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Type 1 Thursday – Type 1 vs Type 2 Diabetes
It’s Thursday – time for another Type 1 Thursday!
Today’s topic is Type 1 vs Type 2 Diabetes. What are the differences? What are the similarities (if any)? And what about management and treatment, what are differences and similarities there?
What are your take aways from this video? Share in a comment!
Transcription
If you prefer to read, here it is:
For today’s topic, I wanted to explain and go through the differences between the two main types of diabetes. So that is, Type 1 Diabetes, as I have, and also Type 2 Diabetes that is the more common version. There are also many other versions of diabetes together with it.
I wanted to draw the outline of the sort of differences between these two, and perhaps if there are any similarities. And what about management? How does that work between the two different types?
So basically, Type 1 Diabetes, as you may or may not know, is an autoimmune disease. That means that my beautiful immune system decided that those insulin producing cells looked a little bit dodgy when I was two years old, and kick them out of commission, which is not great because that means that I am all other type 1’s will have to inject insulin for the rest of our lives no matter what we do, no matter whether we go low carb and no matter if we go carnivore – we will always have to inject some insulin. Perhaps not as much as when on the standard American or Western diet, but still a bit so that we keep our engines running, as insulin is the master hormone. And it’s very much needed. So if you don’t produce any, you have to add some.
It is, as I already said, it’s the pancreas that get or a part of the pancreas that gets kicked out. That means that I produce no insulin, but other Type 1’s may produce some, but it is nearly not enough insulin. This can be hereditary, but Type 1 doesn’t have to be hereditary. I, myself, am an example of that. I have no history of Type 1 Diabetes in my family, I am the lucky chosen one. How great is that?
Type 1’s are about 5% only of all diabetes cases. Considering there are over 420 million diabetics in the world, that means that we are very small minority. And I’m not sad about this, because I don’t wish this on anyone. It does explain that we have to do a little bit more advocacy for our type of diabetes because we are not represented as much as Type 2’s.
The onset of Type 1 Diabetes can be very sudden, and it’s usually discovered within weeks. If it’s if it’s not LADA or other side types of Type 1, you will be very, very sick very suddenly. Symptoms include frequent urination and thirst, incredible unquenchable thirst, falling asleep everywhere, because your blood sugar is skyrocketed high. There are few warnings to look out for, that can also be mistaken for the common flu. Don’t wait in case you have this suspicion, go and check it out, if it happens to a family member, for example.
There’s no cure for Type 1 Diabetes. We do have better management possibilities than we’ve had in the past 34 years that I’ve been living with the condition, but there is to date, no cure, and I’m not positive about one happening anytime soon. I secretly, or not so secret, I do wish for it every single day of my life, even if it is easier to manage with lifestyle choices, it’s not as easy as maybe it would have been without having to act as your own pancreas.
Type 2 Diabetes, what is that? That is basically a severe insulin resistance. So your body is still producing insulin. In fact, it’s actually producing tons and tons and oodles and oodles of insulin. But the problem is that your cells don’t recognize the insulin that you’re producing, making you insulin resistant, making you not be able to take up the sugar from the blood stream, making it hang around in the blood stream. That is why you have higher blood sugar in Type 2 as well. Basically, the body does not recognize its own insulin. And this can be very tricky, but there are a lot of things that you can do to improve insulin resistance even as a Type 1, but definitely as a Type 2.
Type 2 can be lifestyle related, or it can also be hereditary. But the lifestyle part is a majority of the cases.
Diabetes cases that are Type 2 in comparison to Type 1 are basically the remaining 95% (and 5% are Type 1.) This can take years to develop, although the symptoms are just the same as in Type 1, just maybe not as severe from the beginning. You might notice a need for more water over a while or you might notice that you’re more tired than usual. But that can also be attributed to stress and all these kind of things that are lifestyle related, as well. The lucky thing with Type 2 is that many cases actually can be reversed with the help of lifestyle measures, like changing your diet, movement, taking supplements, all these things that you can do with your lifestyle is to alleviate and also perhaps reverse Type 2. Even if your Type 2 has so called been turned into Type 1, which it can’t, Type 2 can only become insulin dependent, but it can never be Type 1, because it’s not an autoimmune attack on your insulin producing cells.
What are the commonalities of these two types of diabetes?
