my diet is low carb (the only carbs i eat come from my veggies) i allow myself an unlimited amount of green vegetables (spinach, cale, cuccumbers ect.) i usually dont need to cover for them, but whenever i eat a red pepper i seem to rise a bit. any nutritional difference between the green and red? and does anybody think the unlimited greens will counteract the low carb process?
I think the number of carbs that will make you rise a bit but shouldn’t really be enough to be a ton of carbs?
The question is–how many carbs are you eating, including the unlimited green veggies? Even low carb vegetables add up, of course. What’s your low carb goal? Weight loss? BG control? Less insulin? If you’re achieving what you want, then that’s what matters.
Red peppers have a lot more Vit A & more Vit C than green peppers, which is usually the case with more ripe veggies. Red peppers are green peppers that have ripened. Red peppers have slightly more carbs. One cup red pepper: 5.5 gr carbs & 1.9 gr fiber. One cup green pepper: 4.3 gr carbs & 1.6 gr fiber.
Thank you!
All of those are my goals. I would say my primary goal is better BG control. But my control is not bad, i am just always looking for different ways to fine tune it. I eat tons of greens. I think they are the staple of my diet. I am constantly steaming spinach and kale throughout the day. And always have a ziplock of sliced peppers. Aside from the greens and veggies I eat eggs, fish, and nuts in moderation. I have recently cut out dairy and noticed a great difference in my weight and numbers…but lately i have been sneaking some cheese, i’m trying to cut that out fully though.
Are you going to get enough calories if you cut out cheese and you only eat protein in moderation? Assume your making up the difference with fat other than cheese.
i eat a lot of eggs, egg whites, fish, meat and tofu. most of my protein comes from eggs and fish. i have to cut out cheese because i cant control myself!
Wonderful that you eat so many leafy greens. Also great that you don’t have to cover them.
i walk a lot throughout the day, usually after meals, i find that it really helps my numbers. i also take symlin which has helped a lot.
Do you test later with Symlin than you normally would? Know it delays stomach emptying & wondering how that works with postprandial testing especially with high fiber veggies.
It sort of seems like you are pretty much controlling yourself? I wouldn’t worry about cheese that much? I totally agree that eating lots of leafy veggies is a great idea. I started pounding a lot more veggies in the last month or so and feel much stronger and less burnt after running and was sort of suprised that it only seemed to take a couple of weeks to feel livlier? At the same time, I don’t usually even bother counting stuff like cheese as it’s only a carb or two? I can see that your total is undoubtedly a lot lower than mine but I don’t see a huge difference from +/- 10% either way?
Glad things are going well for you, Lynne. How many carbs do you eat? Eating tons of fruit, bread & sweets isn’t low carb.
Many pitfalls to eating whatever you want & why limiting carbs helps control diabetes. Since you’re recently diagnosed, you’ll experience many changes in I:C ratio as time goes on. As doses increase, the predictabliity of how insulin reacts decreases. It’s not as simple as x dose covers y carbs. If only it were, then everyone would be fine. No doubt you’ve read the many posts about the struggles of fighting frequent highs & lows. The swing between the two is damaging & mentally & physically exhausting. Large doses also increase the likelihood of developing resistance.
Fact is that we’re not normal & injected insulin isn’t anywhere close to the real thing.
I’ve never had a weight problem & want to keep it that way… Insulin is a fat storing hormone & excess quickly puts on the pounds.
Fructose in fruit is problematic for people with or without diabetes. Unlike glucose, fructose is metabolized by the liver. Fructose raises triglycerides. It also adversely effects the hormone leptin. Fructose lowers the sensitivity of insulin receptors. High fructose consumption contributes to mineral loss.
People without diabetes follow low carb as a healthier way to live to improve lipid profiles, prevent heart disease & for increased energy, to name just a few. Many attribute specific diseases to high carb diets.
