Tag Archives: nutrition

Weight Gain With Insulin Pump Therapy

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A couple of days ago, a young diabetic Twitter friend from Baghdad asked me if insulin can make you fat.  The quick answer is yes, absolutely.  I thought that would make a good blog article, so here goes.

I don’t remember exactly when I started my insulin pump therapy, but I think it was 6 or 7 years ago.  When I started asking around about it before getting my first pump, everybody told me that I should expect to gain about 20lbs.  I said “WHAT?!!!”  There was no way I was going to get a pump if that was a side effect.  Well, when I checked into it, many people do gain weight, but it’s because using a pump is so much easier than shots, that people just start gorging their pie holes with carbs like they’re no longer diabetic.  More carbs + more insulin = more fat.  I was working out like a bodybuilder at the time, in the gym 4 days a week, lifting seriously, and I knew I could avoid this pitfall.  So I went ahead and got my pump, . . . and never gained a pound.

You see insulin is an anabolic hormone.  That’s a fancy scientific word that means it’s a growth hormone.  When you eat carbs, first they are turned to glucose for transport in the bloodstream, and then they are stored in your muscle cells and liver as glycogen.  When the muscle cells and liver are full, the rest of the glucose is stored as fat.  Insulin is the key to this process.  Without insulin, muscles won’t grow, and neither will fat cells.  So if you’re body can only store 20 carbs per meal (just as an example) in muscle and liver, but you’re eating 60 carbs per meal, and you’re bolusing for 60, then 40 carbs per meal will be stored as fat.  That ratio of what you store in muscle vs. what you store as fat, is different for everyone.  So I’m afraid I can’t give you a magic formula to help you lose weight.  What I can tell you, is that when you start insulin pump therapy, don’t go crazy eating whatever you want just because you don’t have to take shots anymore, and you should do fine.

If you’ve recently become diabetic, and you’re not on a pump yet, like my friend from Baghdad, a different scenario applies.  You see, if you’ve recently been diagnosed as type 1 diabetic, then you’ve not had the right amounts of insulin for a while.  This means limited muscle growth, and limited fat storage.  This is what causes the symptom of sudden, un-explainable, and rapid weight loss before you’re diagnosis, which is a telltale marker of un-diagnosed type 1 diabetes.  So now you get diagnosed, you start taking insulin, and now your body has what it needs to store the glycogen and fat properly.  So you start to gain weight again.

The key for everyone, diabetic or not, is that to control your weight, you have to control your insulin.  To control your insulin, you have to control your carbs.  Low fat diets won’t make you lose weight, and they won’t reduce your cholesterol.  A lower carb diet will (not necessarily low carb, just less carbs), and there’s science to explain why it will.  It’s not calories in, calories out, like so many trainers, doctors, nurses, and dieticians will tell you.  Insulin control is the key to weight loss.  For an amazing book that can teach you about insulin, that’s disguised as a simple diet book, read “Protien Power“.

********** Now ya know, and knowing is half the battle.  Go Joe!!! **********

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Paleo is helping my diabetes!

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I’m happy to report that the paleo lifestyle has helped me to improve my hemoglobin A1C by 2.5 points in 6 months!  This is huge for me!  Just like many type 1 diabetics I ride the blood sugar rollercoaster, and even though I try to help diabetics by blogging, YouTubing, posting daily motivation and tips, I struggle just like you all do.  I’m going to admit now, for the first time, what my A1C was back in March when I started on my paleo journey.  My A1C was 11.4.  Shocking right?  Now it’s 8.9.  The lowest I can remember actually.  For those who are not diabetic, that number is suppose to be under 7 for good control of diabetes.  Being diabetic for 42 years makes it really challenging to get that darn number down where it belongs, but getting it this low, that quick, has me motivated to get it down to 7.5 by years end!