Both of them lead to the same complications. These includes retinopathy, potentially blindness, that leads to nerve damage, potentially neuropathy, and/or amputations. And it also can lead to kidney problems and nephropathy. It can lead to cardiovascular disease, it can lead to stroke… All of these things that aren’t so nice with diabetes can actually be attributed to the high blood sugars or the constant constant fluctuations in blood sugar and not the diabetes itself. If you manage to keep your diabetes at bay and keep your blood sugars at a normal, healthy level, then the risk of complications, DKA and all these things, it’s very much smaller than if you don’t and you go between minimum and maximum at all times.
A second similarity is that you have the same goals of achieving normal, healthy, stable blood sugars. Make those continuous blood glucose monitor things look like lines, not roller coasters, but lines. That goes for any diabetic, independent of type.
Thirdly, the want to reduce insulin. Before before people get angry with me here, let me explain why.
In Type 1, if you keep adding lots and lots of insulin the whole time, the risk is that you’re going to be a double diabetic. That means that you, in addition to your Type 1 Diabetes, develop severe insulin resistance so that you have both types of diabetes. For me personally, and I know very many with me, this is something that we definitely want to avoid. You can’t think of insulin as a free for all thing that can make you eat anything that you want. For those of you who works for, great! For those of us who maybe it doesn’t work for, and we need more insulin than necessary, it’s not maybe the best idea. The risk is there, and I was there myself a couple years ago, I am very sure that I had double diabetes, because I was on so much more insulin than I am on now. But it wasn’t confirmed. So I can’t say with security.
Why you want to reduce insulin as a Type 2? If there isn’t that much insulin to not react to for the cells, then maybe they start listening a little bit. It’s like a small toddler, when you scream at them, and try to reinforce your power and try to make them understand… Do they ever listen? No. If you, on the other hand, just keep calm and really give it instructions with a point and and with direction, there is at least a chance that they might listen. It’s similar with Type 2 and insulin, in my opinion.
How can you reduce the amount of insulin needed or used? How can you get stable normal blood sugars? And how can you, as a Type 1 diabetic, not get double diabetes? Lifestyle measurements. As a Type 1, as I said, you will always have to take some insulin, but it will it can be reduced. The power of nutrition in diabetes is just so immense. You can eat a sugar free, low carb, real food kind of diet (and I hate the word diet but there’s no other way of explaining it). If you eat real food, if you if you eat sugar free and if you low carb, chances are that you will be able to improve your health a lot.
This doesn’t just go for people with diabetes – this goes for everyone. Whether you have diabetes or not, if you’re healthy, if you have no health issues at all, you are always going to be better of health wise, if you eat a sugar free, low carb, nutrient dense, real food diet. That’s just it. That and of course, movement, exercise, make sure that you feel joy in your life, make sure that you take supplements if you need them. Make sure to hydrate, make sure that you have a routine that works for you. Make sure that you alleviate your stress. All of these lifestyle measurements are good for both diabetics and non diabetics.
If you have any takeaways or any ideas or any comments, let me know below and I will be happy to chat with you there.
Type 1 Thursday – How to eat at restaurants
Is eating at restaurants difficult while trying to maintain normal blood sugars?
Not necessarily!
This is my little guide of how to eat at restaurants while maintaining the normal blood sugars all Type 1 Diabetics deserve and should strive for!
I share my top six tips for successfully dining out, what to focus on and how to build a meal. Check it out here:
What are your best tips for dining out with Type 1 Diabetes (or if you’re mindful of your sugar consumption over all)? Let me know in a comment!
Transcription
If you prefer to read, here’s an unedited version:
Hello, hello, hello and welcome to another episode of type one Thursday with me Hanna which is one of the founders of The Low Carb Universe. We organize Europe’s truly healthy hundred percent real food events. But that’s not what we’re here to talk to you about today.
Today is, of course, another episode of Type 1 Thursday, where we discuss all things, type one diabetes, and low carb and healthy food and healthy eating and all of that stuff that may not be talked about as much in other places. So I thought, hey, why not? Let’s do it.
I am a type one diabetic since 34 years this year, which is yay, you know, alive and stuff. Today, I will be sharing with you you how to navigate restaurants, and eating outside of your home with type 1 diabetes, and how to maintain normal glycaemic blood sugar levels throughout this. And do stay tuned, because I will be revealing my top six tips on how to actually make this happen properly, after a bit of an introduction and stuff like that.
Why are normal blood sugars so important?
This is I don’t know, like the 13th video I think I’m making in this series. So if you watched any of my previous stuff, I think you know why normal blood sugars are so important. And so also, of course, whether you are either treating yourself or don’t have another option, but to eat at a restaurant, where it is more difficult to figure out what they have added to your meal, which you may not have added at home. Yes, healthy normal blood sugars. All diabetics are deserve them. All diabetics should strive for them. And we should not be content and happy with anything else but normal levels.
