If you eat meals with next to no carbs do you still have to inject insulin?

[CosmicOwl]

If you eat meals with next to no carbs do you still have to inject short acting insulin? Or is it a bad idea to eat lots of salads/raw veggies etc and going most of the day without having to inject short acting insulin?

I am still new to all of this and have only recently been diagnosed so I don't know what the healthy thing to do would be. I'm vegetarian and i'm thinking about eating a raw food diet over the summer so I thought i'd ask and be sure before I make up my mind.

Thanks!

 

[Northerner]

Like many things with diabetes, it depends...Some people find that, if their meal contains little or no carbs then they need to inject for the protein and fat content. However, calculating how much can be trial and error, as it tends to be less predictable than carb counting. So really, it's a case of testing prior to your low/no-carb meals and then regular testing afterwards to see what happens. In time you will develop a 'feel' for how much you need to inject for a meal with a particular nutritional content - it does require patience, and you still won't always get it right! This sort of thing tends to be easier on a pump also, as there are clever options like dual/multi-wave that allow insulin to be administered more subtly and over a longer period than an injection. This is because protein and fat would tend to raise levels more slowly and over a greater period.

There are some comments about this in the following thread:

http://www.diabetessupport.co.uk/boards/showthread.php?t=37058

As for restricting carbs generally, people do manage on very low carb diets and feel perfectly fine once they are used to it, others may find it a struggle and I couldn't really comment on whether it is good for you over time - too much protein as an energy source may be bad for your kidneys, for example. Let us know how things go! 🙂

 

[CosmicOwl]

Thank you so much! The info on protein and fats is very useful, I didn't know that they could raise blood sugar as well! I shall probably try out going predominantly raw food over summer and might post about what happens to my blood sugar levels, who knows, might do me some good!

 

[Northerner]

Thank you so much! The info on protein and fats is very useful, I didn't know that they could raise blood sugar as well! I shall probably try out going predominantly raw food over summer and might post about what happens to my blood sugar levels, who knows, might do me some good!

Good luck! I am sure it will be very interesting for our other members 🙂

 

[HOBIE]

Good luck Cosmicowl with trials. Let us know how you get on 🙂

 

[Dory]

Hi Cosmic and welcome!

I follow a very low carb diet and find that I also need to give a bolus even if I'm just having a steak with salad (still working on how much needed though; it's very rare that I have no carbs at all; just reduced normally ie i'll have veg but no potatoes etc).

Mike has a really good graph that shows the conversion rates of carbs, protein and fats int oglucose - I've tried to find it but can't! Mike - if you have it could you re post as it may help? (and I'm going to save the link this time!)