Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Brian (bsc) on January 1, 2013 at 7:28am

There are certainly different opinions on some of these matters. I actually find that lowered carb intake in itself has no effect on metabolic rate. Many people adopting a low carb diet report boosts in energy. There are some who think that very low carb diets can lead to a downregulation of your thyroid and a lowering of your metabolic rate, but most people won't reach that level.

As to low carb diets leading to carb sensitivity, I think a better term would be carb intolerance. Having run on a low carb diet for a long time, my body burns fat efficiently, but is not used to carbs. I don't have the gut flora and my body is oriented towards taking up only small amounts of glucose.

And I really don't think it is fair to focus on low carb diets as increasing risk for eating disorders. Low carb diets, many of which don't restrict caloric intake are probably my better than the calorie restriction diets that often lead to feelings of starvation and binging.

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Permalink Reply by Zoe on January 1, 2013 at 8:10am

I agree with Brian vis-a-vis eating disorders. Low carb diets per se do not increase risk for eating disorders. Obsessing about and restricting food can be risk factors, but we all (must) obsess about food to some degree. Weight gain which is a risk of higher carb eating is more of a trigger. In addition there are many factors which put one at risk for eating disorders, many of them psychological/emotional and having nothing to do with food and eating, some of them cultural.

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Permalink Reply by Melitta on January 2, 2013 at 10:55am

There is a much higher rate of eating disorders amongst women with Type 1 diabetes (maybe men, too, but I have just seen studies on women), which was my point in my earlier post. Then, for me, a very low carb diet a la Bernstein did in fact lead to feelings of starvation/crazed hunger, no matter how much I ate, and I know this has been others' experience as well. By taking a more moderate carb approach, I don't have the problem of crazed hunger.

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Permalink Reply by Zoe on January 2, 2013 at 11:04am

Hi, Melitta! I wasn't disagreeing that there is a higher rate of eating disorders among women with Type 1. I just was just disagreeing that a low carb diet is an automatic set-up for an ED. Low carb diets are not for everyone. It certainly sounds like it didn't work for you and for others the feelings of deprivation are counter productive. For me and for many others, though, eating low(er) carb allows me to maintain my weight and I feel very satisfied and happy with the food I eat (a requirement for someone with an ED). After 18 years recovery from an ED (pre-D) beginning to slowly but steadily gain weight was a trigger that made my recovery feel shaky until I lowered my carbs.

As I said we're all different, (which is why discussions about "low carb vs medium or high carb" are meaningless.) The need to "obsess" about food can definitely be a trigger for eating disordered behavior of one degree or another. But the counter to that is to find a level of carb intake that works for you both in terms of BG control and satisfaction and to make this your "new normal", a normal with which you feel satisfied. In addition, many people think of eating disorders as being entirely about food and weight and they are not. There are many psychological and emotional factors that determine who develops an ED and who either eats normally or has minimal eating disordered behavior. For many of us, recovery from an ED comes when we realize it is not just about food and weight.

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Permalink Reply by acidrock23 on January 2, 2013 at 4:26pm

I sort of suspect that diabetes might fuel eating disorders because it's challenging to find balance and also is infused with a vocabulary of success vs. failure. If you are struggling, it seems very natural to feel bad. Really, it's a struggle all the time and, even though I do ok, sometimes, it's pretty burdensome and quite a bit of it eminates from my head while I think "I need to do this to do that or that to do this..." in endless loops in my brain all day long. If I didn't get ok results, it would be much more difficult to "resolve" the loops and not end up getting involved in beating myself up.

I think that a lot of my more recent progress has been from realizing that I feel better when I look for things that will make me feel good and that those are green, leafy vegetables that have more vitamins in them. If it's good, I will just eat a serving of it and feel good that I'm fueling something else that will be fun and I'll be able to do another thing faster because I feel less creaky eating a lot of veggies. Which, in turn, leads to less carbs, shiny hair, etc.

The one thing I find frustrating about the low-carb dialogue is that it's hard to get a ruling from science about where to draw the low-carb line? is it 30/ day, 30/ meal, 75/ day? They all might have something to recommend them but having a "target" for carbs, would be almost as helpful as targets for BG!

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Permalink Reply by Sam on December 29, 2012 at 9:41pm

Your story is very similar to mine except I still have not gained much weight back

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Permalink Reply by Sam on December 29, 2012 at 9:45pm

As for being scared to eat carbs I think that's normal at this stage. 30 g per meal is not an unreasonable place to start. There is a huge amount to learn about how you, as an individual react to different amounts and types of carbs. It'll come over time, with much frustration and some lessons learned the hard way. But I can assure you everything you describe seems totally normal to me; as they could have been my own words a few months ago

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Permalink Reply by Melitta on January 1, 2013 at 12:13am

Hi Diabeetusista: Welcome to the club, although that always sounds weird to say. You are doing so great, lowering your A1c in such a short span of time. Congrats! I wrote a Top 10 Tips for the newly diagnosed that I hope you will find useful. Best of luck, and use TuD to get the support and answers that you need!