That’s my opinion. And I’m sticking to my guns. And that’s why I’m making all of these videos. And of course, why it is so important is of course that you have to, well, I assume if you’re anything like me, you want to live a long, happy, healthy life with diabetes, despite diabetes, thriving in your life. And then normal blood sugars will keep you there for longer. Let’s just keep that as at as a baseline.
I am very, very happy now because this wasn’t the case before. But healthier options at restaurants are becoming more available more readily available. Just things like for example, a big normally very pasta focused chain has recently brought out noodles as an option. And that is great, of course for us who are trying to mind our glucose and trying to mind the sugar intake in our foods. For example, there’s a lot more vegetables on the menus, there’s a lot more that you can get sauces on the side and no one looks at you weirdly, you can substitute a lot of the the sides with vegetables, and no one looks at you weirdly, and side salad is a huge thing, which you can also of course, when you are fueled by other things but sugar in your body, then you can have that too without a problem and not feel deprived or anything.
So there are three things: first of all, when you see go to a restaurant, that is important that is of course, as always, no matter where if you’re all at a restaurant, but focus on the protein and vegetables, which can be solved, they can be changed. All the pasta, rice, potatoes, fries, all of these things that you know, don’t leave you feeling your absolute best when you eat a restaurant, substitute them for different types of vegetables. Here is a great tip actually, that I found out a couple years ago is that when you look at a restaurant menu, and you see, let’s take an example, a sirloin with mashed potatoes. “okay, well, the mashed potatoes aren’t great for me, but I see here with the with the seven on this menu, you serve asparagus, do you think I could swap the mashed potatoes for these asparagus?”, for example. Check what they have on the menu in other dishes, and what type of vegetables they have there. And maybe you can find your favorite there or something that is at least better for you than mashed potatoes that are currently being offered. And of course, then number three is keep all or most sauces on the side. Make sure that you get the source in a little couple of sites so that you can first of all taste how much sugar there’s in there. Even if someone tells you that they’re Oh no, it’s completely sugar free, there’s no sugar, you can taste it very quickly. And you can make your choices after that.
Easy restaurants to go to when you are minding your sugar intake and you do not have the metabolic capability of breaking these things down as effectively as maybe other people do.
This includes but is not limited to, for example, steak houses, burger places. Seriously burgers without buns with all the good cheese and bacon and maybe an egg on top and a side salad, you’re going to be full four hours. When your friends who ate a normal burger menu starts going on about “I could go for like a coffee and cake”, you know, just fueling up again, you’ll still be full, “I am winning at this game”.
Also, Italian places are fantastic for low carb you wouldn’t think it but and very very little of the Italian cuisine is actually pasta, pizza, all these heavy things. It’s more like fresh meats, fish, seafood, and a lot of vegetables. Italians eat a lot of vegetables, and the yummy yummy olive oil, of course. And that is a great tip for if you are out and about and see an Italian restaurant, if it is authentic enough, and hasn’t zoomed in on the pizza thing, because then you can just scrape off the toppings, but it’s not a great experience for anyone. So let’s not go there!
You can also go to salad bars, that’s a given. Or deli places, maybe somewhere that makes sandwiches and you can ask to have the sandwich feelings on a salad or on a plate instead.
Brazilian steakhouses are fantastic. You won’t be lacking protein after going to a Brazilian steakhouse, I can assure you that. French places are great, not as much bread as you would think. And also Greek places are fantastic, all the Mediterranean really Greek, Italian, Spanish, of course with all the tapas, and it’s fantastic. And then of course Italian as I mentioned before.
Mexican is also surprisingly good, because there you can have things like fajitas without the bread and the beans and all this stuff and the rice. You can have all of these things that are really, really yummy that people don’t quite realize are yummy, because they cover it up with all these carby things so that they don’t actually get the flavor of the real thing, which is the protein of course.
Even sushi places actually are quite great for low carb because, and bear with me, you can have a few edamames and you can have a whole plate of sashimi, which is of course the sushi without the rice, so if you’re minding your sugar intake, don’t despair if you only have sushi place at hand. There’s always always things that you can do. And I’ve seen now actually sushi places who make rice out of cauliflower rice, there is one place for example in Stockholm. I think it’s spreading, too, and this trend of maybe not wanting sugary rice is becoming bigger.
Alright, I promised you my six top tips on how to manage restaurant but the restaurant visit with type 1 and wanting to keep your blood sugar’s at a normal level, because this is what we’re striving for.
