I agree...love veggies, fruits, low carb whole wheat organic breads (never spike me), low carb yogurts. had a fiber one bar last night (full of white flour, sugar, ha!) = 18 carbs, bolused and went low. if one's I:CR is 'right' then carbs aren't the enemy, well..i guess in moderation...there is a limit I suppose. But I wouldn't know what to eat if I couldn't enjoy fruits and such, breads too (i just buy the lower, healthy carb versions). I myself don't like all the bacon, heavy fat stuff, never have. But, that's just me.
"I:CR is 'right' then carbs aren't the enemy" that wasn't true for me- I just can't handle a lot or some carbs period and I suspect I'm not alone by a large margin in that with alot of pwd. I didn't sensitize myself to carbs by going lo carb.. I went lo carb because I discovered just how sensitive I am to any type of carbs.
Just as an example today I ate the following:
Breakfast - nuts, eggs, bacon, mushrooms
Lunch - salad, flaxseeds, avocado, cucumber, tuna
Snack - nuts, salami
Dinner - chicken soup, meat, chocolate (99% cocoa)
CHO 6 + 12 + 6 + 12
Proteins 15 + 35 + 15 + 35
Fats MUCH
Right now I'm living abroad (another continent), getting use to local products and seeking out for new stuff.
I also eat bread, fruit and dairy every day and try to eat fruit at every meal. I'm lucky - I can manage a moderate carb diet (maybe 160 per day) without having too many highs.
Doctors and dieticians are absolutely appalled when I tell them how little carbs I eat. Until they demanded I eat more and I gave it a shot for about two months which made my A1C higher than ever and even whole wheat with blousing 30 minutes ahead of time would send me soaring to over 300 and not come down for hours. This way of life works for me and I feel great. I've been yelled at by a few doctors.
Typical 20-30 carbs a day:
Breakfast- 1 egg and 3 egg whites topped with salsa and sour cream
Lunch- 1-2 oz cheese, 2 oz turkey, 3 boiled egg whites
Snack- Pork rinds or almonds and sugar free jello
Dinner- About 6-8 ozs of meat along with an xl salad or 4 cups of veggies
Cocoa almonds are AMAZING!!!
I have the SAME issue! Even chicken makes my blood sugar go over 200 :( I've tried upping my carbs for a while to become less carbohydrate sensitive but it doesn't help :( I don't know how diabetics eat "normal" food! My doctor says I'm just very glucose intolerant and carb sensitive.
didn't you just have a baby not too long ago, did you eat like this when pregnant? aren't you really concerned too with gaining weight when you weigh about as much (or little) as i do, 105 or something? i don't know...there's no calcium there, no fiber. 1 cup of veggies alone is 10 carbs. hum, i'm sure there are carbs you can eat, a real carb, like the rest of us...but if this is what makes you feel good, then, that's what matters. i could never eat like this and not have to bolus for that amount of protein, can't imagine it being too good on a type 1's kidneys..but maybe it's not an issue. good luck!
I drink about 2 cups of unsweetened almond milk a day.
I also have "cheat" days once or twice a week where I double my calories and eat very high fat. I do bolus for my protein but typically I just bolus about .5-.8 and increase my temp basal after my meals, especially dinner. I never eat more than 1 gram of protein per my body weight but I average about 65 grams of protein per day. Some days I also do vegetarian days which my blood sugar really seems to like.
And yes I ate low carb very high fat high protein meals every 2 hours when pregnant and only weighed 120 lbs on the day of delivery but my A1C was kept under 5 and my baby was absolutely perfect and healthy.
Im in the 100c/day group(no grains or processed food, all from veggies and nuts), and this works great for me. If you can do 30c/day and maintain your quality of life, by all means do it. for me, I am very active w/ biking/calisthenics and burn through a huge amount of calories in a week, and if I try to cut out more carbs from my diet my weight starts to plummet. I actually have to force myself to eat extra on my biking days to maintain body mass(which isn't always easy for a diabetic!). I know I could load up on healthy fats like olive oil or extra meat to get more calories, but that isn't practical for me and I do believe in a somewhat balanced diet macronutrient-wise.