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Permalink Reply by karebear1966 on January 1, 2013 at 8:56am

30 carbs per meal is reasonable. Yes being on insulin makes you gain weight which is why we limit our carbs. Listen to the experts but keep in the back of your mind that everyone is different and everyones' diabetes is different. You figure out what works best for you and your body. I suggest keeping a detailed log of what you eat,test,what time, any activities you do, do this for about 3 months and then you will soon see what works and what doesn't.

I did this myself and although it was a pain in the butt, it sure gave me insight as to how my body reacts to different foods and I also noticed that the time of day makes a difference, as the weather does, hormone cycles... it never ends!!!

Good luck!

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Permalink Reply by Oakville27 on January 6, 2013 at 10:03pm

Hi!

I was diagnosed about 8 mos. ago and have been figuring out my diet since then.

I started out with a very strict low-carb diet (at least by my standards) and was able to get a good A1C on my first follow-up with my diabetic educator. I've tried almost all my favorite foods since then - with the exception of big desserts or super-high sugar foods that are quick to spike BG in almost anyone - and have come to a good understanding of how to dose for particular carbs. As I learned from these forums, everyone will have a different response to different foods, but I found that researching different carbs and how they typically affect BG in people was the best place to start (beans, etc. Digest more slowly and most people won't see a fast spike, whereas white flour will spike most people mo quickly, for example). I'm lucky in that almost every response i have to various carbs falls in the "typical" category, but it was reassuring to have some type of info about a particular food before trying it for the first time since my diagnosis.

It really is trial and error for everyone with diabetes, but having some background on different carbs should help you to anticipate their effect on your BG - the other element, and the best advice I've received on this site, is to test, test, test - especially as you're learning how your BG responds to all the different factors from food to exercise. It takes a while to get used to testing as part of your daily routine but it's given me a lot more confidence as I go through my first year with diabetes and have had to try things for the first time since my diagnosis that I used to do without any thought (going for a bike ride, skiing, eating).

Best of luck to you!

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Permalink Reply by Prince on January 13, 2013 at 9:25pm

I am a LADA type (I think I am a full on one now. Unless I restrict carbs altogether my BG's spike) as well and recently started a bolus regimen. I love it! My BG's are so pretty now.
With that said...
You will gain weight with Insulin but it seems like you have a crappy nutritionist like I did at first.
She was telling me to eat all of these carbs but I kept walking away with these HUGE numbers on my meter.
I got my best information from this website.
I don't eat more than 70 carbs a day...and when I do eat them I bolus for them ALL. The only carbs I eat are fruits and vegetables. And since fruit has natural sugar a five milligram bolus insulin works very well for me.
Definitely cut back on your carbs and you will stop gaining the weight.

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Permalink Reply by A on January 25, 2013 at 8:56pm

Wow, it's interesting for me to read so many similarities in your 'story' to mine. I was diagnosed just over a year ago, joined TuDiabetes last summer and I think this might be the first time I'm responding to someone else's questions in a post with something like reassurance. Obviously, everyone's situation and management with their diabetes is going to be different, but I found reassurance when people with similar 'numbers' had positive experiences to report.

So, here goes: diagnosed at 28 years old my A1C was 9.5; my latest was 5.6. I take 7 units of Lantus in the morning and only bolus with meals that are greater than 30g of carbs. This isn't very often, but it's been handy to have figured out a rough 1u Humalog : 15g carb ratio when eating out and also now being on holidays where tropical fruits are so plentiful! The nurse educators and dieticians I've seen are pretty uncomfortable about my max being around 150g / day. They similarly urge this be the number I shoot for (I'm roughly your height/weight). For me lately, it's more like 120g. Anyways, I gained weight immediately after starting insulin (it was less than 10 lbs for me to get back to my usual body weight) and I've been steady at this weight for nearly a year. So my experience was that there was gain and then a levelling out once back at (what I consider) my healthy weight.

I want to echo a comment earlier in this thread commending your early 'aggressive' research into diabetes management. I took a similar approach and am grateful now, one year in, for the crash course I embarked on to catch up with foundational knowledge. There's always so much more out there to read and learn about - establishing general working knowledge of diabetes and diabetes management helped me feel less fear and anxiety about potential outcomes/complications and allowed me to find and apply control in the places I can while I manage my (honeymooning) T1 diabetes.

As for your last question about 'experience with carbs when new to this' - that's a whole other story! A year in, I'm still feeling 'new to this' when it comes to my attitude towards carbs. I've experimented with so many different approaches on the carb front and I'm trying to find the middle ground. For me right now, I'm motivated to continue to restrict carbs, but I'm also wanting to find patterns that will be reasonable to adopt for the long-term. It's felt like a lot of work to get the 5.6%.

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