As I said before, number one, if you can do research the menu online so that you want you know what you’re handling, you can already make a couple of choices, you can have an overview of what the actually have, you can check the starters, the mains, the deserts, but seriously don’t have too much hope for the desert, because you probably won’t find much apart from maybe a cheese platter, which also is a fantastic dessert. This also helps you if you are a bit conscious about your spending.
Number two, of course, stay away from the starches. If you get offered a bread basket and you know you can’t resist it, ask them to take it away. Make sure that your dish does not contain rice, pasta, potatoes, fries, or mashes if you know you can’t navigate around them. And I’m not saying that you always have to be 100% – you do what works for you. And if tasting a bit of these things works for you, then good, keep doing that. But if you know that you can’t keep away from them, make sure you stop them from the beginning.
Number three, which I already mentioned in the beginning, but it’s very, very important: focus on the protein and the vegetables. That is the easiest thing that you can do. Even at a restaurant or at home or anywhere you are. If you’ve been invited to a dinner somewhere at a friend’s place, that is sometimes a little bit tricky. But always focus on the protein and the vegetables, and then don’t pay so much attention to the things that you can’t have. Of course, this is as much a mind game for you as anyone else. Instead, pay attention to things that you can have. Take it as a positive thing that you are doing something good for you, your body and your health. Because you want to stay healthy for as long as you of course, possibly can.
Number four, which is something I struggled with a lot. In the beginning, when I first went low carb, I’m often said, “oh, it’s okay. Don’t worry. Just bring this and this and whatever else. Like, take everything out of it. It’s fine!” No, no, no, actually, the proper way of doing it is Dare. To. Ask., make sure that you do find the option that works the best for you. Because no one else is going to be looking out for you. Dare to ask “what do you put in that sauce?” “Oh, is this gluten free?” (If gluten is a problem for you.) “Oh, is this sugar free?” Waitstaff should know this. If they don’t, they are very welcome to run back to the kitchen and check with their colleagues. It’s really important for you to know what the food that you eat actually contains. “Oh, is this thing breaded?” “Do you have bread crumbs in your Parmesan Melanzane?” There are so many ways of cooking food that should be “free food”. Not everyone does it the same way. Dare to ask. As I mentioned before, if you see a vegetable in some other dish, maybe you know they’re willing to swap that for the thing that you don’t want in the dish that you want, or with the protein that you have chosen. Dare to ask what’s in your food. How can you swap it? What can you do to make this work for you? At the end of the day at a restaurant, you are a paying customer and they generally would very much want happy, healthy customers that keep talking about their wonderful establishment and the fantastic service that they got. They will very rarely rarely be snarky about your dietary restrictions, because they want repeat customers too.
Alright, number five, you know what, if it doesn’t go perfectly fine, if something goes wrong, like you have a glass of wine too many than you expected, or if you’re eating a bit more of the starch than you expected – just don’t panic. It’s alright. You’re not going to die from screwing it up once, but it is a learning curve. So don’t panic, make sure that you remember it so that you know next time what not to do and what didn’t work for you. Work with the things that do work for you, and what you leaves you feeling the healthiest, best version of yourself.
And then number six, which is actually something that I did for myself, in the beginning. Now it’s just second nature, but in the beginning, I made every restaurant menu a game for myself. Everywhere I went, whether it was Chinese, (that is a tricky one, though, because they mix everything in sauces), or a pizza place, or Italian or burgers or whatever. Wherever I saw a menu, I made it into a game for myself to make a nourishing, sustainable dish for myself from any menu. That is my tip number six, make it a game. Oh, what can I eat at this restaurant? Uh huh. Okay, but if I swap that, with that, and then, instead of that I have that, and then I get a meal that works for me and leaves me healthy, happy and feeling fantastic. Even after my restaurant visit.
Those were my quick tips for you. Actually, let’s call it the little guide of eating at restaurants with Type 1 Diabetes. I hope you have enjoyed this video!
I want to know from you what your best restaurant tips are with type 1, or even without. If you’re just minding your sugar intake, what are the best tips that you have figured out they’ve seen someone else do that you’ve heard someone else do?
Share them with me in a comment and I’ll be happy to chat with you. Until next time!
Type 1 Thursday – 5 Lies Your Doctor Tells You About Diabetes
Today, we’re talking about 5 lies your doctor has told you about Diabetes.
It’s not your fault that you’ve been told these lies. Or that you believed them, either! Do these sound familiar to you? Do you need carbs? “Eat and cover for it with insulin”? DKA? Complications? A cure for Type 1 Diabetes?
