Is a low-carb diet a must?

Weight gain is the other issue. Higher carb=more insulin=weight gain=more insulin.

There are people who can eat pretty much whatever they like & get doses spot on, which is fantastic. I can’t. I hate lows with a passion.

Zoe,

We have a lot in common. I was misdiagnosed as Type 2 also and I love food/cooking/international cuisine.

Actually, I don’t understand yet why BG swings are bad. What are the consequences to my health? I understand why highs are bad and why lows are bad but not why the actual “swinging” is bad.

Also, I disagree with you about Blizzards and Type 2. Everything I’ve read says that eating a lot of carbs does not cause diabetes.

I love the SF area. You’re lucky to live there. My son lived there last year and it was great to visit him. Now he’s in Santa Rosa studying sustainable agriculture at the community college. A long way from Wisconsin! He loves California. Me, too!

BG swings are bad because this causes damage to blood vessels, which in turn leads to damage to nerves & organs. Bodies must maintain homestatis to stay regulated to avoid fluctations in various systems to function properly. Severe fluctuations cause stress, real stress, & potential damage. In a non-diabetic person, highs or lows are immediately corrected by the pancreas secreting insulin or by the liver releasing glucagon. We aren’t able to moderate this internally with instant corrections.

Everything is related to everything else with intricate regulatory & counter regulatory chemical responses involving every body system–circulation, hormones, etc. That’s a simplified explanation. Think what happens when you’re cold or hot due to outside temperature or illness. The temp is hot, so you sweat to cool your body to keep functioning at its optimal 98.6 temp. It’s cold, your body sends blood to warm vital organs & your extremeties are cold because blood is needed elsewhere for more important functions.

Yes, it does sound like we have a lot in common, Janet! So you are actually LADA as well? My love for food is something I didn’t want to lose (and also I have 15 years recovery from an eating disorder, so being happy with how I eat is important to me). I find I don’t need to give up my foodie nature, but it does take a bit more work. I’m still working on the eating out thing which is a lot more complicated imho.

I wasn’t saying that eating a lot of carbs cause diabetes. I understand that the etiology of Type 2 is controversial and complex and so I don’t have any opinion one way or another. I was saying that for a Type 1 or LADA, eating lots of carbs and covering them with more and more insulin is feeding the insulin and can lead over time to both weight gain and insulin resistance which makes managing Type 1 more complex.

Hi, Janet, throw me in with yourself and Zoe – LADA vegetarians, UNITE!

Party!!!

We’re gonna have an awesome potluck.

I’ll bring the hummus, whole wheat pita, and homegrown tomatoes.

:slight_smile:

Well, if we can make it low-carb pita! I am not using insulin, yet!

Hi Marps: Just let people who tell you such nonsense where the “no sugar for diabetics” diet came from. Before 1922 and the discovery/use of insulin, newly diagnosed people with Type 1 diabetes were put on a starvation/no sugar diet. Doctors could keep those Type 1s alive for about 1 year, while they wasted away and then died of starvation/ketoacidosis. That’s the actual origin of the no sugar diet. I have told that to the not-so-well-meaning people who tell me not to eat sugar, and for some reason those people don’t pursue me any further :wink:

Maybe we could print little info cards to hand people when they give us grief:) When I’m low & correcting, I don’t have the patience to explain things. I usually say something like: I know what I’m doing, thanks for your concern & then glare.

I’ll bring the spinach and goat cheese pie. Lovely Viognier I had with it last night. You know, Linda, I never found any low carb pitas in my store! Low carb tortillas yes, although I discovered that when I bought sun dried tomato ones to make pinwheels for a potluck they actually had enough fiber in them that I could subtract it from the carbs and it turned out the same! Making chile rellanos tonight, not the kind with batter but with creme sauce. In Guatemala the chile rellanos had meat in them, so I forgot I could order them when I went into a Mexican restaurant here the other day.

Some of us still follow the no sugar idea, Melitta. YMMV.

Zoe that sounds SO good!

My husband looks for the low carb pitas each time he goes to the grocery, but they seem to only get them in once a month. We have Toufayan brand here and they are pretty good.

I am supposed to see the Endo Monday! After my last bean experiences, I bet she puts me on bolusing only. My fastings are all in the 80’s and 90’s these days!

I make a spinach and tofu (or cottage cheese) pie with walnut crust. Another reason to look forward to cooler weather!

Bean experiences? I didn’t hear about that; only that you wanted to see what happened if you ate more pasta, ate 1/2 cup, came out fine, and we had suggested you try a larger amount.

Zoe,

Melitta was referring to Marps post about correcting lows–using sugar, which is correct.

I don’t really see any post with Marps talking about correcting lows using sugar and was reacting a bit to the description of the idea that diabetics should avoid sugar as “nonsense”. But I think that treating lows too is a a YMMV thing. Some people seem to prefer OJ, some glucose tabs and some sweets. I also hear a lot about people who use sweets and find themselves experiencing strong hunger, eating way too much and going high, so I’m not too sure how well that works.

Zoe,

Marps’ post is above. She mentions people telling her not to eat sugar when she’s correcting a low. Yes, OJ, glucose tabs, candy, whatever–sugar to treat hypos. Doesn’t matter the form of the sugar as long as it’s in a quickly acting form to treat lows fast.

People can over-correct because they may not know how many grams of sugar will raise their BG how many points, or when experiencing a severe low you don’t think clearly, or because lows induce severe hunger as a survival mechanism. Whatever the reason, sugar is what is indicated to correct hypos. So yes, it works well.

Dear Janet.

The famous Dr. Bernstein’s law of small numbers explain simply why He recommends as little carb as possible. Basically because it is impossible to cover carbs by external injection accurately like the normal body does it. the more carbs you eat the bigger will be the error.

Ah, I see the communication glitch here (though I still can’t see a post by Marps about treating lows!). You refer to it all as “sugar” which, of course, is correct. Because I came into all this with fifteen years recovery from an eating disorder in which I never eat “sugar”, I 'think of glucose tabs as “medicine” not “sugar”. Psychological distinction that works for me. I don’t think as many people overdo glucose tabs as cookies, though, for obvious reasons!

Actually, how can you say an A1C of 7.4 is not very good? Let’s look at a hypothetical case: An A1C of 7.4% from someone who used to have one of 9% is GOOD. It shows a downward trend.

And, as Dino pointed out, because A1Cs do not show the fluctuation of blood glucose, an A1C of 7.4 achieved by someone who did so without massive fluctuations may be very good indeed. Especially if it’s part of the journey toward sensible, doable, achievable for a lifetime diabetes control.

Just wanted to add my 2 cents that A1Cs do fluctuate and judging someone on their A1C, which is just one blood reading in a lifetime of diabetes, is neither fair nor particularly supportive.

Just want to comment on the higher carbs=more insulin=weight gain=more insulin statement.

It’s excess calories–whatever their nutrient source–that lead to weight gain (with or without the use of outside insulin). Excess calories from carbs and excess calories from protein are still excess calories.

Now, there are other things going on which contribute to the weight gain. Lack of protein can increase feelings of hunger. So if a carb-rich diet includes inadequate protein and/or healthy fats, it may be very, very easy to feel hungry and overeat.