I think too that diabetes is a lot less work eating less carbs. I am by no means a “low carb” person but eat a lot less than I used to and am usually very conservative during the day, particularly during the week. That piles up a lot of days where my BG is 70-90 for 8ish hours. Then, of course, I come home and start pounding recreational carbs and do ok BG wise but it is more work, more testing, more bolusing, etc.
For me, personally, it is the cumulative total. Even lots of greens will add up and require more insulin to break down the carbs in them. Also, if you’re eating these things with a lot of fat (i.e., olive oil, cheese, etc), that too could cause you to spike. What are you eating other than these greens?
While I am sometimes able to eat a small salad without bolusing (assuming that my basal rate is set correctly), I generally have to bolus a little for even greens. But everyone is different.
I think 40-50 carbs qualifies as “low carb” by many definitions? I am sort of wierd about fruit as I’m not a big fan but I think that it may have some potential to be “freer”?
You said you eat “tons of fruit, bread & sweets.” One or two pieces of bread & around one cup of berries isn’t a lot & you’re certainly not piling up on carbs.
Indeed, most T1s eat whatever. The problem is to bolus appropriately. You have only to read here to see how iffy that is. Afraid it’s more complex than just learning ratios & keeping active.
Most diabetics eat far more than 40-50 carbs daily.
Gaining weight on insulin isn’t a myth.
Most people are introduced to diabetes with a referral to a dietician too! I went for a “refresher” when I got my pump, thinking there’d be “new discoveries” and that they’d be able to help me continue my efforts to lose weight however she recommended 135-225G of carbs/ day, 3x 30-45 meals and 3x 15-30G snacks.
I rarely eat > 150, which is still quite a bit but only about 40 before 5:00. Then, when the sun goes down, muwahahahahaha… although I have still managed to lose weight while doing that, it may be that the running contributes some to it, although the “easy” Taubes’ book seemed to suggest that wasn’t the case?
Feel free to do research on insulin & weight gain. You’re eating low carb at 40-50 & have a great A1c as a result… A sports event with athletic types & listing celebs who have to stay thin-- these aren’t the average diabetic.
Did you read Mary Type Moores book? It would be quite a mistake to suggest that a T1 can just eat whatever they want and just bolus. In general, a T1 (in fact any diabetic) will have to struggle more than a non-diabetic over weight issues.
It is not just the weight factor but the complication factor. Both Mary Tyler Moore and Brett Michaels have complications. Hallie Barry is not a Type 1.
A lot of people pouring down the carbs think if they are under 140 at 2 hours, they are doing good. There are more and more studies showing that those spikes from “eating what you want” are more dangerous than staying high all the time. I had good control per the people that feel as long as you are back under 140 two hours later, you are doing good. Guess what I ended up with?
I have seen you say several times that your CDE says that everyone goes up after eating. That is not true. Go look at the Flatliners group here. When people are posting pictures of their 24 hour flatlines, they talk about the stuff that they ate to get them there - they aren’t eating whatever they want.
When I first Apidra, I did a test with an apple. I started in the 80s and tested every 15 minutes. At a half hour mark, I was in the 140s and back to the 80s at the hour mark. That spike is why people like Dr. Bernstein say that fruit is not good.
I eat whatever I want most of the time, maybe not quite as much as I used to. I guess I’d have to admit that I watch portion sizes pretty closely but a lot of stuff that people say “[food group] is bad” I seem to be able to manage OK with?
Chartwise, I think I’m close to not being overweight but am not quite there, but the doctor recently said “oh don’t worry about the chart, you’ve got a lot of muscle” in front of the 12 year old!. I don’t like to say anything is impossible.
I am going to be on the DL for a few weeks after the race as I’m having an umbilical hernia repaired after the race next weekend so I will be eating less without the running to do whatever it does, although I still wonder if Taubes’ suggestion that if you work out more you’ll just eat more is entirely correct too? The people who are running ultramarathons in our running group are pretty slim, don’t appear to have a lot of fat and recount eating pizza, pasta and other “foods of doom” pretty regularly.
I watched at least 2, maybe 3 seasons of “Rock of Love” and Brett was lookin’ a bit chunky in some of them?