Check out this episode of Type 1 Thursday and see what is really going on with these lame excuses!
Which ones have you believed? Are there any you still believe? Or have you been told other ones? Share in the comments and let’s talk about it!
Transcription
If you prefer to read, here’s the whole (pretty much unedited) text:
Hello, and welcome to this week’s episode of Type 1 Thursday with me Hanna Boëthius, one of the founders of The Low Carb Universe, as well as a type one diabetic for the past at least 34 years. I have a few years of experience with this chronic disease, and I am now happy to share some of my knowledge with you all in this series that we call Type 1 Thursday. I have a whole thing planned for you guys, and it’s a presentation that I have done in the past but I thought it’s very important information and so that you should know it as well.
This is the five lies that your doctor has told you about diabetes. And I cannot wait to get started. Because these are quite fundamental things that a lot of medical professionals or even doctors have troubles realizing and that I’m quite sure that you have been told as well. So let me know in the comments which lies you believed or which ones you’ve been told, so that we can get those straight and maybe not believe them anymore.
My number one lie that your doctor has told you about diabetes is you have to have carbs. This sounds very, very silly to me now, after eight years of low carbing my way through life, as a healthier, happier, better human being. So that sounds really weird to me now, but it didn’t sound weird to me then, which is when I believe this and I was told it that, yes, your body needs carbs.
This is partially true, your body does need some carbs and some sugar. But your body’s also clever enough so that it can sort that mess out on its own and you don’t actually have to add any, if very, very few carbs from the outside to maintain that equilibrium of carbs versus rest of stuff in the body.
The carbs and insulin are not a match made in heaven. injected insulin is first of all, not by any means as precise as endogenous insulin so if a human being produces insulin on his or her own, that is a lot more effective than the injected insulin that you as a type 1 diabetic will have to inject. And, of course, the disparity between these, you can never chase a lot of carbs with a lot of insulin because the equation very rarely will match. This goes back to apparently my favorite topic in this, which is the law of small numbers. So if you work with small numbers, small levels of sugar, and work with small levels of insulin, they are easier to make happen and make that into an equation that actually adds up.
Also, of course, this makes me wonder why the official recommendations are still 45 to 60 grams of carbs per meal for diabetics? I think that is ludicrous, I don’t understand why because clearly, clearly, clearly, you can survive on almost none carbs because your body is so beautifully clever in that way, so you don’t need carbs is the conclusion for line number one. And there are alternative fuel sources for your body to function.
Lie number two, hey, just eat what you want and come in for it with insulin, that will work. Right?
Well, it does work for some, it just doesn’t work for myself, and many, many, many other type 1 diabetics out there. It is, as I already mentioned, too difficult to match a lot of sugar with a lot of insulin. So it isn’t the ideal treatment. I mean, it is the best treatment we have out there but it’s not the ideal treatment because it doesn’t work with injected insulin and with carbs. So don’t be fooled that you can just eat anything and just cover for it with insulin because in very many cases it doesn’t even work.
Hyperinsulinemia has been shown also to cause an array of crazy things in the body. It has been linked to certain cancers, to coronary heart disease, to Alzheimer’s, it’s been linked to a lot of things. So if you can help it, maybe it’s not the best idea to put a lot of insulin into your system if you don’t have to, what is the point of that. Also, insulin toxicity is of course, another thing to mention here. That is something that we need to of course, have a lot more research on but for now, I don’t want to jinx anything and I don’t want to be playing with uncertainties, when I have another way of doing it.
It also of course, when you eat whatever you want and cover for it with insulin, it does make the margin of error way to big for comfort, and that is one of my main points of eating low carb as a type 1 diabetic, it is the margin of error or just too large to handle for me. This sends your blood sugar on a roller coaster rocket ride, it goes up and it goes down and you have to treat with insulin, you have to treat with sugar you have to treat treat, treat. You still have to have a normal life. But all you’re going to do if you are on that roller coaster is to manage diabetes, and that is not what I want for you. That’s not what I want for myself. That’s not what I want for any type 1 diabetic. This is why I call it a lie because it’s not sustainable for very, very many of us. For those who it is sustainable for, yay, good for you! Awesome that you found what works for you. But for us that it doesn’t work for I want you guys to know that there is another way of managing diabetes. So conclusion for number two; too much insulin isn’t good, either.
All right, and then I have a sneaky lie, number two and a half. Without masses of insulin in your body, you’re gonna go into diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA). I did a whole video about this a couple of weeks ago, and I think I, well, at least I aimed at trying to explain to you that this was not the case. This has nothing to do with how much insulin you have in your body, it has to do with that you have enough insulin in your body, but it doesn’t mean that you need masses of it.
