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Low Carb T1

Lauren

Lauren

Well-Known Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 1
I've been to see my lovely consultant who has advised me to eat low carb (my average total carb intake is a whopping 220g!!)
I've been low carb before and have always been pleased with the ease of managing diabetes, but I always find it hard to stick to because I'm not great at prepping food and also low carb food tends to put my grocery bill up a fair whack (lots of low carb protein options such as fish / meat / cheese adds up!)

Any advice for quick/easy /cheap food?
I have the FreshWell books. I'm planning to eat an omelette tonight and have chia pudding for breakfast tomorrow. But any favourite low carb snack or meal suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
 
@Lauren I'm still learning. I like smoked salmon thinly sliced which i buy in Marks and Spencers. I often buy a pouch they sell of tiny steamed beetroot which I eat warm with a dollop of yoghurt or cold. As a veg it's a bit carby but not too much.
My cheap pasta dish was tomato onion and some tinned sardine. I assume as a type 1 a small portion of pasta isn't a problem. I've bought some edadame noodles. I tend to cook my veg in the microwave and often buy at a farm shop or market. I'm retired. Lidl smoked salmon is nice but thicker cut. It is good with scrambled egg. Last night I had a mushroom omlette. I often look to see what recipe Nigella has posted on her bluesky account. She posts everyday. I have made her poached salmon with avocado, watercress and toasted pumpkin seeds often. I also enjoy soup. Another meal I enjoy is liver casserole with bacon and tomato. I prefer lamb liver but have eaten pigs. You could do it with bacon bits..
Fishmongers have a huge variety of fish especially at markets. For example I like herring and mackerel neither of which is expensive.
I have previously posted this link

https://newforestpcn.co.uk/network-services/diabetes-metabolic-health/

At bottom left labelled low carb, are links to websites, that includes freshwell, Moseley and Caldesi
 
Do you need low carb or just lower carb? You can reduce the amount of carbs relatively easily by swapping potatoes for sweet potatoes / butternut squash, having half the quantity of pasta / rice and bulking it out with vegetables like mushrooms, courgettes and peppers. For cheaper proteins, eggs are good and have a look at some of the veggie options - tofu, Quorn and soya mince are often cheaper than the equivalent meat products.
 
Lauren said:
I've been to see my lovely consultant who has advised me to eat low carb (my average total carb intake is a whopping 220g!!)
I've been low carb before and have always been pleased with the ease of managing diabetes, but I always find it hard to stick to because I'm not great at prepping food and also low carb food tends to put my grocery bill up a fair whack (lots of low carb protein options such as fish / meat / cheese adds up!)

Any advice for quick/easy /cheap food?
I have the FreshWell books. I'm planning to eat an omelette tonight and have chia pudding for breakfast tomorrow. But any favourite low carb snack or meal suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
Click to expand...
My favourite low carb fish meal is:
Fillets of fresh mackerel (I fillet my own but me st fish sellers will do it)
Skin side up, spread with mustard and dip in nibbed (sometimes called pinhead)oatmeal and chopped almonds...50/50
 
I often make a big pot of soup this time of year. Enough for half a dozen portions and freeze 4 portions. It's more medium carb but inexpensive and filling. Chop and saute a few leeks and add half a swede, half a butternut squash, celeriac , 2 or 3 carrots, and a small potato (sweet or plain. The carbs are about the same). 2 little stockpot either chicken or veggie. Season to taste. Curry powder or ground cumin goes really well or chilli if you like a bit of heat. Takes about 40 min to cook but just needs the occasional stir.
 
220g isn’t whopping 🙂 If you’re needing to adjust your diet because of something like insulin resistance, you might want to look at eating very low fat. I did a very low-fat plant-based vegan diet with plenty of carbs for some weeks and my insulin sensitivity increased a lot even though it’s already very good. The only reason I stopped was because I found it hard to keep weight on.

As @Natalie123 suggests, if you want to reduce carbs, a small sustained reduction would probably be best.
 
Agreeing on the soup idea - easy to make a big pot and freeze in portions. I got a set of "souper cubes" from Lakeland and they make it really easy to freeze stuff in single portions.
Simple leek and potato can be made low carb by switching out the potato for celeriac, which adds a lovely depth of flavour. There's a recipe for courgette, cheese and potato soup on BBC good food, which again you can switch to celeriac.

I find a microwave omelette maker great for low carb lunches in a hurry, different texture as you don't get the frying pan cooking the edges feel but I prefer it.

Also different ways to do eggs. I got an egg coddler after recommendation from a friend
 
Inka said:
220g isn’t whopping 🙂
Click to expand...
I thought the same. It is less than the recommended daily carbohydrate intake for a woman.
My understanding has always been that a healthy diet for someone with Type 1 is the same as a healthy diet for someone without diabetes.

