In case you live with diabetes, you’ve seen some version of the next questions:

“What’s the perfect variety of carbs to eat per day for nice blood sugars?”

“Is low-carb the one method to manage blood sugars and get a very good A1C?”

“I would like to drop my A1C. Should I just stop eating carbs?”

If it’s not essentially the most commonly asked diabetes-related query I hear, it’s definitely in the highest three, and for good reason: Many, many individuals who switch to a low-carb way of eating find that their blood sugar control improves.

As carbs are amongst the quickest drivers of blood sugar spikes, reducing the source of the spikes should theoretically reduce the blood sugar elevations, right?

For instance, for those who normally eat 65 grams of carbs at lunch, and now you simply eat 22g, the lowered carb intake should lead to a lowered glucose peak post-meal.

Nonetheless, as a registered dietitian and licensed diabetes educator, I actually have worked with 1000’s of people living with each type 1 and kind 2 diabetes, and I actually have observed what seems to work best to keep up great blood sugar control.  I actually have type 1 diabetes myself, and I figure if I see it each day in my clients, I should apply it to my very own life.

And the reply is … *drumroll please* ….

I decide to NOT eat a low-carb weight loss program

Patient after patient that comes through our practice is churning out A1Cs within the mid to high 5s or low 6s while not eating a low-carb weight loss program. 

You may think “How is that this even possible, Ben?!”

Listed here are just a few of the most important takeaways I’ve seen relating to ways of eating while living with diabetes. 

#1 — Food is just fuel … and it’s about optimal blood sugars for YOU.

Every one’s body goes to behave slightly bit in another way with the way it chooses to process carbs versus the way it processes fat, and at the tip of the day, the 2 are only energy sources. Your body is essentially a hybrid automotive, just as an alternative of gasoline or electricity, you’ve got fat or carbs.

I tell people there are two ends of the spectrum: high fat/low carb and low fat/high carb.  

Everyone seems to be somewhere on the spectrum, and ultimately has to search out where their body feels the perfect AND where their blood sugar control is the perfect.

I’ve personally tried each ends of the spectrum, as a self-proclaimed nutrition nerd who desired to see the differences. I’ve eaten under 40g of carbs per day, and I’ve also eaten over 450g of carbs per day, in addition to many places in between. I also maintained each lifestyle for over 6 months.

And what was the result? 

I felt best AND optimized my blood sugars around 150-180g of carbs per day. Some days, I’ll have a bit more, and a few days, I’ll have a bit less.

That’s what works for me, but may not give you the results you want — your body may feel higher on fewer grams of carbs or on considerably more grams of carbs — and that’s OKAY. 

You may and can thrive from a diabetes standpoint once you discover that perfect threshold for what your needs are.

#2 — If the insulin dosing is on point, either one can work (and if it’s not, you’ll be able to still have hyperglycemia with either one)

Many individuals will gravitate to a lower carb weight loss program due to what they hear about low carb making it easier to administer blood sugars, but what they’re not considering is the role of carbs in protein and fat metabolism.

Without going TOO far into the weeds, carbs effectively ‘spare’ protein breakdown, meaning that within the presence of carbs, protein is not broken down. But within the absence of carbs, protein can and will be broken down into glucose through a process called gluconeogenesis, which might raise blood sugars.

Moreover, lower-carb diets typically contain greater amounts of dietary fat, as there should be a considerable energy source from somewhere, and this fat can induce insulin resistance.

I’ve seen countless examples where individuals gravitate towards a lower-carb weight loss program with none concept that the protein may break down into glucose and that the fat could cause insulin resistance, and so they see their blood sugars rising to the 170-200 mg/dL mark and getting ‘stuck’ there for hours on end, which might have a detrimental impact on time in range, average blood sugar, and ultimately, A1C.

On the flip side, I’ve seen individuals consuming 300+ grams of carbs per day who’ve their dosing right down to a science and have their blood sugars in range greater than 90 percent of the time on a consistent basis.

While this will appear counterintuitive, if dosing is finished appropriately in either way of eating (i.e. factoring in carbs, proteins, and fats), blood sugars might be absolutely phenomenal.

#3 — You’ve got to find a way to keep on with whatever you select

That is essentially the most critical point: You should find a way to enjoy how you select to eat every day, while getting the nutrition that your body needs at the identical time.

Many individuals find it exceptionally difficult to stick to a lower-carb way of eating for long stretches of time, which might result in a really dysfunctional relationship with food.

Here’s a extremely common sequence, especially for individuals who try and jump to very low-carb after eating a moderate to high amount of carbs for a extremely very long time (as they ‘train’ their body’s machinery to adapt for a low-carb lifestyle):

• Day 1-6: Plenty of willpower, doing okay, perhaps a tad bit weaker since muscle glycogen isn’t full
• Day 7-9: Feeling slightly gnarly and pushing through
• Day 10-11: Feeling like they’re coming back to life, but feeling deprived of carbs
• Day 12: Goes to dinner at an awesome restaurant for Italian food — can’t resist, and eats a ton of carbs in a single sitting, since they’re now ‘forbidden’ as a consequence of how their brain now classifies food. This may spiral uncontrolled.

Using an ‘all or nothing’ lens might be really damaging to the connection we’ve got with food, especially as individuals with diabetes, because we have already got to think about food and its impact on our health to a greater degree.

This isn’t to say low-carb eating can’t be done successfully, as tens of millions of individuals select a low-carb way of eating and have sustained it for months and years. But, many individuals begin to romanticize carbs and see them as forbidden, after they could simply devour them as a component of an ‘all foods fit’ kind of approach and include them of their lives in a wise, effective way that allows blood sugars to stay in range as much as of the time as possible.

By finding a way of eating that’s enjoyable, I’m not advocating for the consumption of multiple plates of pasta, breadsticks, and crazy desserts in a single sitting on a regular basis, but from an adherence standpoint, the power to incorporate a wide range of foods and not feel as if anything is ‘off limits’ (aka the periodic indulgence) could make a world of a difference to someone’s viewpoint surrounding food … and cause them to success within the short and long run. 

Takeaways:

For me personally, I’ve found on the 150-180g of carb threshold is one which I can sustain, still include the foods that I enjoy, and keep my blood sugars in range as much as possible. 

Having done multiple ways of eating myself, there may be definitely some merit to a lower-carb way of eating: lower peaks in blood sugar and, for some, higher time in range. But the problem to stick to and luxuriate in the way in which of eating could make it a serious challenge to sustain for the long run for a lot of.

I urge you to speak along with your care team (i.e. registered dietitian and diabetes educator) and discuss what way of eating is the perfect for you and your blood sugars, so you’ll be able to do the stuff you love while having fun with life to the fullest with none restriction from diabetes!