Low Carb/High Fat, Primal, Paleo, Ketogenic….These are my choice most of the time.
It can be called so many things but for simplicity I’ll say “Low Carb”, my main big why is my blood sugar levels are AMAZING!!! When I eat low carb, I can flat line my blood sugar levels like I didn’t ever think was possible. I have been interested and tried lower carb way of eating for a while so I have created many habits and meals that are low carb for myself.
It can be called so many things but for simplicity I’ll say “Low Carb”, my main big why is my blood sugar levels are AMAZING!!! When I eat low carb, I can flat line my blood sugar levels like I didn’t ever think was possible. I have been interested and tried lower carb way of eating for a while so I have created many habits and meals that are low carb for myself.
It wasn’t until I had my Freestyle libre monitor on for 2 weeks that I really decided to do a little experiment on myself. In WEEK 1 I ate as usual, wholefoods including fruits and grains. Then WEEK 2 I went low carb, no fruits or grains. Look at the results below, the dots are my blood sugar levels, the green band is the ideal range for my blood sugar levels.
Week 1 - Blood Sugar Levels (mmol/L) for 1 Day - Wholefood diet
Week 2 - Blood Sugar Levels (mmol/L) for 1 day - Low Carb Diet
Now these are just 2 days, I did record 2-3 days from each week and similar profiles were seen. I just didn’t want to bore you with more graphs. A no brainer as to why low carb is for me.
NOTE TO TYPE 1’s - It has been a lot of trial and error to get here, but that is life as a type1. I still dosed for carbohydrates in week 2, and yes I am having small amounts but the 20g dose was not 20g of carbs. It is the dose I have worked out that I need in insulin for a low carb main meal. On this particular day it was a 2 egg omelette with mayo and veggies and a few nuts and cacao to follow, which is not 20g carbs. I also had a personal training session where my blood sugars went up slightly, so some strange things can happen when on low carb with type 1, but it is so worth a little trial and error. My biggest tip I received that kicked me into gear to start was do not count hypo carbs, it had held me back from trying for so long so if I hypo I have a medjool date and/or maybe some fruit and it just kicks my blood sugar back up.
I do have to admit that I am not too strict at the moment, and part the reason why I’m writing this is to reconfirm for myself that this is how I need to eat most of the time. I do love to eat this way when I’m full of energy but it is much harder when I’m tired and not so motivated. At these times I am more kind and gentle to myself and allow some fruit, grains and chocolate to flow in. I also love food and the social connections had with food, so if I have a few extra carbs in good company so be it. I’m doing well most of the week and that is what counts.
I did listen to a recent podcast from the Wellness guys when they interviewed Robb Wolf about his new book “Wired to Eat”, I so need to get my hands on this book. As I feel the pull towards higher carb foods at times is strong and I would like to know more about this. I would love the motivation I had when my monitor was on and the weeks that followed even without the monitor as I was so inspired to stay on track and did not worry me if I was surrounded by high carb foods, I didn’t want to spike my blood sugar levels. It was amazing to have the direct feedback on blood sugars all the time. I will be wearing the monitor more in the future to have the direct feedback. But the motivation I had in those beginning weeks has worn off and I’m trying not to be too hard on myself.
I’d love to hear from anyone out there with or without type 1 and how they go with low carb. I also love recipes and if you have any favourites for low carb…PLEASE SHARE!! I’ll be sharing some of mine soon.
Warmest wishes
Jana xoxo
NOTE TO TYPE 1’s - It has been a lot of trial and error to get here, but that is life as a type1. I still dosed for carbohydrates in week 2, and yes I am having small amounts but the 20g dose was not 20g of carbs. It is the dose I have worked out that I need in insulin for a low carb main meal. On this particular day it was a 2 egg omelette with mayo and veggies and a few nuts and cacao to follow, which is not 20g carbs. I also had a personal training session where my blood sugars went up slightly, so some strange things can happen when on low carb with type 1, but it is so worth a little trial and error. My biggest tip I received that kicked me into gear to start was do not count hypo carbs, it had held me back from trying for so long so if I hypo I have a medjool date and/or maybe some fruit and it just kicks my blood sugar back up.
I do have to admit that I am not too strict at the moment, and part the reason why I’m writing this is to reconfirm for myself that this is how I need to eat most of the time. I do love to eat this way when I’m full of energy but it is much harder when I’m tired and not so motivated. At these times I am more kind and gentle to myself and allow some fruit, grains and chocolate to flow in. I also love food and the social connections had with food, so if I have a few extra carbs in good company so be it. I’m doing well most of the week and that is what counts.
I did listen to a recent podcast from the Wellness guys when they interviewed Robb Wolf about his new book “Wired to Eat”, I so need to get my hands on this book. As I feel the pull towards higher carb foods at times is strong and I would like to know more about this. I would love the motivation I had when my monitor was on and the weeks that followed even without the monitor as I was so inspired to stay on track and did not worry me if I was surrounded by high carb foods, I didn’t want to spike my blood sugar levels. It was amazing to have the direct feedback on blood sugars all the time. I will be wearing the monitor more in the future to have the direct feedback. But the motivation I had in those beginning weeks has worn off and I’m trying not to be too hard on myself.
I’d love to hear from anyone out there with or without type 1 and how they go with low carb. I also love recipes and if you have any favourites for low carb…PLEASE SHARE!! I’ll be sharing some of mine soon.
Warmest wishes
Jana xoxo
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