Re-lapse

I have had a few hard months and as a result my lchf typeonegrit lifestyle went out the window. Not because it was too hard to follow, but I completely fell off the wagon and began eating 'normally'. I had all the bread and pasta I wanted - and as expected I put on weight, felt terrible and my blood sugars were worse than ever. Carbs cause cravings for more carbs and I was on the slippery slope once again... Until I woke up one day and realised what was happening, I was suffering from the usual carb brain fog which was also heightened by my high and unpredictable blood sugars. That day was only a few days ago, and apart from a few slip ups here and there I do feel a lot better again. And today, I am now fully back in control. I even tried slimming world - I couldn't believe the amount of fruit and carbs I was eating that they considered healthy - I struggled with cravings and hunger like I couldn't believe. In the mean time, I had helped my Mum on the LCHF way of life and she was and still is doing amazingly - this told me I needed to get back into it.

One of my main problems was eating lchf at work - I work mostly afternoon shifts and disliked having to heat up pre-cooked meals and was often never organised enough to cook something before work to take anyway - although I do still do that when needed, I have purchased some throw away containers and cutlery which I keep in my car for such times, a favourite of mine at the moment is to purchase some salmon fillets, or avocado and spinach with some baby cheeses. I was so proud of myself the other day, my co-workers bought in a KFC - it looked really nice and so in my break I drove there - but I was thinking of my blood sugars and how I would feel afterwards, so instead I did a u-turn in the KFC car park, drove to Tesco and bought some spinach, tuna and avocado with a caesar dressing. It was really nice, satisfying and cheaper than I would have paid at the takeaway. 

Thats GRIT for you :)

Before and After

Here are my graphs of a typical day before and during my LCHF management of type 1 diabetes. Such a difference!  I still have a long long way to go before I am happy and have steady low blood sugars but this is great progress. Many people worry about having to many lows whilst trying to keep a lower blood sugar, but on LCHF you are dealing with much lower levels of insulin, often bolusing under 1 unit, so the chances of swinging up and down are very low.

Cereal...

One thing I have been missing is the convenience of cereal in the morning and it would also make a nice change from eggs and bacon. I started searching the internet last night for some low carb cereal that I could make. There were quite a few recipes but they each required quite a bit of preparation. I have been unwell today and all I could face was something easy.

I found some mixed nuts and put some in a cup with a bit of desiccated coconut, then splashed some almond milk over it and followed that with some sweetener. It tasted divine. It tasted better than the cereal I used to buy prior to LCHF. This will certainly be a regular in my diet. I'll be sure to upload a photo when I make some more.

I can have my cake and stay between the lines too!

Since starting GRIT, my LCHF way of eating - my blood sugars have been improving daily. Prior to this new lifestyle my blood sugar would often hit the high 20's (mmol) on a daily occasion. I was used to high numbers and so to avoid a constant hypo feeling I have had to bring them down slowly. I am now around 7(mmol) most of the time, and hopefully next week will be able to bring it down to the 5mmols. I have had the odd day where I have had a problematic insulin pump set, but apart from that I have had nice steady lines. I wanted to show my graph to you today as I have been baking! When I bake I have to try everything I make ..... and I havnt spiked! I will post some photos of the cakes I made when I make them again. (They were so nice, they are all gone.) I know my graph shows I reached maybe 8mmol during the night, but believe me this is brilliant for me - and after all I am still a work in progress.

Energy!

I woke up today with a blood sugar of 3.2, I felt fine though and a few strawberries for breakfast fixed that. Though my blood sugar has been higher than i'd like and it seems no amount of insulin would bring it down, all day - well up until now. I hope i'm not getting ill.

On the other hand i've felt brilliant all day - I think my body is finally adapted to nutritional ketosis. I sleep like a baby and I wake up fully energised and actually feel recharged! I haven't felt like that in a long time. My old self would wake up several times during the night, and feel really bad during the day - a tiredness and lethargy that I cannot even put in to words. This is the best thing about following a LCHF lifestyle. I feel happy again.

My weight has always been a big factor in my life, being overweight as a child and all through my teenage years, I lost a large amount of weight doing low carb some years back - but then I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes and my nurse drummed it into me that I had to start eating 'normally' again. I put on a few stone with that advice and my blood sugars were crazy - but I thought that was what I would have to put up with and what being diabetic was all about. I ordered a book from Amazon called Diabetes solution and gradually started following Dr bernsteins advice (the author) who promoted low carb and healthy blood sugars in diabetics. I didn't follow it to the letter though and so my blood sugars still swung wildly and britally, so I gave up. I began eating breads, pastas, potatoes, cakes and chocolate and my weight went up and I became really miserable. Then I found a facebook group called TYPEONEGRIT and they all inspired me and advised me on how to go about it - I saw proof that this way of life worked and there are a load of grits out there whom it is working well for and whom have very normal blood sugars. Well I am pleased to say I have lost 4 or 5 pounds this week following LCHF and my blood sugars have been a hell of a lot better. I need to play around with my basals now to iron out my rises and falls.

I was also advised to read the book 'The Big Fat Suprise' which I have just ordered and can't wait to get stuck into. I feel like ranting and raving about this change of lifestyle to all my friends and family - i've now got my mum on board and she is doing really well.

If you get nothing else from my blog, I urge you to go and read Dr Bernsteins Diabetes Solution. It is a remarkable book.

Almond Thins

I must admit, I have missed that something crunchy to go with my cold platter. I saw this recipe for 'Almond Thins', similar to crackers and had to try them. They were lovely though you have to ensure you roll them out very thin before putting them in the oven so that they crunch. 3/4 cup of almond flour, 1 egg white, 1/8 tsp salt, 1tsp parmasan. Mix it all up and put the mixture between two parchment sheets and roll very thinly. Pop in oven for 10 or so minutes. Will be taking these to work with me.

Chocolate & Peanut butter fat bomb

I've been reading about 'fat bombs' and decided to try making some this afternoon. When you follow a LCHF diet, the fat in the diet keeps you full and running well in ketosis. These little beauties were very tasty.  I used almond extract instead of vanilla as that is all I had, it was a nice touch but next time will try the vanilla. They were very tasty and didn't even spike my blood sugar. These were a perfect pick me up.