There are many, many factors that that are needed for a diabetic ketoacidosis to happen. High blood sugars, dehydration, there are large ketones and not like the large ketones that they mentioned in these nutritional ketosis graphs. No, no, like really high ketones like 10 mmol/l and upwards for it to be a DKA.
A DKA requires, what did we learn a couple weeks ago, we learned that it requires a lack of insulin in the body and nothing else. Nothing else can actually push you into DKA apart from the lack of insulin or being dehydrated.
There are very many ways that you can avoid a decay even if you’re a type 1 on a ketogenic diet. Normal glycemia (normal blood sguars) has been shown to actually have less occurrence of DKA. If your blood sugars are normal, stable, healthy blood sugars that all diabetics deserve and should aim for, the risk of going into a DKA is pretty small.
This is leads me shamelessly onto my third lie, which is all ketones are bad. Even trace ketones are bad for every single diabetic.
It feels like I also did the video a couple weeks ago on this topic, because this is of course, when diabetic ketoacidosis isn’t at all the same as nutritional ketosis. They’re two completely different things. And what’s needed in between is of course, the lack of insulin we come back to this again. So, trace ketones may be a danger if you are a sugar burning diabetic, who is not receiving in either way, the insulin that the body is needing or that you actually just don’t have control of your diabetes that then trace ketones can be bad. Yes, absolutely. But if you are a controlled fat burning machine of a diabetic, there won’t be a DKA. As long as you keep taking the insulin the body’s needing, you keep hydrated and you keep an eagle eye on your blood sugars, it’s not harder than that. So keep at it.
Ketones are a great fuel, if you know how to use them. So the conclusion for line number two and a half and three is DKA is easy to avoid even as a type one on a ketogenic diet.
Lie number four, complications are a natural progression of diabetes. This one actually really annoys me because not only is this said widely and freely and by everyone who is educating diabetics around the world, but it also comes with the terrible advice of eating 45 to 60 grams of carbs per meal, how is that possible? Those two things are absolutely are correlated, because high HbA1c, above the normal, healthy level and ranges, has been shown to cause more diabetic complications.
I know I don’t have to, but I’m going to anyway, diabetic complications are things like retinopathy, potentially blindness, amputations, nerve damage, renal failure, heart problems, high blood pressure, all of these things that can be correlated with high blood sugars, and of course, you get high blood sugar if you keep eating all that sugar!
Furthermore, a healthy A1c is nax 5.5%, which I think is very interesting because for a diabetic is anything between 6.5 to 8% of HbA1c. Why is that? Why do they think that diabetics are going to be healthier at a higher level than normally healthy people? That is an equation that I can’t make work in my mind. So that is why I also call this a lie because, of course, when the goal is set so high for diabetics, they are more prone to complications. Then it becomes a natural progression.
Stable, normal, happy, healthy blood sugars are the leading cause of absolutely nothing. Then you can live a healthy happy life with both type 1 and type 2 diabetes, and all the other types as well. But that does have the prerequisite that you do get the chance to get the information that this is a possibility, which of course a lot of people don’t today. That makes me sad.
Conclusion from lie number quatro is stable, low blood sugars will keep you safer from complications, then the high blood sugars that are set as the goal for us today.
Lie number five is a cure is just around the corner. And I bet if you do live with Type 1 Diabetes, you have heard this at least a gazillion times. Every time I went to my endocrinologist as a child, every time, and I can’t even imagine how many times my parents have heard this too.
Back in the day, and it’s always in five to ten years. Yeah, listen up people. It’s been 34 years, and I’m still waiting for this cure to happen. So, I’m sorry, but I’ve lost a bit of faith in this statement, which is what is causing me to also call it a lie.
There have been fantastically promising advancements made in terms of managing diabetes. We have, we have insulin pumps, we have continuous blood glucose monitors, we have got blood glucose monitors that need a lot less blood, they’re a lot less invasive. We have so many treatment options now and especially super exciting with the closed and open loops that are coming out on the market. And that is going to be fantastic. But I have to be a little bit pessimistic when it comes to cure because I don’t think that that is actually even on the horizon, although there are a lot of attempts going on. But there’s not that much progress being made. So the conclusion from why number five is, there’s going to be a lot more done for diabetes management, but maybe not as much as we hope for a cure in the foreseeable future. At least, I hope someone proves me wrong. I really, really do hope someone proves me wrong, but from what I can see right now, this is not the case.
