TYPE 1 ON INSULIN & CARBS

[mum2westiesGill]

Do type 1s on insulin have to watch how many carbs we eat?
I've been type 1 on insulin since 1992 and have never been told to watch my carbohydrate amount

 

[Paulbreen]

Do you carb count to calculate your rapid acting insulin dose?

 

[helli]

I watch how many carbs I eat so I know how much bolus to dose.
I do not limit my carbs - I eat what I want.

I know some people with Type 1 limit their carbs in order to reduce their insulin dose and reduce the risk of mistakes.
li do not.

I have good diabetes management and am not overweight.

 

[Robin]

If by 'watch' you mean 'limit' then no, we don’t have to, although I find if I eat loads of carbs at once it is far more difficult to get the bolus right, so I tend to balance out a meal with carb, protein and fat. (If by 'watch' you just mean 'count up' then yes, that’s what we do, but I don’t think that is what you mean,)

 

[Boom]

Theoretically you don’t have “ watch “ the amount of carbs you consume. Providing you balance carbs and insulin your sugars will stay at whatever level you feel comfortable with.
Take diabetes out of the equation and ask yourself is my diet healthy and adequate to suit my lifestyle. If the answer is yes then inject insulin accordingly.
If the answer is no then I would be looking to change my diet including carbohydrates intake to get me to a healthy level as a priority and then adjust my insulin accordingly.
Carb counting is essential ( my opinion ) for good control. Carb intake is secondary. Personally I aim for around 140 g carbs daily. It suits me and that’s all that matters.

 

[Lucy Honeychurch]

I think it's personal to the individual. I generally eat what I want, however, if I'm having a roast I'll have just the Yorkshire pudding and no roasties so try to only have one type of carb with a meal.
I still have the odd Chinese takeaway and if I have an Indian I don't have rice.

 

[Inka]

No, we don’t need to limit carbs. The idea is to eat a normal healthy diet and calculate the bolus insulin you need to cover the carbs you eat.

 

[rebrascora]

I restrict my carb intake to about 50g a day and of course I count them. This is because I came into my diagnosis via a misdiagnosis of Type 2 where I did my utmost to reverse it in the first 6 weeks by going extremely low carb motivated mostly by guilt because I was a self confessed sugar addict, chocoholic and carb monster pre diagnosis and I was and still am and probably always will be convinced that I brought this on myself. To be honest, whilst I am done with the guilt, I think it is important to take responsibility and I also love the control low carb gives me over my diet and I enjoy my low carb, higher fat way of eating. I no longer crave carbs or sugar as a result of following this diet and the freedom from that craving is huge mentally.
The law of small numbers means that if I am only eating 20 or 30g of carbs for a meal the majority of the time it is difficult to misjudge my insulin too badly so less risk of bad highs or lows. I also feel physically stronger and fitter and healthier and slimmer than I have in 20 or maybe 30 years and at 57yrs of age, that is a real boost. So, for me it is a very personal choice based on my own situation and experiences but I would recommend giving it a try if you are interested.
Takes a bit of getting your head around not eating bread, potatoes, rice and pasta etc except maybe a small portion once in a blue moon, as well as cakes, biscuits and sweets apart from the necessary Jelly babies for hypos of course, but you find other low carb foods which you enjoy as much or more.

 

[mum2westiesGill]

Do you carb count to calculate your rapid acting insulin dose?

Yes I carb count to calculate my Humalog

 

[Inka]

That’s all you need to do @mum2westiesGill There is no need to limit carbs as a Type 1.

 

[mum2westiesGill]

I watch how many carbs I eat so I know how much bolus to dose.
I do not limit my carbs - I eat what I want.

I know some people with Type 1 limit their carbs in order to reduce their insulin dose and reduce the risk of mistakes.
li do not.

I watch / count how many carbs are in what I'm eating so I know how much humalog to take. I don't limit my carbs - for my tea tonight I had 93g of carbs.

 

[mum2westiesGill]

That’s all you need to do @mum2westiesGill There is no need to limit carbs as a Type 1.

There was 93g of carbs in my tea tonight.

 

[Inka]

There was 93g of carbs in my tea tonight.

As long as you keep good control of your blood sugar and eat well, that’s ok 🙂

 

[mum2westiesGill]

If by 'watch' you mean 'limit' then no, we don’t have to, although I find if I eat loads of carbs at once it is far more difficult to get the bolus right, so I tend to balance out a meal with carb, protein and fat. (If by 'watch' you just mean 'count up' then yes, that’s what we do, but I don’t think that is what you mean,)

By watch I mean limit our carb amounts. You will see from my other replies I had a total amount or counted up 93g of carbs in my tea tonight.

 

[mum2westiesGill]

As long as you keep good control of your blood sugar and eat well, that’s ok 🙂

I try my best to keep good control - I use the accu-chek mobile meter which links up to the mysugr app to give me my bolus amount once I have entered the carb amount into it.

 

[nonethewiser]

My meals usually contain 60g carbs, sometimes less sometimes more. Find 60g is good level personally, as feel its important to have good balance of food groups for good health.

Tried restricting carbs in past as in low carb diet but found it boring limited & gained no advantage over current way of eating, if anything low carb complicated control & preoccupied thoughts for my own liking, believe people should do what they do to manage condition no matter how they go about it.

 

[DaveB]

Hi. There is a commonly held view that T1s don't need to watch the carbs. I disagree with this. Many like myself need to put some limit on the carbs otherwise you may experience weight gain and need levels of Bolus that can become exponential. I see posts where someone has been told that they have gained weight because of the insulin. No, it's because they are having too many carbs. So I believe every T1 should be advised to think about the amount of daily carbs they are having and be prepared to lower them if there is weight gain or very high Bolus doses are needed.

 

[trophywench]

@DaveB - every normal person on earth is likely to gain weight when they overeat. Overeat anything or everything. You do it whether you happen to have diabetes or not.

 

[helli]

Hi. There is a commonly held view that T1s don't need to watch the carbs. I disagree with this. Many like myself need to put some limit on the carbs otherwise you may experience weight gain and need levels of Bolus that can become exponential. I see posts where someone has been told that they have gained weight because of the insulin. No, it's because they are having too many carbs. So I believe every T1 should be advised to think about the amount of daily carbs they are having and be prepared to lower them if there is weight gain or very high Bolus doses are needed.

Unless you experience insulin resistance, there is no reason why someone with type 1 diabetes would gain more weight from carbs than someone without diabetes.
As i mentioned earlier, I do not limit my carbs and I have not gained weight.

Someone with Type 1 is advised no more than someone without diabetes to be prepared to lower carbs.

 

[Pumper_Sue]

By watch I mean limit our carb amounts. You will see from my other replies I had a total amount or counted up 93g of carbs in my tea tonight.

I tend to have a limit which I refuse to go over as I learnt a long time ago the bigger the carb load the higher the insulin dose and the bigger the chance of dosage error and or slow absorption due to the insulin pooling in one place.

I'm one of those that can take it or leave it as far as food is concerned, quite often I can't be bothered to eat anything at all.