The only thing I changed back in March, was starting to live paleo.  I’ve always worked out regularly, so I’m not really accounting my exercise in this improvement.  I’m probably about 70% paleo overall, but at home I’m 100% paleo.  My home no longer has any processed foods that come in a box, can, or sack.  I buy whole foods (fruits and lots of veggies), a little frozen veggies for convenience and storage time, lots of meat, no dairy, and lots of olive and coconut oil.  I cook a lot now, which means I do a lot more dishes than I want to, but it’s been worth it.  If I only had a garbage disposal and dishwasher!  I have a friend that does house cleaning.  I wonder what her rates are?  :)  Anyway, back on track, I started doing something where each time I’d go to the grocery store, I’d buy a fruit or vegetable I’ve never tried before.  I discovered I like a lot of things I’ve never tried before!  Like . . . OMG . . . KALE!!!  Kale fried in coconut oil is like health candy, and I think I might overdo it sometimes?  LOL!  I’d never tried kale until I started paleo.

I used to live on cereals, tv dinners, potato chips, cookies, microwavable meals, fast food, pizza, etc.  Then I discovered paleo.  Now I call myself a paleobetic, because I’ll be paleo for life.

What is paleo and why has it helped?  Paleo is a lifestyle.  It’s pretty simple, eat like our hunter gatherer ancestors, exercise like them, get outdoors, and reduce your carbs.  Most people these days eat anywhere between 200-300 carbs a day, and a some eat even more!  On paleo I’ve been averaging around 100 carbs a day.  I tried the low carb (30<) thing, but that led to some diabetic challenges.  Be very careful doing low carb as a type 1 diabetic.

You can find my favorite blogs, websites, and YouTube channels, about paleo and primal living in the column to the right.  What got me started down this path was a movie called Fat Head.  Seeing that movie caused me to go out and buy “The Paleo Solution” by Robb Wolf, and “The Primal Blueprint” by Mark Sisson.  I read those faster than I’ve ever read a book before.  Then I started doing research online and found the online paleo community.

I’d like to take this moment to personally thank Robb Wolf, for answering questions for me in your podcast, replying to my Facebook messages, and for your leadership in the paleo community.  Robb, your accessibility to an average guy like me is  . . . well, awesome.  Thanks man.

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A new endocrynologist . . .

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Today I had my first appointment with a new endocrinologist.  I was looking forward to it, and dreading it at the same time.  I’ve only been seeing a family doctor for 1.5 years, since moving away from Chicago, and he’s pretty clueless about diabetes, so I really need to find an endo.   The only problem with finding an endo, is that I live far away from any major medical facility, so the selection is basically 3 to choose from with my insurance.  My cousin works in the ER in one of the local small town hospitals though, and she says everybody in this region goes to this 1 endo.  Says he’s great, and everybody loves him.  I also met a diabetes educator at the diabetes walk earlier this year that I liked, and she works for that same endo, so that’s who I chose.  It’s the educator I want to talk to, but first I have to meet with the doctor before she’s allowed to talk to me.  She literally told me, not to worry about what the doctor says about my nutrition, because she’s gonna change it anyway.  We both smiled when she said that.  Just as in Chicago though, he’s so booked, it took 2 months to get in.

The family doctor is great because he just writes my scripts when I ask him too, and I don’t have to go back every 3 months for renewals.  When I moved here, I told him I wanted 1 year renewals for everything, and he did it.  When I was stricken with  a major illness over the summer, I got an appointment that next day, so I could get antibiotics.  You can’t do that in Chicago.

Anyway, I get to the appointment as soon as the office was open.  2 other people in the office.  I was told I had the first appointment when I made it 2 months ago.  Hmmmm?  The first guy didn’t go in until half an hour later, so I’m already not liking what I’m seeing.  The nurse weighs me, walks me into room, sits me down.  Reviews paperwork, asks me questions, tells me she’s going to take an A1C and lipid profile . . . right now.  I tell her that no one told me to “fast”, and she said it won’t matter much, and started reaching for my arm.  I jerked my arm away and said I’m not going to have a blood test taken if it’s not going to be accurate.  That it’s stupid to do something like that.  She left the room as if to tell on me.  Came back and said “ok”.  Then she took the paperwork and the needle, and didn’t even check my vitals.   *sigh*  Now I’m getting pissed.  (You have the right to disagree with your doctors, and stand your ground.  It’s YOUR HEALTH, and YOUR MONEY.)

