[Fiona]

I was just wondering......why can't type 1 diabetes be controlled by diet and exercise?? If you ate a diet that controlled your blood sugar levels i.e very low carb and did the appropriate exercise required to keep things under control then wouldn't this be enough?? This probably sounds dumb but someone I work with asked me this and I couldn't answer them.

[stooge4444]

Not a dumb question at all.....

Originally posted by Fiona
I was just wondering......why can't type 1 diabetes be controlled by diet and exercise??

It definitely can be controlled by diet and exercise.......that's the best control mechanisms.......

If you had a low carb diet, you would either not have enough carbs and your BS would go down......or the carbs you had might be enough but the glucose from the carbs would stay in the bloodstream for too long of a period (thus raising your hba1c).......

I can say that with low carb diets my blood sugar will plumet very soon afterward......

The only way to bring it up, obviously, is carbs.......and with carbs you need insulin.........

That's my initial thoughts.........

[Fiona]

Strange thing is that I can go all day with out eating anything and my bg level does not change at all- doesn't go up doesn't go down. Everyone talks about their bg levels dropping, why doesn't mine? I think i'm abnormal. I am on Protaphane at night and Novorapid with meals.

[zookeeper671]

... a Type 1 will die without daily insulin injections. The cells in the body need glucose for energy, and the glucose can't get into the cells without insulin. Type 1 diabetics cannot/do not produce any insulin.

Fiona~ If your basal (long acting) insulin is set at the proper dose, your bsl shouldn't drop or spike... unless you eat something, in which you'd need to inject the fast acting insulin.

[Harold]

Angie hit it in a nutshell. From my understanding, Type 2 here, a Type 1 without any insulin and not eating any carbs, eating protein and fats only, will still see a rise in bg's. Even not eating at all, without insulin the release of stored glucose will raise levels and when the body starts breaking down muscle and fat, the body will convert some of it to glucose or another form of sugar. Eventually the body will dump some of it through the kidneys, but I have no idea if the kidneys can keep up after a certain level is reached. I'm sure someone else will be more than glad to give a better explanation of the process or tell me if I'm wrong.

[eevee]

If you are T1 and not using insulin (even if still producing some insulin yourself) you will undoubtedly succumb to body wasting and die. A pic of a person suffering from anorexia will give you a good idea what this looks like. Slightly different process, but the same result...!!!

....Eve

[MarkMunday]

Type 1 diabetics typically inject large amounts of insulin because of their eating patterns - enough carbs to supply 60% of required calories. The problem with this is that it results in large fluctuations in blood sugar levels and poor control. But you do have other options.

You can reduce your quick-acting mealtime shots drastically by replacing carbs with fats. For example, I cut my breakfast humalog bolus shot in half by switching from two pieces of toast to a piece of toast and an egg. Both meals contain about the same number of calories. But the second one contains only half the carbs and requires half the amount of insulin.

Carbs break down into glucose. And insulin is required so that glucose can get into the cells where it is needed for energy. Fats, on the other hand, are broken down into ketones. They are another store of energy but your cells don't require insulin to use them.

So, in answer to your question, you can cut back on carbs and reduce your short action insulin substantially. But you have to be sensible about it. Remember that 36% of protein is converted to glucose. So you need insulin to cover it. And some bodily functions require glucose.

If you cut out carbs and stop taking insulin entirely, you could put yourself into ketoacidosis. It is a very dangerous condition in which your blood sugar rises very high at the same time as muscle and protein are converetd into ketones.

Cheers,

Mark

[HeatherP]

Up until the invention of injectable insulin, Diabetes was a fatal disease.

Can't add much of anything to what's already been said.

HeatherP

[rzrbks]

Fiona

Strange thing is that I can go all day with out eating anything and my bg level does not change at all- doesn't go up doesn't go down.

Me too. That's the way I check and make sure that my basal is correct. Skip a meal or two and check B/G readings, if they are in the proper range, then my basal is correct. If they're too high then basal needs to be adjusted upwards, if too low, basal needs to go down.

The long acting insulin you use is replacing the natural functions of the body, so, if you're holding steady, you've got it it Perfect.