TYpe 1 diet-no carbs and no fruit recipe ideas!

[ERJL]

Hi all,

My wife has recently been diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. She is 6 months pregnant and not allowed any carbs, sugar or fruit for next 12 weeks until baby is born. Please can anyone give some recipe ideas other than chicken and salad etc. She loves breakfast so this is the hardest battle! Thanks in advance!

 

[Drummer]

No carbs at all? Are you sure is my first thought.
Salad has some carbs, so the definition given of 'carbs' would help.
The basics for a low carb diet are meat, fish and seafood, eggs and cheese and other dairy if low carb - all good things for growing a baby.
Don't do low fat, as the brain and nervous system are formed from lipids, as are cell walls.
I have steak or other meat for breakfast, this weather I often have salad, but usually add mushrooms to the pan. If I get up late and it is already rather warm, I have eggs and cheese with salad stuff.

 

[Drummer]

Your wife is on insulin now - surely?
Without carbs, surely she will be having low blood glucose?

 

[ERJL]

No carbs at all? Are you sure is my first thought.
Salad has some carbs, so the definition given of 'carbs' would help.
The basics for a low carb diet are meat, fish and seafood, eggs and cheese and other dairy if low carb - all good things for growing a baby.
Don't do low fat, as the brain and nervous system are formed from lipids, as are cell walls.
I have steak or other meat for breakfast, this weather I often have salad, but usually add mushrooms to the pan. If I get up late and it is already rather warm, I have eggs and cheese with salad stuff.

Thanks think ill up the fish route and steak for her!- yes by no carbs I mean, potatoes, pasta, any breads, rice ,noodles/ even whole-wheat

 

[Drummer]

Thanks think ill up the fish route and steak for her!- yes by no carbs I mean, potatoes, pasta, any breads, rice ,noodles/ even whole-wheat

Ah - as a type two I eat low carb - so I have a fairly wide choice of vegetables and fruits which are under 11percent carbs and I carefully add them up as I can only cope with maybe 50 gm of carbs a day - I stick to under 40 gm just to be sure.
I was eating 50 gm of carbs a day back when I was pregnant and got very active alert and wanting to be entertained babies - three years apart, although they did threaten me with twins both times. Both offspring are tall and slender adults.
That was long before diagnosis, but I have never been able to cope with carbs.

 

[ERJL]

Ah - as a type two I eat low carb - so I have a fairly wide choice of vegetables and fruits which are under 11percent carbs and I carefully add them up as I can only cope with maybe 50 gm of carbs a day - I stick to under 40 gm just to be sure.
I was eating 50 gm of carbs a day back when I was pregnant and got very active alert and wanting to be entertained babies - three years apart, although they did threaten me with twins both times. Both offspring are tall and slender adults.
That was long before diagnosis, but I have never been able to cope with carbs.

I think having been told to stay not touch any fruit or white/wholewheat carbs etc has thrown her. Just wanted to know how people get through such tough times. 12 weeks of basically "body building" diet coming up for her I guess?!

 

[helli]

I too am very surprised a T1 has been prescribed a zero carb diet.
I can understand why that seems tough - it is.
Most people with Type 1 eat a "normal diet" and dose insulin for it - some chose to eat lower carbs as they find the insulin dosing easier but I have not heard zero carbs.
Even with zero carbs, if your wife has Type 1 and her body is not producing any insulin, she will need to inject - in the absence of ingested carbs, our body will break down fat and protein to produce the glucose we need.

As well as fish (I believe seafood is not recommended when pregnant), meat, eggs and cheese (but only pasteurised) don't forget nuts. Kernels (cashews, peanuts and pinenuts) are less low carb (I didn't want to say "higher carb because they are still not high) but walnuts, almonds, pecans, brazils, macadamia are very low carb.

I am curious why the advice for zero carbs - I am not questioning it, just curious why and understand if you don't want/can't tell us.

Sorry, almost forgot - congratulations on the pregnancy, hope it goes well.

 

[rebrascora]

OK, so low carb, not no carb which is nigh on impossible. Did they give you guidance on how many carbs daily?
I don't eat bread, pasta, potatoes, rice (well maybe a couple of dessert spoons one a month with a Chinese takeaway) or exotic fruits, just a small portion of low carb fruit like berries or rhubarb stewed with a little artificial sweetener and I eat those with creamy natural yoghurt or cream or Mascapone cheese to provide calories and energy and slow the carbs from the fruit.
For breakfast many of us enjoy full fat Greek natural yoghurt (not sure if yoghurt is OK for pregnant ladies) with a few berries and nuts and seeds or how about an omelette with whatever filling she fancies and I usually have it with a large plate of salad and a big dollop of cheese coleslaw or creamy luxury coleslaw.... If I have that I don't usually have anything more to eat until the evening as it is quite filling... so more like a brunch. You can change the filling to give variety and change the salad too for that matter. Low carb really is quite an enjoyable way to eat once you learn how and your tastes adjust. I love olives as a low carb snack. or those little cheese stuffed peppadew peppers.

