I have decided after 33 years of living on a roller coaster (last 12 with a pump), it is time to go low carb. Only 5 days into it and I have seen great results—5 days with all but 2 BG under 140 and none over 180 and I’ve cut my insulin from 28U to 20U a day. When I talked to an endocrine nurse today she was wondering why I was doing this when my numbers are so good FOR A TYPE 1. That’s the reason right there, I don’t want to be just good enough. Mostly, what I want is to feel better and live another 33 years, or more, complication free.
The other thing I like about eating less carbs is that it’s so much less work!
Curious… what do most people mean by low carb? Bernstein’s 6grams, 12 grams and 12 grams, or is there a middle ground? What constitutes low carb? In other words, how low must you go to get the benefits described?
The curves, both up and down, aren’t as steep so if you get a bit off, the bit seems to be smaller and less of a chore to manage? If I’m at 72 w/ .3U on board, I’ll fix it w/ a very small snack but, if I’m at 72 w/ 5U on board (not to mention a bunch of fatty uh, whatever…) it is a bit more of a chore to fix? similarly, if my BG is headed up at 120 but there’s less food “pushing” it, it’ll go 119-121-123-124-124-123 and I don’t have to do anything. Of, OTOH, it goes 110-121-131-???, the ??? is a bit of a concern, even with a bunch of insulin on board? How high will it go, should I do something now or wait and do something later?
It seems to be a very ambiguous term. When you consider that some people eat as much or more than 300g of carbs a day, then what low carb is must be a comparison to what you were eating before! Personally, I am aiming at 60g a day, mostly because I won’t give up milk. But it has done the job for me, because I have lost 27 lb. in the last 6 months (that I put on by bingeing on carbs), and my BGs are below 140 almost all the time (except when I binge!), and I’m having fewer lows than I did when I ate more carbs. A non-diabetic friend of mine who was morbidly obese lost a lot of weight by aiming at <100g a day. So I think it varies according to the person, and what they can tolerate. But I DON’T think you have to go as extreme as Bernstein to see benefits.
Hi Lisa,
Wow — I could have written practically the same post! 23 years with D (5 on a pump), mostly on a BG roller coaster, A1cs in the 6s. “You’re doing great!” all the endos have said. “For a Type 1.”
Now 4 days into low carb … same flatlines and same insulin reduction. Woo hoo!
Hope you stay in the zone!
That is great. I have followed low carb for going on six years. I’ve followed strict Bernstein level regimes at 30 g/day as well as at higher levels. I actually seem to go into ketosis below about 75-100 g/day, which is about where I am at now. To me, there are two major benefits that matter. First, Dr. B’s “law of small numbers.” Eat smaller amounts of carbs at meals/snacks, require smaller covering boluses and get smaller errors. Second, the low carb diet puts your body into a metabolically healthy state where you burn fat, become lean, stop craving carbs and feel energized.
It sounds like you have had a great 5 days. But we all know that life with D is a marathon. You will really only know if this diet works for you if you are still being successful 3 months from now and a year from now.
I am really confused by the whole “carb” thing. My father was a T1 (diagnosed in the 1950s, died from complications in the 80s) and he was always told to eat a moderate to low amount of carbohydrates in order to control his blood sugars. I always assumed that a low-ish carb diet was the model diabetic diet.
Fast forward to today. I am T1 and in my recent meeting with a nutritionist, she thought my daily carb intake of around 100g carbs/day was too low and she said I should increase this to around 200 gr/day. HOWEVER, reducing the number of carbs I eat clearly has a positive impact on my BGs. They are more stable and I require less insulin overall compared to when I splurge and eat closer to that 200 gr/day mark.
So, what’s the deal? What is better for you? My endo was not at all opposed to my lower-carb approach and agreed that if it was helping my BGs and I wasn’t spilling ketones, I should be fine. Like you, I want to live a long and healthy life, or at least healthy for the time that I have.
Lisa,
CONGRATULATIONS on finding this way to go! It is such a relief when one finds the small numbers are so easy to deal with and time spent on diabetes becomes so little and non-harried over ups and downs.
I stick to under 40 a day. My endocrinologist is happy with my a1c, 5.7, and we talk about what his children are doing and what my grandchildren are doing for the 6 minutes. He believes in what works. I wouldn’t see a dietitian over my dead body.
I wonder if we shouldn’t promote a continuing education module for nurses on this subject. I’m not qualified to do one for dietitians but someone who is ought to get on it. There have got to be some dietitians with type 1 around.