@Lauren I would recommend not to go too low carb as it can cause further issues.
I believe low carb can cause insulin resistance for some.
And, when you are eating low carb you may need to consider bolusing (at a different ratio and different timing) for protein. When i tried it, I even found different proteins had different insulin to protein ratios - it got too difficult for me and I went back to my "normal" way of eating but was a little more throrough with my carb counting and pre-bolusing.

Obviously, we are all different so I wish you luck but will get back to my last slice of Christmas cake.
 
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I’d say I 'watch my carbs' rather than eat a low carb diet, I certainly don’t have as many as 220, but nor do I usually go as low as 130, unless that’s just how the day falls. By 'watching' I mean, trying to match what I’m eating to the profile of my insulin (novorapid). If I eat a very carb heavy meal without much fat, fibre or protein, then my blood glucose will end up in double figures, even prebolusing as far as I dare without hypoing before I start to eat. If I eat too little carb, I will have all the problems of having to split bolus and take account of protein later on.
So, for example, if I cook a risotto, I make sure there’s less rice, and a good helping of protein in it (leftover meat is my usual) and veg,
Spaghetti, I have a small portion and plenty of protein, fat and fibre in the sauce (a tin of sardines and some olives is one of my standbys).
Casseroles, I will add a tin of beans, or some lentils, and not have any potato or other carb with it.
Mornings, if I have time to prebolus and wait while my insulin sorts out my dawn rise and is then ready to mop up oats, I’ll have overnight oats soaked in water, but still with a sprinkling of seeds an a dollop of full fat greek yogurt on it. If I've got to be up and out of the house, scrambled eggs solves the problem, provided I remember to bolus mid morning for the protein arriving a couple of hours afterwards.
I gather from your other threads, @Lauren, that you’re pregnant, so I wouldn’t be wanting to cut down too much on any one food group, for all round balance of nutrients.
 
Did they give a reason for you eating a low carb diet?

As others have said, unless there are other factors then T1's are generally advised to eat as they normally did before diagnosis.
 
Thank you all for the advice and recipes! I'm keen to try the soups (love soup!)

No my consultant has advised low carb. I know the advice used to be just to match insulin to what you eat but my consultant has advised this for me and there are actually a fair few type 1s going down this route nowadays. I've done it before and it does wonders for my control (just my personal experience)
 
Robin said:
I’d say I 'watch my carbs' rather than eat a low carb diet, I certainly don’t have as many as 220, but nor do I usually go as low as 130, unless that’s just how the day falls. By 'watching' I mean, trying to match what I’m eating to the profile of my insulin (novorapid). If I eat a very carb heavy meal without much fat, fibre or protein, then my blood glucose will end up in double figures, even prebolusing as far as I dare without hypoing before I start to eat. If I eat too little carb, I will have all the problems of having to split bolus and take account of protein later on.
So, for example, if I cook a risotto, I make sure there’s less rice, and a good helping of protein in it (leftover meat is my usual) and veg,
Spaghetti, I have a small portion and plenty of protein, fat and fibre in the sauce (a tin of sardines and some olives is one of my standbys).
Casseroles, I will add a tin of beans, or some lentils, and not have any potato or other carb with it.
Mornings, if I have time to prebolus and wait while my insulin sorts out my dawn rise and is then ready to mop up oats, I’ll have overnight oats soaked in water, but still with a sprinkling of seeds an a dollop of full fat greek yogurt on it. If I've got to be up and out of the house, scrambled eggs solves the problem, provided I remember to bolus mid morning for the protein arriving a couple of hours afterwards.
I gather from your other threads, @Lauren, that you’re pregnant, so I wouldn’t be wanting to cut down too much on any one food group, for all round balance of nutrients.
Click to expand...
I'm not cutting out calories, just having fewer carbs. Still very much enjoying a varied diet with lots of nutritious healthy proteins and fats!
As I've said, I've done this before (and also been pregnant before) and this is what personally works for me 🙂
 
saffron15 said:
@Lauren I'm still learning. I like smoked salmon thinly sliced which i buy in Marks and Spencers. I often buy a pouch they sell of tiny steamed beetroot which I eat warm with a dollop of yoghurt or cold. As a veg it's a bit carby but not too much.
My cheap pasta dish was tomato onion and some tinned sardine. I assume as a type 1 a small portion of pasta isn't a problem. I've bought some edadame noodles. I tend to cook my veg in the microwave and often buy at a farm shop or market. I'm retired. Lidl smoked salmon is nice but thicker cut. It is good with scrambled egg. Last night I had a mushroom omlette. I often look to see what recipe Nigella has posted on her bluesky account. She posts everyday. I have made her poached salmon with avocado, watercress and toasted pumpkin seeds often. I also enjoy soup. Another meal I enjoy is liver casserole with bacon and tomato. I prefer lamb liver but have eaten pigs. You could do it with bacon bits..
Fishmongers have a huge variety of fish especially at markets. For example I like herring and mackerel neither of which is expensive.
I have previously posted this link

https://newforestpcn.co.uk/network-services/diabetes-metabolic-health/

At bottom left labelled low carb, are links to websites, that includes freshwell, Moseley and Caldesi
Click to expand...
This is useful, thank you!
 
