oriented groups here -- bicyclists, marathoners, etc. and see what they do. Also, teens with diabetes -- teens are metabolically different from us folks who finished growing long ago. Keep on exploring, and asking questions, and you WILL get it figured out. And while you're at it, make friends with AcidRock23, who is an avid exerciser, and gets phenomenal BG results! :-)
thanks, i will visit these groups. i now know that fats are good, but as i said, few months ago i didnt know that and because of that my first attempt in going LCHF didnt work. But now when i have read Diabetes Solution, and few other books, i am not afraid of fats any more. the main thing that i am concerned is the transition fase.