After my diagnosis with Type 1 diabetes over 20 years ago and many diets later, the best one I have found is the low carbohydrate diet. The first diet they put me on was high carbohydrate, low fat. Through the years, my blood sugars were harder to control and the more insulin I had to take the more weight I gained. The more weight I gained the more insulin I needed to take because the extra weight caused insulin resistance.
Trying to get rid of the extra weight, I started many exercise programs but this further complicated my attempts to get my blood sugar under control. I learned that if I exercised with high blood sugar it caused my blood sugar to go even higher. Then I happened to luck upon a book by Richard K. Bernstein, M.D. called The Diabetic Diet. This book encouraged me to experiment on myself and learn things to do to control my blood sugar that are unique to me. The following paragraphs contain conclusions I have made from my experiments and experiences.
Low carbohydrate diets are best for diabetics because too many carbohydrates make blood sugars difficult to control. The diabetic needs to experiment with different foods to find which foods affect their blood sugars the most. A diabetic should keep a food diary along with blood sugar results to pinpoint what affect the food has on their blood sugar the most so they can avoid that food in the future.
A low carbohydrate diet consists of low fat meats and low-carbohydrate vegetables. High fat meats cause insulin resistance, which causes blood sugars to be elevated. Diabetics should avoid foods that cause high blood sugars like breads, sweets, and even some vegetables.
Some foods that are not commonly associated with causing high blood sugar are tomatoes, carrots, and beets. These vegetables should be avoided along with corn and potatoes. Slow acting carbohydrates can be consumed in moderation and they include foods like bran, avocado, zucchini, mushrooms and eggplant. Each serving of these foods contain about six grams of carbohydrate.
Another reason for a diabetic to follow a low carbohydrate diet is the lower amounts of insulin the diabetic will need. This is important because of the variations that can occur in insulin effectiveness that takes place with high insulin doses. Insulin dosage of eight units and above will vary on an increasing average the higher the dose goes. The low carbohydrate diet will keep insulin doses as low as possible to avoid this anomaly.