5 Ways To Lose 15 Pounds With Type 1 Diabetes

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1 EAT PROTEIN: 5 Ways To Lose 15 Pounds With Type 1 Diabetes Anyone who has type 1 diabetes knows that the amount of insulin necessary to process a meal is directly related to the number of carbohydrates consumed. Meaning if you eat a meal of pure carbohydrates (bread, pasta, cereal, muffin, grains) you will require a larger amount of insulin to process that meal and keep your blood sugar within a healthy range than if you ate a meal comprised of protein and fat. It may not be appealing to only eat a meal of fat and protein and I m not necessarily stating this is what you should do. However, the only carbohydrates I eat on a daily basis come from vegetables and this type of eating has revolutionized my ability to have incredible blood sugar control. That said, at the bare minimum, I d highly suggest incorporating some type of protein and fat with every meal. When you do this, it will slow down how fast your body metabolizes the meal or snack. Essentially your blood sugar increase will be slower and less drastic than if you eat a meal of straight carbohydrates. Not only that, you will most like have to take less units of insulin to process the meal (studies have shown the more insulin you produce naturally or inject is directly related to the number of excess pounds you have). Not only do you feel better (because your blood sugar is less elevated), you take less insulin (which is a BIG factor in weight gain), you are fuller longer and you are that much closer to obtaining the blood sugar control and A1c reduction you need to live a life free of complications. When a carbohydrate rich meal is consumed with other foods, such as protein or fat, the digestive process inevitably slows. As a result, the carbohydrate sugars take a longer time to absorb into the bloodstream. Ultimately this produces a more controlled blood sugar increase. Knowing this should encourage you to incorporate protein and fat with each meal you eat. This can be a huge key to obtaining blood sugar improvements.

2 FUEL YOUR BODY FREQUENTLY This was an absolute game changer for me. This has allowed me to control my blood sugars and weight far more easily than I ever have in my life. As a young woman I had the mistaken belief that if I could get through the day eating as little and as few meals as possible, I d keep the weight off and feel great. Problem was I didn t feel great, I was often tired and irritable. I didn t have the energy I knew others my age had. It also didn t help me keep the weight off because I didn t always possess the willpower necessary to eat minimally. There were days I was so deprived and just hungry that I would binge eat. These days of binging not only injected tons of calories into my system, it forced me to take huge amounts of insulin and my metabolism wasn t geared towards effectively using the amount of food I was eating because it was used to being in starvation mode. The production of leptin, a crucial hormone that helps regulate weight, goes down after just 6 days of restrictive eating. This means that if you are continually denying your body the fuel it needs, you put it at risk of going into starvation mode and holding on to every calorie you consume because it is scared it won t get more food later. This slows your metabolism and will come back to haunt you on the days where you do eat regularly. Of course what you eat is important too! Eating healthy meals more frequently during the day stabilizes your blood sugar (because you are not overwhelming your body with tons of calories and fuel all at once), requires you to take less insulin at eat meal (less insulin can mean less weight gain), you feel fuller all during the day, you don t suffer from a food comma (what happens when you eat too much in one sitting), you allow your body to digest food more effectively and you can actually shed pounds (how easy is it to over eat when you are hungry because you ve gone too long between meals). Bottom line, eat smaller meals more frequently and your body, health and weight will benefit. EAT FEWER CARBOHYDRATES Minimize the number of carbohydrates you eat. I know this is not a new or radical statement. Most likely you have heard it a million times before, but the reason this advice keeps being stated again and again, is because it s an effective tool to lose weight and stabilize blood sugars. Whether you have type 1 diabetes or know someone who has it, you know that the amount of insulin injected is directly related to the number of carbs eaten. There is no way of getting around it, the more carbohydrates consumed, the more insulin needed to bring that sugar out of your bloodstream (where it is toxic and harmful) and into your cells (where it can be used).

3 It s well known that injecting more amounts of insulin gives an individual a greater propensity to quickly or steadily gain weight over time because the calories are brought into the cells and whatever is not used as fuel, is stored as fat. If you haven t heard this before, just think about the type 2 diabetes epidemic we are seeing in this country. Most of those individuals are overweight and have a difficult time using the insulin their body creates effectively, they require more and more insulin to process the same amount of food as other individuals whose insulin sensitivity is better. This creates a vicious cycle of weight gain and decreased insulin sensitivity. Six days a week I only eat protein and vegetables. During these days my blood sugars are exceptional (usually ranging between 70 and 100), I feel great and I take between 15 and 18 units of insulin a day (through a pump). One day a week, I enjoy a cheat day (I highly recommend this not only because it keeps your body guessing and allows you to continually transform your body, but it also provides a physiological break for you). During my cheat days, I enjoy carbohydrates! On these days my insulin intake is usually around units and my average blood sugar for the cheat days are between (way outside of the range I accept during the other six days). What a huge difference. I only alter my behavior in two ways during cheat days 1. I eat non-vegetable carbohydrates 2. I do not eat as much fat or protein as I do the other 6 days a week These two behavioral shifts increase my insulin intake and blood sugars. Even still cheat days are powerful for me because they keep me motivated and allow me to stay on track. And they also remind me of how important it is to minimize (actually remove) non-vegetable carbohydrates from my eating 6 days a week. Not only will removing or reducing the amount of carbs you eat during the week improve your blood sugars, require you to take less insulin and feel better, carbohydrates are also known to aggravate inflammation. And Type 1 Diabetes is an inflammatory disease. So riding your body of unnecessary inflammation can impact you positively. Simple concept I know; but a very powerful one and one I highly suggest you start immediately. Bottom line: eat less carbs, take less insulin, gain better blood sugar control and shed the unwanted pounds. All this will result in a lower A1c level which ultimately is directly tied to the number of complications you may be at risk for.

