I am so glad that you found this book - eye opener, huh? So many things you will never hear from your regular doctor (wonderful at times, though they are!)
I have a few thoughts for you, most of them I learned from the Bernstein book, but I thought they applied directly to your post.
First, if you are starting the no carb diet out of the blue, after having been accustomed to a high carb diet, your son is likely to have a lot of low blood sugars which may be discouraging in the beginning. You are obviously going to have to adjust his insulin levels dramatically and he is probably not physically used to having normal blood sugars and this can cause his brain to tell him he is low when he is not - always check, don’t just give sugar if he “feels” low. It can take a little adjustment period before his body will remember what it is like to have normal sugars, this can be frustrating. You may consider coming down off the carbs in increments to alleviate this problem.
Also, he will probably not drastically reduce total shots taken, only the amount of insulin given in each shot. And, of course, the less insulin that needs to be given overall, the better all the way around - that is a major part of the goal. As the goal is to mimic a “normal,” non-diabetic body, this would indeed be manifested by frequent, small doses of insulin. Remember Bernstein’s Law of Small Numbers? Small amounts of carb & small shots of insulin mean: small errors (less dramatic lows and highs!)
You mentioned giving your son grains when he was active, but I want to caution that, though this may work out in the end, please remember that most physical exercise (unless it is very aggressive) will actually increase blood sugars by mobilizing stored sugars. So, blood glucose readings will be higher after exercise. Grains will undoubtedly increase blood sugar as well, so I would probably start out with no grain when there will be activity until you know exactly how the exercise affects his sugars and how the grain affects his sugars. (The benefit of exercise, for the diabetic, is a more long-term good, not necessarily an immediate improvement on blood sugars.)
Kati*did had a great encouragement: experiment with different foods/grains and see how they do on your son! Everyone is different, for sure! I would probably wait until you have stabilized the diet/insulin regiment until you begin experiments, as this can add frustration to establishing the guidelines. I personally do not eat grains. They all raise my sugars considerably and cause me to have to take much more insulin overall. I believe if I had a child, though, I would try to work in a little bit here and there, again, only after I had stabilized his diet and knew that I could objectively evaluate the effects of the new foods.
I also want to encourage you, when considering diet, to try to think outside the “meat” box as much as possible. There are a myriad of ways to eat EGGS (scrambled, fried, omelets, oven-baked omelets, all the above with any sort of additive like cheese, spinach, peppers, mushrooms, bacon, sausage, etc.) CHEESE (block, shredded, ricotta (warm some in the microwave with a little stevia and some flax seed meal!), cream cheese (beat a little up with some eggs, vanilla and stevia and fry in butter for little pancakes!), parmesan, VEGGIES (buy frozen spinach and add it to broth soups, make cole slaw with cabbage, vinegar , mayo and stevia, & NUTS (make make nut butters and smother celery and carrots with it, eat it on a low carb cracker.)
I have found that keeping a list of the possible food items (along with their carb count) on the refrigerator or counter helps to solve those times of feeling like there is nothing to eat except salad and tuna! Go to Bernsteins website and log into the forum - go to the recipe pages and print off all that you can that seem good. These recipes may sound weird, but they may jog the creative juices!
Another thought that helps me: The pain and suffering that is in store for the individual with abnormal blood sugars is not to be compared with any (real or imagined) negative effect of a high protein diet. It only takes 7 years for high blood sugars to permanently damage the blood vessels in the eyes. This is not to motivate with fear, but with confidence, knowing that you are dealing with the Known problem to the best of your ability and trusting God with any and all outcomes. Try the no carb diet - if you cannot achieve normal sugars, do whatever you can to meet that goal. If you have questions, I can certainly try to help if you want to PM me.
Fivewittletids:
Yes, I agree with the others on the Type 1 diagnosis of your friend’s little one. If she passed out/fainted then it was the result of: too much insulin given previously or a meal not taken on time.
Type 1 diabetes is usually diagnosed before 25 years of age and is characterized by a total dependency on insulin shots to live. It develops quickly and dramatically - almost always involving hospitalization of some sort. If I did not have insulin, even for ½ day, my blood sugars would begin climbing and I would not be able to stop them from climbing: regardless of what I ate/ didn’t eat or any amount of exercise, teas, herbs, etc. All persons require insulin, at all times, to live. Most people don’t know this, but even when you do NOT eat anything you require a small amount of insulin! Why? It is the only way for your body to put glucose (not the enemy - all your muscles and your brain need this at all times or you will pass out!) in your muscle/brain cells. The crux of the issue is that your body does not need carbohydrates or sugars in any form to make glucose. God created the body with the ability to make glucose from proteins and fats! Carbs are unnecessary for life. Even if I do not eat any carbs (say 2 eggs, hardboiled) I must take insulin to cover the protein! You can see why, then, that when we eat simple carbs, why our bodies really have to pump out the insulin to cover such burst of sugar. The causes are unknown, there may be many triggers, but the knowns are: the immune systems decides to attack the insulin-producing cells, rendering them lifeless. Some babies are born fine and they develop it very soon afterward. Almost always they are children of mothers who do NOT have diabetes. Kati*did is right, there has been some connection with feeding practices of babies. I thought I remembered it was wheat gluten - but I’m not sure either. Most people endure this attack after a debilitating illness (just like Kati*did said!) or a stressful time, but it cannot be predicted, and it almost never happens after age 25. So those who are going to get it, get it! There are no logical genetic/relational links. I can look back to all the generations that anyone knows about and no one- on either side of my family has had type 1 diabetes. The chances of my children having it are less than 5%. Very much like the chances of those without diabetes!
Type 2 diabetes is a lifestyle or genetic issue and develops over time. The difference is that type 2’s still make insulin. With youth obesity rates soaring, this is getting diagnosed younger and younger, but it is still not type 1. Controlling diet and increasing exercise can minimize this type of diabetes. Many use different types of medications which do a great job of “solving “ their diabetes by sensitizing their body to their own insulin, or they will need insulin shots to help. Basically, type 2 diabetics have “pooped out” their insulin-making cells by overuse, or have a lifestyle that makes it such that they do not respond properly to the insulin that they make. The more weight you gain, the more insulin you must make. The more carbs you eat, the more insulin you must make. Many people, on diagnosis of type 2, can eliminate carbs, exercise, and hence require very little in the way of meds or insulin. There is also a genetic predisposition to this type of diabetes, as many type 2’s are very thin, but their insulin-making cells just pooped out ! Truly not all Type 2’s are overeaters and lazy sloths! Many of them just need to know that they are among those that cannot eat many carbs! They make some insulin, and have to learn how to work with their bodies to make the best of it.
Sorry this post was so terribly long!
Hope that helps somebody,
Gigi