Which one’s of these lies have you believed? Have you been told maybe or have you been told any other lies that I didn’t have time to bring up in today’s live session? Let me know in a comment, and I will be happy to discuss it. There. have fantastic rest of the day. And I will see you next week with a new episode of Type 1 Thursday. Bye!
Type 1 Thursday – How to treat hypos
Let’s talk about treating hypos/low blood sugars in today’s Type 1 Thursday!
How do you treat your lows? What do you use?
Comments and questions are, as always, welcome!
Transcription
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Hello and welcome to Type 1 Thursday with me Hanna Boëthius, one of the cofounders of The Low Carb Universe. And of course, also a type one since 34 years this year. Yay. Let’s celebrate. That’s a question actually for an other T1T about dia-versaries. Do you celebrate your dia-versary? Or do you not? I tend to not really because I don’t really see the point. But let’s keep that for another live.
Today, we are talking about hypoglycemia. And that is, for those who maybe aren’t as in with the diabetes lingo, low blood sugars, so when your blood sugar level drops too low, and you maybe won’t be able to carry on as usual.
Yes, this will also happen, of course, when you are low carb, this is no guard against lows and hypos, but I will tell you this, it will happen less, because of the of course now legendary law of small numbers. Because you’re not adding tons of insulin and tons of sugar, you don’t have the that huge error margin. So you’re playing with small amounts of sugar and small amounts of insulin, so that you don’t ever really dip that low. Anyway, so hypos do happen and they still happen on and off for me.
What has changed for me, of course, from when I was high carb to eating low carb, and therefore took a load of insulin is that the amount of carbs needed to treat a hypoglycemic episode is, of course, a lot less. And I will go through this in a little bit to show you the comparison.
Hypoglycemia has different symptoms, you can be shaky, you can have a bit of brain fog, you can’t really think clearly your vision can go blurry. And you can, there’s so many different things that for example, at times, I’ve had that my nose get goes tingling, or my lip. But now I rarely experience these episodes. And when I do they’re not as low like my blood sugar level is not as low as it maybe it has gone before.
What happens when you have a hypoglycemic episode is that you’ve taken too much insulin, there’s nothing in the world that can cause you to hypo and but actually taking too much insulin for the required thing that you took more insulin than you needed in that in that specific example.
So for example, maybe you took a little too much for the meal that you just had, or maybe because of exercise, you got extra insulin sensitive, there’s so many variables that can make you sort of overdose on insulin, but you know, apart from just shooting up too much. So yes, there are many, many reasons for why but there’s only one sort of correlation as to why you get a hypoglycaemic episode, and that is taking too much insulin for in comparison to your needs. And that’s it.
What I think is very, very interesting, when you do go low carb and high have lower blood sugars than desired is actually that ketones, and this has been proven in some fancy study or another, actually seem to have a cognitive protection for your brain. So even if your your blood sugar is low, and you don’t have enough, well enough, let’s call that sugar in your system, your brain will still function, because it is also fueled by ketones, so it always has fuel rather than relying on only sugar, which is of course, a little bit, well, maybe not ideal. It’s always nice to have double, and fuel sources for your pretty little brain to keep busy with.
What is the definition of a hypoglycemia?
This is something that we can debate forever, because it is very, very individual. So for me, for example, I think the official one is under 3.9 mmol/l, which is about 60 mg/dl, is the lower limit. Anything under that should be treated as a low blood sugar.
According to the conventional method, one should treat hypoglycemia with eating 15 grams of carbs, wait 15 minutes, measure again, and repeat if necessary. That is what it’s taught to all of us diabetics out there. I have figured out that I maybe need something a little bit different than that specific method. But then again, I don’t do things by the book anyway, do I so no surprises there.
Because my carb sensitivity has gone up so much. I’m so sensitive to carbs now because I don’t need them too often. So that’s something I’m happy about. Because in return, my insulin sensitivity has gone up like crazy.
What I usually do is I if I measure a low or if my CGM tells me that I have a low, I will take, listen to this, two grams of glucose. And maybe four grams, if it’s really, really low, and then I will be fine within about half an hour. And because I can keep cognitive for longer, how do I say this without getting into trouble, at relatively low measurements, I can still stay cognitive. And I don’t mind waiting instead of shoving everything in my face, like have done many, many times. When I was high carb, I sometimes needed 25 to 50 carbs to treat a low because I simply had that much insulin swerving around in my system and it being too much for me, of course. So that’s why I needed so many carbs to treat back then. And now I need to for maybe if it’s a really bad one, I will need six grams of glucose.
