Correcting low blood sugars & weight loss
k_pattie
Posts: 34 Member
Hi everyone! My name is Kendall and I'm 21 years old, have been diabetic for nearly 18 years (my diabetes birthday is next week woooh). I don't have any diabetes complications though I was recently diagnosed with celiac disease and lactose intolerance. I am an avid runner and since losing weight have been able to decrease my lantus amount by 3 units and my insulin/carb ratio in the evenings so I don't have nighttime lows. I get low after my run as well & I've tried really hard to figure out how to properly monitor myself throughout the day when I know I am going to be running but it doesn't generally work out how I would like it to (it never does actually lol).
Anyways, since being diagnosed with celiac disease my options for low foods are a lot smaller. Usually I eat a rice cake with pb and honey or a larabar, sometimes a bowl of rice chex. I get frustrated though because I feel like I am 'wasting' about 200 of my daily calories to account for a low that could have been used elsewhere...
Does anyone else get frustrated with this? How have you been able to change it or how do you approach your lows when also trying to lose weight?
Anyways, since being diagnosed with celiac disease my options for low foods are a lot smaller. Usually I eat a rice cake with pb and honey or a larabar, sometimes a bowl of rice chex. I get frustrated though because I feel like I am 'wasting' about 200 of my daily calories to account for a low that could have been used elsewhere...
Does anyone else get frustrated with this? How have you been able to change it or how do you approach your lows when also trying to lose weight?
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Replies
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Hi Kendall!
I've been a Type 1 for 38 years (my gosh, longer than you've been alive!!). I went on an insulin pump about 3 or so years ago because I have too many lows which I don't recognize. That has helped me a lot!
I don't know anything about celiac so I'm not sure what you can and can't eat with that. It looks the you have to go gluten free?
I think you can eat glucose tabs or gel though. Most that I know of don't have gluten or lactose! They are tasty and very quick acting (much faster than peanut butter with all the fat that's in there as fat slows down the absorption of carbs in your system). Unfortunately, they still have calories but depending on what brand you buy, a dose of 15 g of carbs may only be 60 calories or so.
Another option, if you can have it, is the fun sized 100% juice boxes. I use Juicy Juice brand. They are 100% juice and have about 13 to 16 g carbs per box. They also only have between 90 to 100 calories per box. Read the labels as you need to find the smaller, fun sized boxes and not the large ones that have way more carbs and calories.
I still have a lot of lows, even thought the pump has helped a lot. Sometimes, even when trying to be healthy and lose weight, I don't bother "counting" my glucose tabs in my calories. The small difference that those calories make have not affected me as of yet. I've just started my "being healthy" routine (this January) so that may change as I get closer to my goal or hit a plauteau. I DO count my juices that I drink for low though as they are more calories.
PS - Great job in getting into some good shape and having to take less insulin! That will help you lose more weight as insulin is a fat storing hormone.0 -
Hey Kendall,
I've had Type 1 diabetes for 43 years and have been on the pump for for about 7 years. I wanted to add that I thought Lizzie had a couple of great ideas. While I don't do it, the Juicy Juice idea is a good one. Since carbs have 4 calories per gram, technically a pure low correcting 15 gram serving of carbohydrate should be 60 calories, not too much of an impact on your calories available throughout the rest of the day and the juice should bring you glucose levels up quickly. Of course one of the keys is limiting yourself to just that 15 gram serving. It is very difficult for me, depending how low I am when I actually start correcting, to limit myself to this amount. I want to eat the kitchen sink and everything else in the kitchen too!
The other idea I liked, was don't log it, especially if you can find a food/juice in the 60 calorie range. It barely impacts your total available calories and why beat yourself up over it? Anyway, just my 2 cents worth.
Congratulations on making good progress on your weight loss goal and for living 18 successful years with T1D!0 -
Thank you both - those were some great ideas. I like the Juicy Juice idea a lot and will start implementing that this week. Keith, you're totally right about the keeping to 15grams issue - I have been trying to "train" myself to eat just X amount and wait for my blood sugar to rise, instead of eating everything in sight. I really appreciate the feedback, gave me food for thought and some new ways to go about treating my lows!0
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Hi, I'm Lauren
I got diagnosed with type one diabetes when I was five and I am now 17.
When I was young I gained lots of weight cos my idiot doctor used me as his guinea pig to see what type of insulins and dosages worked out best fro me and his other patients, so I was stuffing my face and eating as though I was teenager when I was only 6 years old. On an average day I would eat:
Cereal/toast, then a 10 o'clock snack of a nutrograin bar, then lunch which was LARGE I would eat a sandwhich, crisps and a cake bar of some sort, the a three o'clock snack which was crisps or another nutrigrain bar, then have a evening meal which was probs 500+ cals, THEN supper which was cereal or toast again.
Like how CRAZY is that for a six year old seriously? And I had that until the age of 11. So you can guess I was a chubby ish child.
So when I was 11 and started secondary school the weight dropped off as my insulin changed from long lasting to fast acting(mixtard to novo rapid)
Then when I was 14 I became depressed and ate LOTS and Gained lots. I was around 129 I think at 5'3 well I was 9st2pounds,
Then I decided to lose it and eventually dropped to my lowest of 97 pounds,
I now have diabulimia, anorexia, bulimia due to my weight troubles because of god damned DIABETES.
Tomorrow I'm getting my retina screening and feet check and I know I'm going to be in trouble with my blood sugar levels beng so high,
I have written this as I feel I need support,my family have no clue how bad it has got and I don't want them to as they won't help me they will just be angry with me and make it to be their problem and about them rather than me.0 -
Dear Lauren,
I have had diabetes since I was 12 and I am now 20. When I was 16 I developed diabulima and had to go to impatient treatment for 2 months. I have learned to love myself more and grow all around as a person dealing with an eating disorder. It never goes away but it will get easier. If you ever need to talk feel free!
Oh and Kendall I have celiac disease as well! It is a pain, and socially awkward but whatcha going to do? lol I also have problems with lows sometimes when I work out but recently I was put on the omni-pod and I can now stop my insulin when I decide to workout and it prevents lows better! (so i can use those calories on something else and not a sugary drink)0 -
I am a runner and I use Jelly Belly beans to treat my lows -- lots of runners have Sport Beans, so why not? I buy generic at Sam's Club and the cost is only about .12 per low, 70 calories (15 carbs for 18 beans). I LOVE how well this works for me. JB says that they are gluten free so they should work with celiac (please check the ingredients to be sure, though!).
Erin0 -
I'm T1 for 22 years now and have been on an insulin pump for 8 years or so. I also just got the Dexcom continuous glucose monitor a few days ago. I am seriously a bionic woman now! I use both basal (the small amount of insulin I get throughout the day) reduction and food to control my lows. My go-to low sugar treatment is either Archer Farms strawberry fruit pulls or 4oz. Juicy Juice boxes. They both have 15 carbs and keep me from binge eating during a low. I also try to anticipate and use my basal rate for control. I turn my pump off 45 minutes before working out and if my sugar seems to be heading toward low, I'll set a temporary low basal rate to try to combat the low. I hope that helps you some
I know some days no matter how hard I try, it seems like my sugars bottom out regardless. 0
