Healing Type 1 Diabetes

I'll Start Fresh Tomorrow

My morning blood sugar was 80 this morning! Wow, I remember when I was happy with anything under 200.

Have you ever said to yourself, "I'll start fresh tomorrow (or next week/month/etc.)." ?

I used to say that to myself a lot. If I made a slip in my diet I would give up, pig out for the rest of the day, and tell myself I would do better tomorrow.

I think a lot of people with addictions must do this. That phrase was in Jeff Garlin's book My Footprint: Carrying the Weight of the World a lot. I did not enjoy this book very much. I thought it would be inspiring about how a celebrity with food addictions conquered them. But the end of the book didn't seem to have a resolution. It wasn't inspiring. The main thing for me was that I totally identified with the "starting over tomorrow" philosophy and saw how it just does not work - at all.

So I am very proud to say that I am no longer using that approach. I had something sweet after lunch for the last 3 days, took my bolus (fast acting insulin for those not on a pump) for it, and continued to eat low carb for the rest of the day. My sweet treats did not have any grains in them and they have not affected my basal rate (24 hr insulin amount) nor my overall blood sugars.

On the other hand, if I ate a slice of bread I think it would affect my basal rate and my blood sugars for 3 days minimum.

I know I probably should not eat sweets that often, but I'm accepting the fact that I'm not perfect and moving on. My main goal is good blood sugars and a good A1c. The lowest A1c I have ever had is 8 and I am hoping to do so-o-o much better! Wish me luck!

First Crash & Greek Yogurt

I've had great morning blood sugars lately of around 100, but this morning I had my first crash since I've been on this Primal Diet.

Now I'm wondering if I should lower my basal rate (10 units a day, .45 units per hour) all day or just at night or whether I am bolusing too much for my evening meal. I think I will try bolusing less and see if that works.

As crashes go, it wasn't bad. To me the bad ones are when I wake up sweaty and confused and can barely make it downstairs to get something to eat. With this one I just woke up feeling like I was crashing, but not sweaty or confused yet.

I found one very tasty low carb treat is greek yogurt. I especially like one from Trader Joe's that has 8 carbs & 3 gms of fiber from inulin. That works out to only a net of 5 carbs! This is the plain flavor, of course. I add slivered almonds and raw cacao nibs. Yummy!

Technically, I may be eating too much dairy for a true primal diet but my blood sugars are good so I am not worrying about it right now.

Like I mentioned previously I am trying to be less of a perfectionist and allow myself some treats. I even had an ice cream this weekend! I just made sure it had no grains (for example, no cookies & cream flavor and no ice cream sandwich), gave myself 5 units of insulin, and I seemed to do okay. I just relaxed and savored every bite and did not consider it a relapse on my diet.

Right now I am about to eat my BAS and so looking forward to it!

Perfectionism in the Diet - In Some Areas it's Necessary

I know in the past I have tried to be too much of a perfectionist in my diet (and in this case I don't mean the definition of diet people tend to think of nowadays, I just mean what I eat and drink). I am trying to loosen up in some areas but there are some areas in which I do need to be a perfectionist.

For example, my daughter is celiac. She HAS to be a perfectionist when it comes to avoiding gluten. I have been told that I am highly sensitive to gluten, although not celiac.

http://www.healthiertalk.com/gluten-what-you-don-t-know-might-kill-you-4521

This article talks about how the risk of death was highest for the people with ‘gut inflammation related to gluten’ and were not diagnosed as celiac. The celiacs did much better because they knew and avoided gluten. So, in essence, the best thing to do is try a trial period of not eating gluten and then reintroduce it and see how you feel.

When I eat the starchy carbs that I am sensitive to (and this includes rice, potatoes, & corn - I am only not sensitive to buckwheat, quinoa, & millet) my insulin needs go up for 3 days. My basal rate has to be 20 units. But after clearing my body of these grains, my basal rate can be reduced to 10 units. In fact, I have to reduce it or I start crashing a lot. Sugar, without grains, just seems to affect my insulin needs short term. But I am just eating sugar when needed for a blood sugar crash.

So, you see, a piece of cake or even a bite affects me for so long that it is just not worth it and it could also be causing gut inflammation. I need to be a perfectionist, unfortunately, when it comes to these starchy carbs.

This weekend I went to a neighbor's cookout and I enjoyed the non-grass-fed meat and a salad and bypassed all the desserts. They even had a made-from-scratch banana pudding with meringue on top where even the vanilla wafers were made from scratch. But I kept thinking about those 3 days. I am on 10 units of basal right now and losing weight (whenever I reduce the insulin I take I lose weight since insulin is the fat storage hormone). I avoided those desserts and don't regret not tasting them. When you eat plenty of protein and keep your blood sugar levels down, the cravings are just not as strong and sometimes are gone completely.

But I was not a perfectionist about the meat or the salad. I normally eat grass-fed and the salad had a dressing on it that I didn't know what was in it. So I can be a non-perfectionist in some areas. Oh, I forgot, I also had a couple of buffalo wings with some teriyaki sauce on them. What areas can you loosen up on and with what foods do you need to be a perfectionist?

I think Matt Monarch says in his books "It's what you don't eat that heals you" and sometimes that is so true!