Does low carbing affect basals?

xMenace · #1 (**permalink**) 07-23-2008, 08:02 PM

I started lowering my carbs two weeks ago. I'm not going extreme. I was averaging about 90 units a day and I decided I would now average 70 or less. I'm eating more meat and the same veggies.

So far so good. I'm very happy with the 5 lbs in two weeks. I've never dropped like that before. Lots more to go though.

The interesting part has been my sugars. They've been awesome. EXCEPT, starting about Sunday I've been chronicallly low. Most of my numbers have been in the 3's.

I've started experimenting with different basal rates. A rate of 85% of my normal now keeps me flat, barely. My bolus ratios have also dropped. My standard breakfast of one toast and butter with milk has always needed about 9.3 units. Today I took 7u and was 4.8 pp. So either I have beta cells growing back after 32.5 years or my insulin sensitivity has increased dramatically. I'm going to have to revisit all my rates

Can any of you scientific nerds make sense of this?

BlueSky · #2 (**permalink**) 07-23-2008, 08:29 PM

Low carb eating certainly does improve insulin sensitivity. The reduced amount of circulating glucose causes the number of insulin receptors on the cell surfaces to be up-regulated. And insulin requirements decline. I used to use 20+ units of basal, and it came down to about 14 units when I stopped eating bread, potatoes,rice and cereal. Richard Bernstein has taken low-carbing to the extreme and injects only 4.5 units of Lantus for his basal.

xMenace · #3 (**permalink**) 07-24-2008, 02:58 AM

Interesting. So low carbing is somewhat risky. I have to be careful. It's interesting that a not so radical 33% reducton of carbs would do this to me so quickly. I doubt my 2.5% weight loss has much of an impact.

ant hill · #4 (**permalink**) 07-24-2008, 03:34 AM

I suppose that low carbing is safe if you count your carbs to insulin doses carefully. I hope that the DAFNE course will help me in this quest to shed some Kg's (or in your case Pounds)

BrianSCohen · #5 (**permalink**) 07-24-2008, 06:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by xMenace

Interesting. So low carbing is somewhat risky. I have to be careful. It's interesting that a not so radical 33% reducton of carbs would do this to me so quickly. I doubt my 2.5% weight loss has much of an impact.

John,

If you read Berstein, he argues that it is actually much safer. You need to adjust your insulin dosing, but over time you will markedly reduce your insulin requirements. The biggest advantage will be that your swings will be reduced. Get your blood sugar average down to 90 mg/dl, and a swing of 10-20 mg/dl is nothing. If you have an average of 90 and have to suffer a swing of 100 mg/dl upon eating, you are in deep trouble. Titrate your basal and bolus as though you are rediscovering your insulin requirements and you should be fine.

grace girl · #6 (**permalink**) 07-24-2008, 09:21 AM

I find that I need less basal if I'm eating lower carb. Oddly enough, I find that my numbers are more stable overall when I don't eat low carb, which I do not understand, but there it is.
However, my definition of high carb is different than most. I average 30 carbs per meal normally...less than that is what I personally define as low carb. If I hit 45 carbs per meal, my numbers get super stable...I just have a hard time eating that much consistantly.

cheryl · #7 (**permalink**) 07-24-2008, 03:59 PM

Ok honest I will be, when I started pumping I knocked out 120 carbs right out of my diet poof gone, be done, it was regular soda, LONG STORY don't want to go there but i drank three cans a day...

Ok back to the point, well within, one and half months, I lost 20 pounds yes, I started on a lower basal amount anyway, and then down down down it went.....right around the time I hit loosing 35 pounds, I went from when I got off lantus which was at 17 units, to start of pumping at 15 units of basal, down to 9.18 units and a insulin to carb ratio of 1:20 yes I was so sensitive, 1:100 was my sensitivity, it actually drove me nuts to be that sensitive....

Now I am back up to a happy 12-13 units of basal a day maintain a weight of 110 to 112 pounds....and my insulin to carb ratio is back where it used to be, just watch it while your dropping weight and carbs and let me tell you if you cut them out, don't bring em back, boy that is a mess but I can eat an extra 120 carbs and do ok, Just can't seem to bolus the full amounts seems I have to dual wave anything over 50 carbs,.....

Cheryl

Eddy · #8 (**permalink**) 07-24-2008, 11:15 PM

My .signature block notwithstanding, there have been a few days where I really didn't feel like dealing with bolusing... so I toyed with The Dark Side. I, too, observed a downward-drifting trend... although holding my BG fairly constant was sooo easy, and it seemed odd to eat without bolusing.

Sadly: The most recent time I tried that, I think my body got angry with the fat intake. For the next week or so, every burp had a nasty taste, like when I'm getting the stomach flu. I blamed it on the fat, hypothesizing that I still had some rotting away somewhere and angering my GI tract.

But it was kind of fun... a big salad (plenty of EVOO) for breakfast... although I felt a bit "clouded" after all that fat... then walking around a lot while on-site, periodically eating yogurt to raise my BG as needed... and I only bolused 1.5 U that day, at breakfast, for the sunflower seeds and walnuts in my salad.