A few minutes later the doctor walks in.  (No wait.  I wonder if that’s because of my behavior?)  He’s happy and smiling, but difficult to understand.  *sigh*  Foreign accent.  He is however, being very agreeable and friendly, and I begin to like him.  He questions me, reviews my pump settings, my blood sugars.  I ask him why when I was eating low carb, it caused DKA for the first time in my life.  Instead of answering my question, he immediately gets very serious and says no one should ever eat low carb because it causes ketosis.  (At least he got that right, instead of saying it causes ketoacidosis.)  Then however, he told me that the brain cannot function without carbs.  I tried to correct him and said that ketones make the brain function just fine.  He just disregarded what I said and repeated himself.  *sigh*  Then he told me I should be eating 100-120g carbs per meal, 3 times a day, with a 50g snack at night.  *SIGH*  I told him there’s no way that’s going to happen, and that I “might” get 100 – 120 carbs in a whole day.  (Every type 1 diabetic knows this is crazy.  That’s 1600 calories, with no fat or protein yet!)  He knew I would not budge and then changed his tune.  Told me that I could do that, and see how it works.  (Can you see the look on my face right now?)  So then we chit chatted, and he ordered my A1C, lipid profile, thyroid function, and protein test.  Then he arranged an appointment with the educator for 1 week from now.

Doctors.  Geez.  I actually like him though.  He’s very smiley.  I’ll just filter what he tells me.  Why can’t I find a doctor like Richard Bernstein?  I wonder where he lives?  Maybe I should move there?

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More Paleo and Ketosis for Diabetics Observations

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I haven’t been working out for about a month now, as I was trying to ease into a ketosis lifestyle.  I stopped my workouts because I was already stressing my body with the ketosis.  In the past when I tried this lifestyle, I found that when I did try to exercise, I had zero energy, and usually couldn’t complete my workouts.  So I’ve realized the same thing again.  Plus, when I workout on the ketosis diet, my blood sugar spikes like crazy.  It doesn’t do that if I’m not in ketosis, and it actually falls like it should.  My guess is that my liver is either entering gluconeogenesis (converting protein to glucose), or it’s just dumping whatever glucose it has left, so that my muscles can operate to the best of their ability.

The other thing that happened to me again, is that after about 10 or 12 days, just like the last time I tried this, I had a bout of DKA (diabetic ketoacidosis), where my ketones went off the scale, my blood sugar spiked, and I had to literally OD on insulin to bring it down, then I had to scarf down gobs of carbs (yeah, I don’t care about grammar right now) to keep me from seriously crashing.  This is a process that can take anywhere from 6 to 18 hours to treat, so you can’t sleep if it’s happening to you.  Don’t worry, I know how to treat DKA.  I do the same thing they’d do at the hospital.  I’ve been doing this for 42 years, so I know how this works.  Those are scary days even so.  Both times I’ve tried ketosis, after 10 or 12 days, I have this DKA fight.  Then I go high carb for a few days because I get paranoid.  Then I come back to at least eating normal paleo.

So I’ve decided that ketosis is not for me.  I’m going to stick with paleo for sure, and I’ll keep my carbs to under 100, but not under 50 which causes ketosis.  I’m a Beachbody coach, and I get paid to workout, so I have to workout.  My income depends on it!  Besides, working out to Les Mills Pump is fun, and those female trainers are hott!  What really sucks though, is that on ketosis my blood sugars were almost normal.  My 30 day average blood glucose dropped by 100 points from 265 to 166.  I’m still kind of eager to get my A1C done at the end of the summer though.

If you’re a type 1 diabetic that’s on a ketosis lifestyle, please comment below with your experience.  I wish I could find a community of T1D’s that live in ketosis?

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