I'm a Type 1 Diabetic, and I Drink Regular Coke

Got into an interesting conversation (more like an argument) about fake sugar and real sugar. I'll get to that in a moment.

My wife found the notes she took when we met a dietitian after I first got diagnosed as a diabetic. My first look was to minimum daily carb intake. I'm 6'5, around 200 pounds, and she wanted me to at least eat 300 carbs a day. I saw a thread in the forum about how much diabetics typically hate dietitians, add me to the group.

Anyway since I have been on the pump, I've actually be watching what I eat more because I know how easily I can gain weight. As a result, I've actually dropped about 10 pounds from the pump. My normal carb intake per day ranges from 125 to 175g a day. On average I am using between 45 to 55 units of Humalog a day.

So back to the argument. A person says "wait you are a diabetic and you are drinking regular soda". I've actually taught a lot of other people that fake sugar tends to make you close friends with the toilet. As for me, I've always found I need just one can of Coke a day to stave off a headache, or worse a migraine. After that, I typically just keep it too water.

As far as the person who thought they were an expert at diabetes I said, "that cupcake you're eating has diabetes, so watch it"..... :)

Greetings,

I get nasty headaches/migraines as well. I stopped drinking carbonated soda drinks all together a year ago. Diet or regular, they are both hard on you. I would agree with you that manufactured sugar substitutes aren't as good for you as the real thing, but when you think about it, I wouldn't consider coke to be the real thing either. Have you thought about a low dose caffeine supplement to combat the headaches? I used to do the same thing as you but I found a healthier alternative.

I disagree with your hatred of dietitians, and find that thread very distasteful (though the writer of it edited it to take out most of the outrageous claims that he originally included).

Eat as much carb as you want, but personally I don't understand why you'de include regular soda in your daily diet. A can of coke has 39g of carb. Which is 1/3 to 1/4 of your daily carb intake. That seems like a waste to me. I would much rather eat a few fresh peaches, or a couple bananas, or cherries which are in season now, etc. And replace the coke with tea or coffee (or water if you are willing to detox from the caffeine).

I agree with Jag. I eat as many carbs as I please (though I often eat 150-200 carbs per day which is less than what I was recommended by my dietitian and less than what a lot of people get recommended, but it's plenty of food and it's healthy food, so who cares) and a regular soda is a waste of carbs. I like to make my carbs food, not drinks (I'll still drink skinny drinks from starbucks but 9-12 carbs for the tall and grande ones =not a big deal and that's a snack to me) I prefer healthy food, but in general, I rather it be food with at least some sort of nutritional value in it. Soda has no nutritional value. I do drink diet soda, and prefer it to regular soda in all ways now and for all possible reasons.

I think your headache migraine reaction is due to caffeine withdrawal without the soda if the soda is caffeinated. I suffer migraines and I understand wanting to do that if it stops them- maybe you can try green tea instead or another caffeinated drink. I actually have found and others have also that sugar can treat migraines too and sugar with caffeine is better. Caffeine is a vasoconstrictor so it will actually treat migraines and stopping it can start them up since you will then open up vessels again without it. Sometimes if you don't actually have migraines it can just be the caffeine addiction/reaction. I have diagnosed migraines and if they're bad sometimes suma-triptan is the only thing that knocks them out.

I also would not waste that amount of carbs on liquids, but I eat low carb and prefer for other foods to make up the greater portion of my carbs, that also seems to keep me more stable since liquid sugar is faster acting. I definitely would not switch to diet anything as the sugar substitutes are laxatives and some linked to cancer. They all make me feel ill too- headaches/gas/intestinal discomfort etc. I sometimes make my own soda and if I want a sweetner I use stevia now for tea/soda etc.

I would strongly discourage drinking regular soda for the fact it is going to spike your BS way faster than the insulin to cover it. Long term spikes are very damaging to the body. Don’t outsmart yourself.

If you are pregnant, drinking caffeinated soda is not good for the baby. Also, drinking soda gave me awful gas while I was pregnant. It's okay to have a soda every once in a while..but drink water and plenty of it.

March of Dimes recommends limiting caffeine to ~200mg/day during pregnancy. A can of regular Coke contains about 34mg if I remember correctly.

I rarely ever get sugar free soda or anything else really. A couple years ago I did because I accidentally forgot to bring my insulin with me, but other than that I just get the real stuff. But I rarely drink soda anyway. I like tea more for my daily beverages. :)

I quit diet pop cold turkey in January, and quit caffeine cold turkey in April. I've had a few slip-ups here and there, but it is so nice that it's now by choice and not because I get a horrible headache if I try to go without caffeine. I've been diabetic since I was a kid so have always had diet pop (and as a kid diet yogurt, diet Crystal Light, diet chocolate, diet gum, diet everything), but these days try to avoid artificial sweeteners. The only one I have is Stevia in herbal tea.

Your nuts, I love you. Regular coke! Whats one a day? I drink coffee all day. My fiancee thinks it gives me heart palpitations, but I still do it. I don't think 125 to 175 is outrageous. I'm female, 5'9", and 170 lbs, and I regularly eat 60g meals, although I might only eat twice a day. You might just be one of those people who get headaches. Its hard to say what causes headaches, so unless you want to start taking data on that too, I suggest that you not complain about the headaches too much to the wife. Try drinking a couple cups of coffee, one day, and see if it relieves the headache. Then, you'll know if its the caffeine, but I get headaches from dehydration most commonly, as a diabetic. Thats probobly common.

Drink whatever type of drink you like -- but start SLOWLY. If this is the first night you are planning to drink alcohol have 1 or 2 drinks and test your blood sugar to see what those drinks do for you. If you want to try binge drinking (not that that is good for anyone) tonight is not the night to do it. Start small, and learn your limits.

I have a really hard time controlling my sugar levels when I drink mixed drinks. With regular coke or juice i end up super high, no matter what. With diet coke or club soda -- I tank 1/2 way through the night and end up with a super low blood sugar. Not my idea of a good time.

I'm a Type 2 diabetic on insulin. I drink coffee with regular creamer (not the sugar free kind). I gave up soda a long time ago due to the gas that it produced in my stomach.

When I saw how many carbs were in my husband's sugar free cookies, I decided that I would have the real thing. I eat 1 or 2 Keebler's Grasshopper cookies as a dessert with a meal. I also noticed that there only 15 to 16 carbs in a half cup of regular ice cream. I might as well enjoy the real thing, and I enjoy that 1/2 cup of ice cream.

I'll eat anything I want, do anything I want. While I like others here wouldn't bother with full blown coke, am much more a fan of diet anyhow as grown up on the stuff and never had any kind of issue with it. But I take each day as each day, and if I want that mango/pizza/chocolate cake than I'll have it, bolus for it and move on just like the DAFNE (Dose Adjustment For Normal Eating, a 5 day course provided by our diabetic teams usually which goes through all types of foods, exercise, illness, pretty much everything in a very in depth course for giving us a system for control in most of Europe, Australia, and other places) training taught me. If I have 100g one day than fine, if I have 300g the next than also fine, and on those crazy days I've had over 1000g I deal and move on, It's all a none issue really.