Leo, You have touched on a sore subject in my household. My wife is studying to be a dietitian and has recently taken a test concerning diabetes. From skimming the textbook relating to diabetes it seems dated, like the type of stuff I was told in the 1980s when diagnosed. The textbook is set up for her to create a diet for a diabetic in a nursing home or maybe newly diagnosed. The 2 features that stuck out to me were 55-60% calories from carbs and old school exchanges (starch = 15g, dairy = 12g, etc.).
Last night she tryed to “help me” with my diet and it did not go well. She was trying to explain to me that I did not need to be so rigid with my diet and could experiment more with foods and should eat more carbs (been reducing carbs recently with good success due to posts like these). My argument being that this system works well for me and if I experiment that my A1C will suffer. I think she believes her textbook beat my 20+ years of experience. The “law of small numbers” does not compute with her and an A1C of 6.5 is plenty sufficient (Thats what the American Dietetics Association and American Diabetes Association recomend). I am not looking forward to the next time she gives me tips on what to eat.
My point being: dietetics are doing as they are trained and to the best of thier ability. With all the dieatary issues that she must learn about, T1 is just skimmed over.
I really want an endo that will let me do my own thing. I often go and meet with all these “medical professionals” and it’s like they want to just make everything “by the book.” I understand there are guidelines they are supposed to follow, but I have no idea why my body does what it does. It just does and I feel educated enough to know how to respond. Anyway, I really just want someone to prescribe my insulin and supplies, be there if I have questions, and send me on my way.
If you think Type 1 is skimmed over, the 55% carb diet is even worse for Type 2’s. I recently listened to a presentation by a Stanford University Dietetics professor (can’t remember the name), link provided by BadMoon2 – this guy was a 25-year vegetarian, and set out to compare 4 diets ranging from Ornish (low-fat) to Standard American Diet, to the Zone (low-carb) (I know I left one out – can’t remember). His subjects were not diabetic.
He had a lot to say, but the salient point that stuck out was that insulin-sensitive people did pretty much equally well on both low fat and low carb, but that insulin-resistant people did significantly better on low-carb. Lipids were better, more weight loss, and I don’t know what else, but it was obvious that he hadn’t been prepared for this result. So he stuck to the idea that low saturated fat is better, and eat mostly veggies, but at least he admitted that carbs were harmful to insulin-resistant people. That’s pretty brave for someone who probably had believed the line for so many years.
As for your wife, Capin, the role of carbs and insulin resistance SHOULDN’T be skipped over, since such a high percentage of the population is insulin resistant, even if they don’t have diabetes. If they don’t teach it in school, I would encourage her to learn about it on her own, because when she goes into practice, she will see it over and over again. It has a major impact on all those other diseases that she will have to design diets for, and there will be plenty of people who really need to lose weight. And most of them will be insulin resistant.
I feel sorry for all those people who are being fed the high-carb line, and can’t figure out why they can’t lose weight!
A conscientious diabetic who tests and notes their reactions to various foods is the best expert on their body and should be given more leeway. Ideally this persons treatment should be a collaboration, this is the recipe for successful treatment. There are people who just want to be told what to do and their relationship with their Dr. should be different and more top down
You sound like me DogLady; when I tell my brother my criteria for a good doctor for me is someone who “doesn’t bother me”, he just groans.
20+ years of experience trumps a text book any day IMO!
I will win her over (I hope), but its baby steps right now and I know we are going to trip and skin our knee from time to time. I feel like the American Dietetics Association has brainwashed her!
When I first found the DOC a few years ago, I was eating about 115 calories a day. Although not low carb, it was better than a lot of people do. I cut a few things out & was down to 85 carbs a day and now I am down to 45 a day. I have gastroparesis and it is hard to find a balance because the easy to digest foods are high carb foods that I try to avoid. I use Boost every day to get some of the nutrition I can’t get with food I can eat and that has 16 grams of carbs. It has been a challenge because of stomach issues, but I am trying to keep it as low carb as possible.
Hopefully you can un-brainwash her! Maybe if she can see your Flatlines with a day on your diet as opposed to the rollercoasters with a day on her diet, she will see the light.
Dr. Beirnstein said it best: Small inputs equal small mistakes.
The fewer carbs you eat, the less you inject, the less you go low. It’s just a great circle of good.
Good luck girl!
Thanks Kelly, the real problem lies that she just does not understand T1 well enough. I have shown her some flatlines but I just dont think she gets it (I don’t expect a non-diabetic to get it). She looks at flatlines as a fun game.
She now understands the “recomended” ADA diet for diabetics and how to set one up. But, no one asks a dietician (at least her) about the other crucial component, insulin. Maybe its like trying to climb a ladder with one leg?
I apprecieate that she is trying to increase my knowledge base, but believe that her advise is poor. She has just gained all this textbook knowledge and of course wants to give it a whirl and help me be the healthiest I can be.