What is low for me? I don’t generally treat until sort of around the 3.0 mmol/l, about 60 mg/dl. And that also depends on if I’m at home or if I’m out and about. If I’m at home, I can take my time treating it, I don’t have to hurry up and get into a safe zone. But that’s different if I’m out and about, and then I take two grams of glucose, I will minimize the basal on my pump, so that it is at 10 or 20%. So that doesn’t keep giving me insulin during my low as well. That’s usually is enough to get me up to a safe sort of 4.0 mmol/l, so 80 mg/dl to 5.0 mmol/l. And this is where I feel the best as well.
I don’t want to overcorrect it either, because this is not comfortable. This is where the most damage happens to your to your system, with either continuously high blood sugars or jumping blood sugars. I try to avoid that those two things as much as possible, which is why I don’t, or I try not to, over treat my hypos when they do happen, which is not very often anymore. I do not read my kitchen over there to find whatever I want to eat, because this is the opportunity to just eat all these things that I normally can’t, because then I would be over treating it. Anyone who has had a hypoglycemic episode or a low blood sugar knows that it’s a terrible feeling. It’s an absolutely terrible feeling. And your natural instinctive is to just stuff your face with as much food as possible, to be safe, and to be to get your blood sugar into a safe range.
I have relearned this. I actually had a period of my time of my life where I was really really afraid of hypos. So I knowingly kept my blood sugar at a higher rate, which I don’t recommend either, because that didn’t work out, as everything else that I tried back then. What I do now is I keep my calm because I know I have this alternative fuel source that will keep fuelling my brain, which are of course ketones. But if it does happen, and this is not a sponsored post, I pay with my own little cents and dollars for these, I take one or two of these, which I can find in any pharmacy. One of these is 2.2 grams of pure glucose. I take one of these, and then I put my pump on a minimum basal rate. And then I retreat after 25 to 30 minutes, if the level hasn’t changed. I want to show you my favorite flavor as well, which is blueberry yogurt. If you’ve had to use them, you know that the taste of glucose tabs isn’t fantastic, ever. They do taste like chalk. They don’t have very imaginative flavors, but this one is actually the best one out there.
Glucose tablets are just another medicine that I need to actually save my own life at times. So I don’t see it as an opportunity to stuff my face or or treat myself to anything. It’s just another part of medicine that I need to in order to be well. That is how I treat my normal hypos.
I have to touch wood here, I haven’t had hypoglycemia where I need help from other people. in very many years, since I actually started low carbing, those have completely disappeared. Before, it used to be a lot more, as I was playing with a lot of active insulin in my system. And that is sometimes a recipe for disaster. I also have, as I spoke about in the previous episodes, a glucagon kit in the kitchen so that it’s easily easily reachable for my husband, for example, and who is mostly the one who’s here with me, or for myself, if I would really need it. And this could be a case of life and death. This is where the glucagon does so, it activates the liver to push out its extra sugars, and glycogen storage. And that’s how the blood sugar raises itself. Well, not by itself, but how it’s prompted to raise with a glucagon kit. And those are always good to have around, because you never know how you’re going to react to something. In case something isn’t going to plan, then it’s good to have one of those. And you can actually, which is in emergency cases, you can also micro dose these. So for example, if you have a stomach bug or something and can keep anything down, not even liquids, although going to a hospital is a very good idea if you can’t keep down liquids. GLucagon could be a treatment option then, as well. I also read that they’re working on a nasal glucagon, like a nasal spray to activate the glycogen storage in that way, which I think would be fantastic. Because that mechanism of filling a glucagon kit can be quite intimidating. Luckily, I have drilled this into my husband’s brain, so he would be able to do it in the case of an emergency. But normally, I can do with one or two or maybe three glucotabs if it’s really bad, and I am happy.
As I said, this is not a fun topic because hypoglycemia are very, very, very uncomfortable. And even more so when you are maybe with people who don’t quite understand what is going on. But as long as you know that you can treat your own hypos, then you are pretty much all right to go and enjoy everything.
Anyway, I love that you were here with me today that you’re watching that you are sharing successes, writing all of these things. Thank you so much for the hearts and the likes and loves.
I’ll be back next week with another episode of type one Thursday. I’ll see you then. Bye!
Type 1 Thursday – Traveling with Diabetes
Today we’re talking about traveling with diabetes on Type 1 Thursday!
What are some tips and tricks you should bear in mind when traveling? And what shouldn’t you do?
You can find my travel check list for diabetes here!
What are your best tips for traveling with diabetes? Let me know in a comment!