New type 1 and floundering a bit

[Mich1]

Hello everyone. I’m 50 years old and newly diagnosed type 1. Getting over the shock, got my head around the insulin and injections but struggling with what type 1’s really do eat. How many carbs do people eat a day? Do you snack? How often do you have a treat? Itching to start exercising in the gym (for now doing lots of walking) but unsure about the next steps. Would love to hear from you all. Thank you.

 

[trophywench]

We eat normally Mich! The only thing a diabetic's body has trouble dealing with is carbohydrate, so as long as we match the amount of insulin to the amount of carbs, we're OK.

That's the Junior school version of course LOL, there is a lot more to it than that but like learning how to do anything, keep it simple at first.

What insulins are you on, are you on fixed doses at mealtimes, have you been taught how to match bolus insulins to carbs - how much do you know and how much don't you, yet?

Tell us a bit more and we can answer appropriately to YOU - because every single man Jack of us is different!

 

[Northerner]

Hello everyone. I’m 50 years old and newly diagnosed type 1. Getting over the shock, got my head around the insulin and injections but struggling with what type 1’s really do eat. How many carbs do people eat a day? Do you snack? How often do you have a treat? Itching to start exercising in the gym (for now doing lots of walking) but unsure about the next steps. Would love to hear from you all. Thank you.

Hi Mich1, welcome to the forum 🙂 I was diagnosed aged 49, so have some idea of how you are feeling right now! There is a steep learning curve and it can all seem confusing and overwhelming to begin with, but it does get easier 🙂 What insulin regime are you on? It's a good idea to start a food diary, writing down the amount of carbs in everything you eat and drink each day. Just eat normally, and in moderation - the diary will give you a true idea of your current carb consumption and if you record your before/after eating levels (see Test,Review, Adjust by Alan S) then it will give you a good idea of where any difficulties might lie, which might entail you changing the content of a meal or adjusting your insulin doses to match the carb content more closely. I have found that I have settled on around 150g of carbs a day. Try to keep your diet simple and even repetitive, as this will help you build up good experience of what you can expect.

I'd highly recommend getting a copy of Type 1 Diabetes in Children Adolescents and Young People by Ragnar Hanas - don't worry about the title, it's suitable for all T1s, whatever your age 🙂 It will help fill in a lot of the details and answer a lot of your questions about how to deal with different scenarios 🙂

As for exercise, that's fine! The key is to take things cautioulsy to begin with, and test regularly. Keep some hypo treatment on hand at all times, and it might be a good idea to inform the gym staff that you are Type 1 and just starting to get used to it. I was due to run a marathon the week before I was diagnosed, so running was something I was itching to get back to - I managed to run the Great South Run four months after diagnosis 🙂 Key things to bear in mind are: your levels might go up rather than down initially, but they are likely to fall later. Your body will become more sensitive to the insulin for up to 24 hours afterwards, so you may need to reduce your post-exercise doses. Different types of exercise can affect you in different ways - my levels drop during hill walking, but not during running! Gardening is almost bound to give me a hypo! We are all different, but the main thing is to be prepared and test often whilst you become accustomed to how your body reacts 🙂

Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns, and we will be very happy to help! 🙂

 

[Mich1]

Thank you both for your advice already!
I’m on Abasgalar as my bolus and NovoRapid as my basal at meal times. I’ve been fortunate enough to talk to a dietician about carb counting and injecting accordingly and that part is going fine so far.i have the Carbs and Cals App which is great. As you suggested Northerner my meals have tended to be rather repetitive, as I’m staying on the safe side and clinging to what works. There is a lot of conflicting information out there with regard to diet, with some people opting for lower carbs etc so I guess I’m at the stage where I want to be a little more adventurous or add other things to my diet and even have a treat. Advice on treats seem to be in”moderation” but is that once a week/month/year? Your advice is reassuring, I guess I just need to go for it and see what happens.
With regard to exercise - thank you. Going to start gentle with some yoga tomorrow.

 

[trophywench]

Decide on a treat, Carb count it, Test BG. Calculate insulin fir treat, inject. ENJOY!!

Test after 60min, 90 min and 2 hours. If BG hasn't come back down to before treat level, has it by + 4 hours?