@Lauren here is a link to Nigellas feed though she does also do carb or fat heavy items

Nigella Lawson (@nigella.bsky.social)

Just to let you know, there are many, many recipes waiting for you on www.nigella.com
bsky.app bsky.app

and her web page

https://www.nigella.com/

Having read the later post "congratulations" but also my lambs liver bacon plus I add extra veg may have to wait until you have given birth. Check with a nurse but I think it's too high in possibly vitamin A.
 
Lauren said:
I'm not cutting out calories, just having fewer carbs. Still very much enjoying a varied diet with lots of nutritious healthy proteins and fats!
As I've said, I've done this before (and also been pregnant before) and this is what personally works for me 🙂
Click to expand...

Fewer carbs is fine but too few is the issue 🙂 Very low carb diets aren’t good in pregnancy, as you probably know already.
 
Lauren said:
I'm not cutting out calories, just having fewer carbs. Still very much enjoying a varied diet with lots of nutritious healthy proteins and fats!
As I've said, I've done this before (and also been pregnant before) and this is what personally works for me 🙂
Click to expand...
If it’s worked for you, go for it! I’m just mindful about being too enthusiastic in case 'lurkers' who haven’t tried it read this thread in future and it doesn’t work for them.
 
The more low-carb one goes, the harder it can become to reach nutrient sufficiency. If you're pregnant, you're essentially eating for two. I'd be extremely wary of any medical professional advising such a diet change, at this point in time.
 
Thank you for those of you who have provided helpful recipes and ideas, which was the point of this thread.

I'm getting a little tired of those critiquing the advice of my consultant and care team, who have given me this advice on the basis of my individual circumstances. I somewhat understand where you are coming from but I am not going to take the advice of people on the internet over my own care team who actually know me and my diabetes.

"Please Remember: Members are only permitted to share their own experiences. Members are not qualified to give medical advice. Additionally, everyone manages their health differently. Please be respectful of other people's opinions about their own diabetes management."
 
Congratulations on the pregnancy! When I followed a low carb diet (apparently I still follow a low carb diet according to this forum but it used to be very low!) I used to make low carb porridge by replacing most of the oats with ground almonds and ground linseed (I think it was linseed, I need to check!), I'll see if I can find the recipe. The other one that I really liked was almond pancakes with berries and greek yogurt. Joe wicks has lots of low carb recipes that might be worth a look - if you use his book or blog, it's definitely worth bearing in mind that his portion sizes are what he would eat himself and I soon learnt that he eats a lot more than me! Personally, I found that my diabetes was much better controlled on a low carb diet and I felt much better for it so I hope I didn't come across as critical! I wouldn't go back to a high carb diet but I have increased my carbs slightly because, as you said, it's expensive and hard work! There are lots of keto recipes for "bread" etc on the internet but I get the impression that you are going for low carb rather than no carbs? Apologies if I've misunderstood.
 
Natalie123 said:
Congratulations on the pregnancy! When I followed a low carb diet (apparently I still follow a low carb diet according to this forum but it used to be very low!) I used to make low carb porridge by replacing most of the oats with ground almonds and ground linseed (I think it was linseed, I need to check!), I'll see if I can find the recipe. The other one that I really liked was almond pancakes with berries and greek yogurt. Joe wicks has lots of low carb recipes that might be worth a look - if you use his book or blog, it's definitely worth bearing in mind that his portion sizes are what he would eat himself and I soon learnt that he eats a lot more than me! Personally, I found that my diabetes was much better controlled on a low carb diet and I felt much better for it so I hope I didn't come across as critical! I wouldn't go back to a high carb diet but I have increased my carbs slightly because, as you said, it's expensive and hard work! There are lots of keto recipes for "bread" etc on the internet but I get the impression that you are going for low carb rather than no carbs? Apologies if I've misunderstood.
Click to expand...
Thank you for the tips! Definitely up for trying these and I'll look into Joe Wicks too, I didn't realise he had low carb recipes, thanks!
Yes for me low carb rather than no carbs. I agree, for me personally it makes my control so much easier.
 
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