I am able to maintain near-perfect control on 100c/day. I just got the dexcom g4 a few days ago, and so far ive only had it go above 100 one time(and my meter said I was only at 90). the cgm reads a flat line after all of my meals, including lunch when I typically eat the most(monster salad, huge bowl of veggies, and 6-8 oz meat. requires 3.5-4 unit bolus and I am very insulin sensitive). So for me, as long as I avoid grains and processed foods(those throw me way off!), I can eat moderate carb and still maintain dr.bernstein-approved control.
Just shows how different diabetes can be for each individual!
So do your numbers! If I had numbers like that I'd return my pump and say it had all been a mistake; I must have had some rare transient disease that just looks like Type 1 Diabetes! Good work! (Any thoughts on what percent is the "luck of the draw" and what percent the exercise?)
Aren't the 4 cups of veggies 40 carbs in themselves, Lil MaMa? (I count a cup as 10 if cooked, 5 if raw)
Same here. It is so hard!
I don't do low carb. I eat 300 to 400 carbs a day. Most days I keep my BG between 65 and 140. I do have some highs and lows. My last A1C was 5.8 and my endo wanted me to go up to a 6 because she said I was having to many lows. Eating the way I do I would think I should be putting on weight but I have lost 5 lbs in the last month. I swim 3 to 4 times a week and also unicycle 3 to 4 times a week.
It's typically lettuce or broccoli which I count as 4 carbs per cup.
lol, I wish that were the case! unfortunately, if I stray at all from my diet and exercise regimen, my bgs start to look more like a diabetic again!
I would say its about 25% exercise/75% everything else. I do notice if I don't exercise for several days my fasting bgs will rise. However, my bgs are harder to control during exercise. Now that I have my cgm, I notice my levels drop drastically while im on my bike and go back to normal again soon after.
I was only dxed 2 yrs ago so I may have some indigenous insulin production left. I don't believe this plays a large part though, because I have to bolus for any little bit of food I eat, and if I eat any kind of grain or processed food my bg goes well above 'normal' levels(>120).
So I guess I would say its mostly diet, specifically the grains and processed foods...and maybe a little 'luck of the draw'
Thanks for the "analysis", Shawn. I'm always interested in other type 1's experiences. Re-reading your post I realize that when someone says they eat "100 carbs a day", even though in general I believe that a carb is a carb, it does make a difference that none is from grains! I usually eat less than that, sometimes significantly less, but I do eat some grains occasionally. No processed foods though. Well unless you count vegie burgers and vegie sausage. I used to hate "fake meat" but as a vegetarian trying to keep her carbs down I have to resort to it at times. My old "go to" before diagnosis when I didn't have any time to cook was those gourmet ravioli and tortellini you get in the fridge case! Anyway, good work!
1 cup of any veggie is typically 10 carbs. also, the thing with protein, if you're eating mostly protein, you do a 50% bolus...7 grams of protein/ounce. let's say you eat 5 ounces of chicken, 5 X 7 = 35 (50%) divide in half = 17.5 you would bolus for as carbs. So, maybe you're not calculating correctly? Also, as I've mentioned...if one doesn't eat enough carbs and just is bolusing for protein, veggies, then yeah, we as type 1's aren't using the analog insulins effectively and you'll go high. Analog insulins are designed to work with carbs. I think maybe you're basal might be off, it can throw off everything, in terms of I:CR. If you read on here, many eat normal food. There's no special 'trick' to it. Some foods effect us all differently but you can make yourself very carb sensitive. You say you eat s/free pudding. That spikes the hell out of me, it's only 6 grams of carbs but it will spike me. I'd say, go try a fiber one bar, low fat, fiber (tastes good) 18 carbs, pre bolus, wait 20 minutes if not low, bolus for the 18 grams of carbs only 90 calories, make sure your basal/bolus is correct and see? It's never ever spiked me. Some of us do better at different times of the day, too. Good luck!
Do you bolus for protein? I find that eating low carb that I must bolus for protein. I figure that 50% of protein grams is equivalent to carb grams. Since protein digests much more slowly than carbs, I deliver the protein bolus over time limiting the max rate to 1.2 units per hour. This is my rate, found through experimentation, although I've read on this site others that use approximately this regimen.
I eat about 50-75 grams of carbs/day and have been doing this for just over a year.
pw - A high fat, low carb, and low protein perfect food is the avocado. A 7.2 ounce California avocado has 21 grams of fat, 2.6 grams net carbs, and 2.7 grams of protein. I imagine that avocados are grown in Spain, too. I usually eat four to six avocados per week. I love them and so do my BGs!