There are also recipes for Keto bread or you can buy either the loaves or the bread mix pack to make at home either in a bread maker or by hand. It is a premium price but for the short term in the case of your wife it shouldn't be too prohibitive and would undoubtedly make life easier. I will tag @Maca44 as I am pretty sure he was buying it but then went on to buy the ingredients and regularly makes his own and I am sure will be happy to share the recipe. I think it works out at about 3g a slice which is a huge reduction from the 15g min of most normal bread.

Anyway, good luck and I hope you are able to help your wife to enjoy her new food regime for the next 3 months.

Should also mention that a fibre supplement (psyllium husk/chia seeds etc) may well be needed if she is cutting grains out of her diet as quite a few of us found that going low carb caused us some constipation in the early days particularly. Not something you want to have to deal with when you are pregnant I would imagine.

 

[Inka]

Hi all,

My wife has recently been diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. She is 6 months pregnant and not allowed any carbs, sugar or fruit for next 12 weeks until baby is born. Please can anyone give some recipe ideas other than chicken and salad etc. She loves breakfast so this is the hardest battle! Thanks in advance!

Im curious too. I’ve never heard any such advice, particularly not in pregnancy. My friend was diagnosed Type 1 in early pregnancy and put on insulin and told to eat relatively normally. That’s the usual advice - for a number of reasons.

Is your wife on insulin or any other medication? Who told her not to eat carbs? Unless there are additional factors that you’re not mentioning, I’d be asking for a second opinion actually. This doesn’t seem right. Carbs are needed in pregnancy.

 

[Ljc]

I am curious too about your wife being told this. May I ask by whom or was it info found on say dr Google ? .
With T1 you can eat a normal diet barring any food intolerances or allergies .

Also unless your wife knows how to adjust her rapid (mealtime) insulin she is likely to have hypo’s .

 

[rebrascora]

I assumed it was because the baby was growing too large, but will be interested to read the reply.

 

[Inka]

I assumed it was because the baby was growing too large, but will be interested to read the reply.

No, they would up the insulin for that usually, or give a set diet with carb amounts per meal. A keto diet is not recommended during pregnancy.

 

[ERJL]

I assumed it was because the baby was growing too large, but will be interested to read the reply.

Baby is too large at the moment. Halve a slice of wholewheat bread, avocado and cream cheese this morning and she had hopped from 5.6-11.6. On calling the hospital- their advice was to stop carbohydrates. Thanks for everyone's input. A jolly helpful tool.

 

[Pumper_Sue]

I think having been told to stay not touch any fruit or white/wholewheat carbs etc has thrown her. Just wanted to know how people get through such tough times. 12 weeks of basically "body building" diet coming up for her I guess?!

Who told her this?

 

[Thebearcametoo]

I would make a really big Spanish tortilla with chopped peppers, peas, etc in and have it cold for breakfast (it’s essentially crustless quiche)

Low carb fruit option is blueberries with full fat Greek yogurt.

Breakfast is notorious for spiking soon after eating. It may help for her to take her insulin 10-15 minutes before eating. Going up to 11.6 isn’t in itself bad if she then comes back down by the end of the insulin cycle. I presume the advice you’re getting is coming from the diabetes team and not midwifery??

 

[Pumper_Sue]

Baby is too large at the moment. Halve a slice of wholewheat bread, avocado and cream cheese this morning and she had hopped from 5.6-11.6. On calling the hospital- their advice was to stop carbohydrates. Thanks for everyone's input. A jolly helpful tool.

They obviously have no idea about adjusting insulin to cope with spikes.

 

[Inka]

Baby is too large at the moment. Halve a slice of wholewheat bread, avocado and cream cheese this morning and she had hopped from 5.6-11.6. On calling the hospital- their advice was to stop carbohydrates. Thanks for everyone's input. A jolly helpful tool.

Yes, 11.6 is above the pregnancy target level but isn’t she receiving support to adjust her insulin? That’s not a massive jump. All most Type 1s do is increase their bolus ratio and/or move the bolus time further in advance. Insulin resistance is very, very normal in pregnancy. It’s dealt with by increasing the insulin just as the body would do if the Type 1 hadn’t affected its ability to do so.

How long has your wife had Type 1?

 

[Inka]

I’ve had three pregnancies with Type 1. I saw spikes like that and higher too but at no point was I told to not eat carbs. I find that quite shocking. All I did was move my bolus forward and up my breakfast ratio. That wasn’t a special thing I did, it’s what all Type 1s do in pregnancy.

Does she not have a DSN? Is she particularly overweight or has additional medical issues (no need to say what they are)?

 

[Inka]

Looking back at your first post, I see that you say she’s been recently diagnosed - apologies for missing that the first time round. So what insulins is she taking, and did they confirm it was Type 1 by doing a C Peptide test and antibody test? I ask because the only people with diabetes that I’ve heard of being asked to limit their carb intake during pregnancy are people with Gestational Diabetes and people with Type 2. Even then they’ve not been to.do eat zero carbs.

I suppose what I’m trying to ask, without being rude, is does she definitely have Type 1?

 

[trophywench]

As we try to get to the bottom of this and give you correct advice, could you please tell the forum which brands of insulin your wife has been prescribed and when has she been told to take them, PLUS what instructions she has been given concerning testing her blood glucose with the fingerprick testing machine and strips she will have been issued with?