Do Type 1 Diabetics Need Ketogenic Diets? page

[Timthetaco]

I've been wondering about this. Seeing as it's an autoimmune condition rather than a chronic metabolic disorder, is there any advantage to avoiding starch instead of just eating starch and covering it with insulin? I can understand ketosis for type 2's, absolutely. It's great for reducing insulin requirements, leveling blood sugar, dropping your A1C and (hopefully) reducing insulin resistance, but type 1's don't have those problems to worry about (I think?).

I'm curious to hear from type 1's about this. Is there any harm to eating starch and covering it with insulin, presumably simulating a normal glucose response?

[bhooray]

Type 1 here. Is it required? NO. Is it optimal to controlling your blood sugars...YES! I have been off any medicine for over a year now, and yes, I'm GAD and Islet Antibodies positive. Being ketogenic gave my Beta Cells enough time to recover and now I have just enough endogenous insulin to cover a ketogenic diet. If I ate any other way I would require insulin. So the tradeoff for me is well worth it, I'm glad to no longer be tethered to an insulin pump.
Anytime a Type I can reduce their insulin requirement the better. Dr Bernstein explains it in his book
"The Diabetes Solution". A must read for any diabetic.

[Neckhammer]

50 may be the new 30, but type 3 is the new type 1....

I know...morbid isn't it?

[Neckhammer]

Type 1 here. Is it required? NO. Is it optimal to controlling your blood sugars...YES! I have been off any medicine for over a year now, and yes, I'm GAD and Islet Antibodies positive. Being ketogenic gave my Beta Cells enough time to recover and now I have just enough endogenous insulin to cover a ketogenic diet. If I ate any other way I would require insulin. So the tradeoff for me is well worth it, I'm glad to no longer be tethered to an insulin pump.
Anytime a Type I can reduce their insulin requirement the better. Dr Bernstein explains it in his book
"The Diabetes Solution". A must read for any diabetic.

Awesome story BTW...congrats!

[healthyliving90]

Hello,
I've had type 1 for 11 years and I am 22 years old at this moment. After trying out a few different ways of eating, I have been doing a low carb approach for about the past 2.5 years. Recently I have decided to use a ketogenic diet, and I am currently adapting to this method of eating. I think this method of eating is ideal for anyone who has issues with blood sugars. You mentioned this, " It's great for reducing insulin requirements, leveling blood sugar, dropping your A1C and (hopefully) reducing insulin resistance, but type 1's don't have those problems to worry about (I think?)." Actually as a type 1 I have noticed a reduction in insulin requirements and when on the diet my blood sugars are more stable b/c things become easier to control and more predictable when I inject insulin. My A1C (6.3%) is not as low as I would like it to be but it has gone down quite a bit since I was first diagnosed. Hope this helps. I write a blog on the topic of diabetes if you are interested in learning more: Living with type 1 diabetes | My experience with type 1 diabetes

Jamil

[Dirlot]

Study was on type 2 but paleo had a better response than the gov recommended diabetic diet.
Beneficial effects of a Paleolithic diet... [Cardiovasc Diabetol. 2009] - PubMed - NCBI concludes that "Over a 3-month study period, a Paleolithic diet improved glycemic control and several cardiovascular risk factors compared to a Diabetes diet in patients with type 2 diabetes." So paleo shows better results than the whole grain diet pushed by big agra and big gov.

[Terry H]

Thanks for posting you guys/gals. The less insulin one has to use, the more predictable the results, i.e. better control of hyperG and much less incidence of HypoG or insulin-reaction. As I read DR B and from experience trying to cover "more starch" w/ larger doses of insulin contributes to the roller-coaster effect, as a larger bolus isn't as accurate a strategy with increased CHO consumption. Too many factors to control for.

Diabetes is a chronic metabolic disorder. My metabolism is disordered thru lack of an important hormone that I will never again produce,and that for the rest of my life.
Postscript:
What a melancholy note to leave on (above). I am thankful for Dr B's books as well as sites such as MDA, which empower folks thru diet (where we have ultimate say what we will put in our bodies) to take control and not be a slave to fear and discouragement. Or to put it a different way:If I go down, I'll go down fighting.

[Dr. Bork Bork]

Trying to correct blood sugar b/c of a high carb meal sucks way worse than eating correctly and sticking to the plan. Tonight was our 1th wedding anniversary. I had planned on ordering half a lemon chicken for lunch at the restaurant we went to (it was on their lunch menu online), but when we got there it was nowhere to be seen. Ordered a turkey bacon avocado sandwich instead. It was good, but not worth the insane amount of insulin to get my blood sugar back down below 120.

The fruit & cheese platter, however... ohmigosh, I'd totally order that by itself and be over the moon next time. That was some good eatin!

Also, nothing spikes me faster and harder than a baked good (bread, cookie, etc). And correcting for it does not feel good at all. For a while, I feel like my body is at war with itself, and with good reason-- it is! I feel all muddled up and icky, and low blood sugar while it's high.

Stick to low carb, high fat/protein, you'll thank yourself later.

[KatList]

What Trish said!! Yes, we can eat anything and then chase it with insulin but it's an exhausting process. Especially if it is something like a pasta dish - that can keep your blood sugar high for hours and sometimes you're like "am I EVER going to come down??" and then whoomp you start crashing down through the floor because you got frustrated and over corrected. It is brutal. Going from 90 to 280 to 52 etc etc is just not fun. Cutting out the grains and sugar, and upping the healthy fat does wonders for blood sugar stability. So yes, we are different than Type II's in that we can eat whatever we want (i.e. we are not going to be cured based on what we eat) but the mechanics of manually working an external pancreas (insulin pump) can never match a non-diabetic body's ability to deal with massive hits of refined carbs!

On a side note, I'm curious if bhooray was still in the "honeymoon" phase (i.e. newly diagnosed [<2yrs] with some, tiny beta cell function remaining) when achieving independence from insulin on a ketogenic diet??