Consider treat. Was it worth being that much too high for that length of time. Investigate alternatives. Sometimes dead easy if you didn't really enjoy it that much, to be truthful. In which case just forget eating that and try something else instead. Sometimes it's easy though - eg I do like a nice fresh cream chocolate éclair. Tescos have em in 2 sizes, a larger one with more choc, 2 to a packet. They also do smaller ones, 4 to a pack and frequently £1 for the pack. These are 'around' 10g carb each and FAR easier for a body to cope with as far as T1 is concerned. And the bonus is, I can have a treat 2 days on the trot! (Not 4 days since I'm married, LOL)

Incidentally - I sincerely hope you use your Abasaglar as your basal and the Novorapid as the bolus! LOL

You only need to cut the carbs if you need to cut the carbs - eg if you don't have a balanced diet to begin with, or you're overweight or have serum LDL levels in the stratosphere. Myself my diet before T1 was around 110g carb a day and guess what? I'm still 'around' that level 46 years later. Some days I have more and some less. This time of year, it's usually higher with more stodge and less exercise, all wrong from the NHS' POV of course!

 

[SB2015]

Thank you both for your advice already!
I’m on Abasgalar as my bolus and NovoRapid as my basal at meal times. I’ve been fortunate enough to talk to a dietician about carb counting and injecting accordingly and that part is going fine so far.i have the Carbs and Cals App which is great. As you suggested Northerner my meals have tended to be rather repetitive, as I’m staying on the safe side and clinging to what works. There is a lot of conflicting information out there with regard to diet, with some people opting for lower carbs etc so I guess I’m at the stage where I want to be a little more adventurous or add other things to my diet and even have a treat. Advice on treats seem to be in”moderation” but is that once a week/month/year? Your advice is reassuring, I guess I just need to go for it and see what happens.
With regard to exercise - thank you. Going to start gentle with some yoga tomorrow.

Hi Mich and welcome. I was 53 when diagnosed with T1 and understand the shock you had. It takes time to get your head round things but you are already making a good start.

Treats. I was an absolute chocoholic at diagnosis. I know that lots of choc is not good for my BG, so now I treat myself to very nice chops and enjoy one a day after my evening meal. Plain choc Brazil’s the best I can think of, but was also given some Godiva crocs recently. Heaven. I would have eaten the whole box in one sitting pre diagnosis, now they last me days and I have the pleasure of the for so many more days.
As Jenny said. Enjoy what you eat and make sure that your insulin matches the carbs.

Exercise. It took me a while to have the confidence to return to swimming, but walking and any exercise is fine. You just need to know what it does to your BG? So it is test test test. Eventually you get more confident and more adventurous. Just keep trying things out, test, record, review. You. Ishtar need to reduce the Bolus at the previous meal, reduce your basal (Absalgar) if you are exercising all day, or just top up with Wurther whilst exercising to keep levels up.

Diet. Nothing special just a healthy diet, with an awareness of the carbs in oreder to know how much insulin is needed. I chose to reduce my carbs to help manage my post meal spikes, and I aim for about 30g per meal.

A lot of this is fine tuning, and at present you just need to focus on getting used to it all. Keep in touch and keep asking any questions that you have. Nothing is considered silly on here. Someon will come along with an idea, so just keep posting. Lots of help and support on here. I have learnt so much from others on here.

 

[PeterH55]

Welcome to the Forum, I was diagnosed last November at 55 and yes it was scary at first, usually is when you know nothing about what we have.

Luckily I don't need to go on a diet or I will vanish so I eat what I did before apart from the sweets, buns, cakes, pizzas and eat more healthier. Brown bread instead of white, brown rice instead of white, eat more fish.

The carbs and cals is my new bible and good to see you using it.

The book mentioned by Northerner is one you must buy, its fantastic and has a lot of info in it, I read it in stages.

Carbs wise I usually have between 200 and 250 a day, slightly different at weekends if I am out walking, don't want to Hypo. Taking jelly babies out with me incase I do hypo and a couple slices of bread for the carbs after hypoing.

 

[nonethewiser]

The good news is you can eat normally within reason, as already mentioned moderation is the key when it comes to carbohydrates, just the same as it does for the other food groups. Personally keep to 50-60g per meal, sometimes less sometimes more.

Have a treat once a day, once a week or monthly, the choice is entirely yours.

 

[HOBIE]

Hello everyone. I’m 50 years old and newly diagnosed type 1. Getting over the shock, got my head around the insulin and injections but struggling with what type 1’s really do eat. How many carbs do people eat a day? Do you snack? How often do you have a treat? Itching to start exercising in the gym (for now doing lots of walking) but unsure about the next steps. Would love to hear from you all. Thank you.

Welcome Mitch 1 🙂. Being active is very good, good for your head & health ! I am now 55 & have been T1 from being 3. I adore Seafood which is low in carbs. I hate cake & other high carb -----. Good luck & pls ask if not sure 🙂