7 Comments

  1. The cannoli and the bread looks amazing. I have never had a cannoli, but oh I want one. Someday for certain.

    I referred your blog to the TUDiabetes.org blog page for the week of August 1, 2016.

  2. Matthew Hall

    Frank, I think the fact that you are taking a very analytical and practical perspective to your carb intake is a huge positive. Call it what you want, low carb, reduced carb, etc… Being cognizant of what you’re eating and acknowledging what effect it will have on your blood sugar is more than most Type 1’s I know are doing consistently. Personally, I enjoy having the control and take the attitude that I’m “feeding the machine” rather than eating for pleasure. I realize this is an extreme position but I’ve found that controlling my blood sugar makes me feel better than any particular food could ever could. Thanks for sharing your story and keep up the good work. Cheers!

  3. OMG!!! That cannoli! I do low/medium carbs most of the time, but I still wouldnt say no to fish & chips or home made pizza. I agree with you in that you have to find what works for you and what you want to live with.

  4. I think you are right – it is very individual and you have to do what works for you.. And what works for you may change! Also – yes yes and yes to everything Matthew said.. If you do go more low carb and increase fat, protein, or both, it is very likely that you may have to work out different basal rates or I:C, but once you figure it out it’s a beautiful thing – much more consistency in dosing as even a small carb counting error when eating a larger amount of carbs can throw your numbers off by A LOT! As with everything, I find consistency is key. For instance when I ate lower carb (30-60g a day), I always factored in a 30-40% protein bolus (meaning I would add up the grams of protein and bolus for 30-40% of that as if it was carb). The cool thing there is that I never had to prebolus, I could take my insulin right before or right after I ate.. The last several months I have been eating about 60-120g carbs, and I no longer need a protein bolus.. But what I need is to prebolus (sometimes by as much as 30 minutes). Which way is better? Both ways work for me. Pregnancy makes me crave bread and if I am eating even 1-2 servings a day, obviously I can’t stick to a very small amount of carbs a day. But weighing carefully and prebolusing has made it possible to get by with pretty good numbers. Interestingly my A1C actually decreased from 5.7 to 5.4 when on 60-120g carb a day, but I don’t think statistically 5.7 is very different from 5.4 which is why I say both ways work for me… Still, I never eat more than 30g in a sitting (most of the time it’s 15-20g per meal or snack). Interestingly, I would say that I still eat a bit of fat (I never limit fat or protein) and I find it actually helps delay the spike from eating a “higher carb” meal… In any case, if you are interested check out Dr. Bernstein’s “The Diabetes Solution”, as well as Gary Schreiner’s “Think Like a Pancreas”.. Lots of very usful info!

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