Type 1 diabetes and nutrition - an article on World Diabetes Day

Type I diabetes and the right diet

World Diabetes Day takes place on November 14. November 14 was not chosen at random: It is the birthday of Frederick G. Banting, who discovered the vital insulin together with Charles Herbert Best. Alongside World AIDS Day, World Diabetes Day is the second day of the United Nations dedicated to a disease.

November 14 World Diabetes Day

There are two basic types of diabetes: type I and type II, with 90% of those affected suffering from type II. Type II diabetes is often the result of poor diet and lack of exercise. The treatment of type II involves a change in lifestyle as well as medication. Insulin only needs to be administered when the medication is no longer effective. Type I diabetes, on the other hand, is an autoimmune disease and the administration of insulin is unavoidable from the onset of the disease.

Type I diabetes often occurs in childhood. The diagnosis is an incredibly drastic event for affected young people, which many do not know how to deal with. Only a few non-diabetics are aware of the challenges that type I diabetes patients have to overcome on a daily basis

To mark World Diabetes Day, we asked 2 bloggers to give us an insight into their everyday lives. On their blogs, Steff from www.diabetes-leben.com and Lisa from www.lisabetes.de report on the everyday madness of type I diabetes. As with all diabetics, the two of them focus a lot on nutrition, but from very different points of view: While Steff, as an endurance athlete, tries to optimize her performance with a good (diabetes-friendly) diet, Lisa tries to control her weight with a low-carb diet.

Diabetes and endurance sports - is that possible? 

You can never do as much sport as you can eat wrong, says chiathlete Steff. She has had type 1 diabetes since 1997 and says "type 1 diabetics can do everything except produce insulin". She doesn't let her illness take the fun out of life, doesn't shy away from (almost) anything, but still knows how to take the illness seriously. In her blog, where she promotes the motto "Diabetes is endurance sport", she addresses diabetes and related topics such as nutrition, sport and the psyche.

 

Steff is often asked how she manages to keep going in marathons, ultras and 24-hour runs, in which she regularly takes part, to give it her all and not haveto stop the run withstomach cramps, severe blood sugar fluctuations - or or or. Her answer:

"I never run marathons and ultras (anymore) without chia seeds in my luggage, they have a blood sugar smoothing effect and provide enough energy, which I needed for long runs (longest run 143 kilometers in 24 hours). Unground (the omega 3 coating ensures that the carbohydrates are released slowly), I let the chia seeds soak in warm, freshly prepared ginger tea one night before the run (1/3 cup of chia seeds in two cups of ginger tea). The ginger prevents stomach/intestinal problems that many long-distance runners suffer from. Before I put the swollen chia seeds in my drink bottle for the marathon the next day, I add some salt/electrolytes. I start a long-distance run well equipped with this. Every 10 kilometers I take about 50 ml of my "brew", depending on how I feel and the distance I have already covered. That's my "secret recipe", along with a certain amount of ambition and mental strength that I've developed through my diabetes and a tough training plan, of course."

As a diabetic, competitive athlete and also due to numerous food intolerances that unfortunately accompany me, I generally pay a lot of attention to my diet in everyday life and have been dealing with this topic for years, also to prevent any deficiency symptoms and to strengthen my immune system. Of course, the "right" diet is also crucial for non-diabetics, and not just to be fit for sport.

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Diabetes and weight control - Lisa's path to a healthy weight

"Diabetes is no walk in the park," says Lisa from Lisabetes. It quickly becomes clear that this is true, especially during her difficult start with the disease. Diabetes has been her constant companion since she was 10 years old. It has been 16 years since her diagnosis, and they have not always been easy. Lisa suffered particularly badly from her illness during puberty. The hormones made it difficult to control her diabetes and night-time hypoglycaemia was a daily occurrence. As a result, Lisa gained a lot of weight. Her aversion to diabetes manifested itself above all in the fact that she completely ignored the disease and developed diabulimia after a very short time. In order to lose weight, diabetics with such an eating disorder do without the vital insulin (so-called "insulin purging") and thus lose weight. A dangerous gamble with life, which Lisa only realized when she woke up in intensive care after a ketoacidotic coma and had to relearn almost everything.

A lot has changed for the better since then:

"After this wake-up call, I have given diabetes a place in my life again and am managing it well. I'm trying to lose weight with healthy eating and exercise and accept my body and diabetes. On the way to a healthy life, I've tried a few things and have been very successful with a low-carb diet!"

Low carb is really good for losing weight - even as a diabetic. Because we do not provide our body with fast energy at all times, it draws on our fat reserves. Low-carb is also often recommended for type 2 diabetics.

And it can't do our blood sugar any harm either. Large amounts of carbohydrates sometimes really mess up our values. Even if we have covered everything with sufficient insulin. The mixture of fat, protein and various fast carbohydrates can cause our values to fluctuate quite a bit.

What diabetics need to consider when following a low-carb diet

With the low carb diet, it is particularly important as a diabetic to check the basal rate well in advance. It must be ensured that blood sugar levels do not shoot through the roof or plummet if one or two meals are eaten without carbohydrates. However, insulin is still important because blood sugar levels can rise even if a person doesn't eat anything. Our body needs energy, always. If we don't get this from outside through food, our body takes what it has and gets the energy from our "fat stores". This releases glucose and the blood sugar rises.

People often think that you need carbohydrates for energy. However, this is not true. Carbohydrates are quick energy for our body, as it can simply extract glucose from them. However, our body can just as easily draw energy from proteins. Although this takes a little longer, it works just as well.

That is why proteins and fats must also be calculated. There are so-called FPE, fat-protein units. Here, approximately 100 kcal. 1 FPE.

The calculation of the FPE is also often used in a completely conventional diet. This is because fat slows down the absorption of carbohydrates and this must be taken into account when insulin is released. Protein also enters the bloodstream somewhat more slowly.

I have now largely returned to a normal diet. I have lost the pounds I wanted and I attribute this to the low-carb diet. I still don't eat carbohydrates in the evening because I have found that my fasting values are so much easier to control and are always within the normal range.

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