Friends, started IF a little over a week ago. Occasionally, during the night I go low, low enough, I must eat. I usually chew a Cliff Bloc, which brings me up over 80 quickly. Of course this means on those days, I am not clean fasting. I chose this diet as my numbers and my weight were creeping up. Regardless, my weight has gone down a few pounds - significant for me - and my numbers dropped considerably, so much so I have cut back on both the basal and bolus doses I take.
What I do miss is that glass of wine at night, but that’s a small loss to the benefits that are accruing. Even with the lower insulin dose at night, I can still go low. Aside from the fact that once woken up I might not return to sleep, I am pretty happy with this diet. I would be so interested in others sharing their experiences. Weight loss? Lower A1c? Happiness factor?
Is this a sustainable diet in the long run? I am not sure about ketosis, think it poses more dangers for me than rewards.
Do folks go on and off… we will be leaving for a bike tour later this month, will need to quit until we get back. Helpful hints?
Thanks, all.
I have been IF for the past few years, and it works great. For me, the culprit was my basal dose. As long as I was on Basal, I would go low every night, so I slowly, over a few week period, kept reducing my basal until I was getting fewer lows. After a few weeks, I had worked down to no longer using basal, and my low nights went away. I only take fast-acting Humalog as required.
Thanks for sharing. A few questions, if I may. Do you watch your carb intake or monitor your calories? What keeps you steady on this diet? For me it would be significantly lowering my A1c while still enjoying meals. Nights are endless when I can’t eat. Guess I still need to accommodate this new pattern.
I eat OMAD (One meal a day) at lunch. Breakfast is always the easiest to skip. I watch carbs and totally flatline and do not have any dawn phenomenon eating low carb/high fat, huge fan of avocados. From avocado smoothies, to chocolate avocado mousse, I treat myself to avocado pretty much daily. I do alternate and have low carb/protein days, but need to be careful because I gain weight at the sight of protein but eat it with salad to help gain muscle mass. My issue with protein is that it stays in my blood for 2+ days, which means dawn phenomenon and harder to manage insulin because I need to take insulin both backward looking based on the protein I ate + bolus or pre-bolus for my current meal.
Wow! I don’t think I could do that. I get it, though, the less you eat (esp. carbs), and by not eating often, you minimize your insulin needs. Do you find you eat enough to keep you active long term?
I have tried intermittent fasting and OMAD, mostly for weight loss purposes. OMAD was tough because I’d eat such a big meal, it would make me spike later. I like eating breakfast too, so IF wasn’t sustainable for me in the long run.
Since weight loss truly boils down to calories in vs calories out, I have found that if I just track my food intake that works the best for me.
There is nothing magical about IF. There’s debate about how legitimate “autophagy” is. So do what works for you and makes you happy.
Also - read this: Ketosis vs. Ketoacidosis: What’s the Difference? (healthline.com)
Yes, I have sufficient food to keep me active long term. I am 76 and still working full time. Although I could afford to retire 35 years ago, I come from a family of workers and love my work so until I find something I would prefer doing, retirement is not yet on the horizon. My work facility is large so I walk about 8,000 steps a day at work and live at the base of a mountain so walk an additional 14,000 steps on the mountain when it is not raining or snowing. My goal is 22,000 steps a day +/- 2000. Additionally I do 120 push ups 3 times a week to keep muscle mass in my arms. I live alone so have all the regular household chores and host staff from my overseas offices on a regular basis and take care of them at my home as well. Living countryside, the closest hotels are 15 miles away and being in a deep blue state, the hotels have been pretty much taken over by immigrants being housed and fed by the state.
IF is a habit and you just have to try it to see if it suits your needs and lifestyle. For me it works well.
It seems you have figured it out for yourself, that makes you very fortunate. Do you ever test for ketones? I never have, even though as active Type 1 diabetic I probably should.
Blood or urine?
Yes, when I first went on this diet I promptly went into ketosis “keto flue” which was promptly fixed taking diet Powerade for electrolytes before my afternoon walk. At that time, until my routine was established I used the Keto-mojo meter to measure ketones. I did not use that meter for BG.