4 AVOID ARTIFICAL SWEETENERS When artificial sweeteners first started being used those with type 1 diabetes were probably wildly excited that they could finally enjoy sweet treats like other individuals without the risk of raising their blood sugar, having to take more insulin and gaining weight! I personally remember enjoying diet sodas in high school and being thankful that I could finally drink something other than water that didn t require more insulin or an additional shot. It can be difficult to feel different and deny yourself foods and drinks you used to enjoy without second thought. However, even in high-school, I started to hear about the danger of artificial sweeteners. My mom owned a health food store for 20 years and kept pleading with me to avoid these types of foods and drinks in order to protect my health and weight. Of course being in high-school allowed me to push off my mom s advice and continue to enjoy diet sodas and other foods that used artificial sweeteners. But as I began to gain more and more interest in my health and how to successfully lose weight, control my blood sugars, reduce my A1c and manage my type 1 diabetes in a way that reducing or even eliminates my risk of complications, I started to see why my mom pleaded with me! As I do with most things, even if I read over and over about scientific findings, I always like to test these findings on myself (because we are all different). Less than a year ago I decided to simply stop drinking diet soda to see if I saw any difference in my weight and blood sugars. 3 weeks later I was shocked. Not only did I see a shift if my weight and an improvement in my blood sugars, I noticed that my face was less puffy, my joints less stiff and even my cravings of other foods that were rich in carbohydrates and sugar went down noticeably. This was all the scientific evidence I needed. Artificial sweeteners are made out of chemicals and I can t image introducing unnatural chemicals into our bodies is a good idea. In fact, I view artificial sweeteners as toxic substances to the body and its metabolism. There have been numerous studies that show when you ingest artificial sweeteners, you have increased cravings for sugar, your body has to focus on breaking down the chemicals and therefore becomes less effective at breaking down the other food and liquids you consume. It also slows your metabolism (which makes it more difficult to achieve and maintain your ideal body weight). What s more, and it may be different for you, I had to take more insulin on days I enjoyed diet sodas than on days I didn t. To be fair this may have been because on the days I drank diet sodas I may have craved more sugary food (and subsequently indulged in it and needed to take more insulin). However, I also think it legitimately made my insulin less effective.

5 Totally removing artificial sweeteners from your diet is a great way to get better control of your type 1 diabetes, blood sugars and weight. If nothing else, you will feel better and experience less inflammation in your body (potentially resulting in less joint pain and stiffness) and look less puffy. As a little tip, check out Stevia, it is a natural sugar-free sweetener that comes from a root. This is one my mom approves of and I add to my coffee in the morning. I have used it for the last six months and have never found a correlation between adding Stevia and experiencing any of the other negative consequences I found when I enjoyed other sweeteners. DON T OVER-CORRECT The more control you can have over your blood sugar fluctuations, the better. We ve all experienced the low blood sugars that make us feel ravenous. I used to wake up in the middle of the night with a low blood sugar, run to the fridge and eat everything in sight only to wake up a few hours later with a blood sugar that was seriously elevated. The problem was that during my low blood sugar I wasn t thinking straight and was over eating in an effort to feel better immediately. But as the food began to enter my system, I didn t have enough insulin to carry the sugar out of the blood stream and into my cells, so my blood sugar would sky rocket. Not only did this cause huge emotional ups and downs (not to mention being extremely frustrated that I went form a low blood sugar to a blood sugar that required an insulin injection), it forced me to take more insulin (weight gain resulted) and my blood sugar average was higher than it would have been had I not over corrected my low. I was so frustrated with this cycle of low to high that I decided to try out an idea I had. I thought about how I could eat the right food in the right amount to raise my blood sugar just points (depending on how low my blood sugar reading was). I decided to create low blood sugar correcting snack packs. Essentially I tested different foods in different amounts and put those foods in baggies. If I was experiencing a low blood sugar, I would only eat the food in the baggie and then take my blood sugar 30, 60 and 90 minutes after to see how the food impacted it. This radically changed how I handled low blood sugars, improved my blood sugar averages, prevented unnecessary weight gain and reduced the amount of insulin I took on days where I had low blood sugars. Those around me appreciated the use of the baggie trick because they didn t have to experience my emotional ups and downs, anger, tears and frustrations. So everyone benefitted.

6 Try it out and see how it works for you. Test different foods and different amounts and track what happens to your blood sugar 30, 60 and 90 minutes later. This will help you create a great strategy to predictably handle a low blood sugar. Although I m not a doctor or licensed nutritionist, I think I m uniquely qualified to share the above information because I tested it all on myself, and I ve had type 1 diabetes since I was 12 years old. These strategies have allowed me to reach and maintain a weight I m happy with, control my blood sugars and achieve A1c levels that my doctor and I are proud of. For more information on a 12 week program I designed specifically for those with type 1 diabetes who want to lose weight, have great blood sugars and reduce their A1cs, visit /products