Thanks! Your responses have been quite helpful. What time do you eat your one meal?same time daily?
I listen to the national news recap at noon, then the local news recap at 12:06 and then start lunch at 12:07 each day. I prebolus 11:50 AM
Blood. Urine means nothing. It’s not clear to me that ketone testing is especially useful for T1s doing OMAD, Keto (real keto, not the checkout line magazine keto) or fasting. I’ve done some variety or other of all three and my ketones hit levels which very much exceed normal levels. This is just scary; we’re humans, we evolved to live with not having anything to eat for a while!
Ketones are useful for me because if I have an undetected pump failure the ketone blood test can distinguish between a high blood glucose caused by incorrect boluses and one caused by no insulin.
For T1s not using pumps I don’t think ketones contribute much however I’m not denying the use for keto diets.
Urine ketones never helped me for 50 years of MDI (well, SDI at the start).
Since my diagnosis nearly four years ago, and except for the first several weeks when I was making up for dangerous weight loss by eating like literally a cup of nuts for breakfast plus eating regular lunch and dinner, I have stopped eating breakfast and never snack. So I eat lunch around 1:00, dinner around 6:30, and go to bed around 11:30. My main reason was to just have the “intermittent fasting” time where my blood sugar wouldn’t be so subject to food fluctuations. I think others who eat three meals a day and even snack can keep better control than me. For some reason my numbers fluctuate a lot (my last A1C was 6, which I am trying to get back down for the next time to around 5.7). But for me it really helps. It would be worse if I ate normally. I rarely eat a meal with more than 80 carbs, and frequently the number of carbs is much lower.
I think the key is, experiment/play around (safely), and figure out what works best for you, as you’ve done. And remember nothing (for most people, most of the time) is a magic bullet. Just some things work better than others, depending on the person and their lifestyle.
Anyway good luck! Kudos to good management!
Thank you o much. What a healthy philosophy you embody. My main reason for IF as well, is to have a time out from eating, when my BG numbers would stabilize.
My husband and I bicycle a lot, tomorrow we are planning a 40 mile ride with others with dinner to follow. I am needing to learn to navigate a compromise between what I would do if entirely on my own (eat breakfast at 10am, a small snack, power bar or fruit mid day and dinner between 4-5 pm).
The vagaries of days with friends and fellow cyclists will make it difficult to stick to a strict adherence every day, but I am trying not to get derailed when days necessitate a different eating schedule and get myself back on track the next day.
So hard! But like you said, nothing is a magic bullet, and life interferes, as perhaps it should! I have to remember no one is grading me.
All I really want is to see a drop in my A!c across time and to not to always feel I have to (should) be doing better.
Again, many thanks for sharing your journey.
Susan
You’re so welcome.
While I don’t bicycle, I do hike a fair amount. I’ve noticed that on say a 1-hour hike, my basal insulin (6 units of glargine) keeps me stable. But if I do say a 2-hour hike, my bg can start dropping a bit too much during that second hour of the hike, even without any short-acting insulin in my system. (That’s another reason I don’t eat breakfast–that way I can exercise in the morning after some coffee and not have the blood sugar issues, and accompanying physical symptoms, resulting from a meal. It makes walking/hiking so much more pleasant-feeling, and more stress-free. I do keep a couple of Lifesavers in my pocket, just in case…).
Anyway, I’ve noticed exercise more than anything else can have significant effects on blood sugar. I hope your bike ride goes really well! Again, so much is just trial and error and figuring things out for your own body. Just be prepared w/ fast-acting sugar (prob don’t need to mention this, I know), and maybe for longer stints, something like nuts would be good to add in as well. Best of luck!
I’m transitioning to Keto Carnivore and whoa I feel good. But I accidently stumbled on something. If I inject my Tresiba at 6:30 am there is time between when my dose from yesterday tapers off and the current day begins. I have been able to hold off on eating till about 12 or 1 most days. It’s perfect.
Now for the days I am running low I can use coffee with almond milk and artificially spike my glucose. All this is while I am teaching yoga and Pilates from 9-12 daily. Some days I don’t even require fast acting insulin.