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DrCarney.com Blog

Health - Food - Science - Community
19 minutes reading time (3888 words)

Ken's Engineered Type 1 Diabetes Whole Food Plant Based Low Fat Lifestyle

Ken in His Engineering Lab Ken in His Engineering Lab

Previous experiences with my doctors were extremely difficult because they wanted to control my Type 1 diabetes by prescribing specific medication doses and defining what I should eat. But, none of that was working. I felt extremely diseased and disabled. I was kind of terrified from all that and so decided to apply the techniques of my profession: fault analysis and electronic design. In addition to studying cellular level biology at the Midwestern State University library, I began an elimination diet to find out what foods did what. All the foods my doctors were telling me to eat were not working. In fact, those foods made things far worse. That was how I discovered that plant based foods, very low fat and low protein with no animal products were the best foods. I found starches and fruits made diabetic control and my life extremely easy.

Every time I would go to my doctor, however, I would end up in an argument. He would review my blood work and tell me that my blood work was the best he had ever seen. My A1c was 5.1 my total cholesterol was 100. Then his next sentence was that he wanted to put me on Lipitor. I asked him why and he told me it was because "All diabetics should be on Lipitor." He then proceeded to explain that my diet was all wrong because it was not a proper diabetic diet. He explained that my A1c was too low and should be in the diabetic range - since I am a diabetic. This went on until June of 2012.

2012 was the year I discovered Dr. McDougall during some casual Google surfing. I did not know before that time that there was such a thing as a plant based doctor. I found a list of plant-based doctors on his web site and found Dr. Carney in Buda, Texas. I thought this is awesome, now I can go to a doctor without having to be told that my diet is all wrong when it is actually working.

My wife who was having a lot of gastrointestinal issues, went to Dr. Carney before I did. She was cured of all of those problems. She then told Dr. Carney that I wanted to be her patient. But, Dr. Carney let her know she was not accepting any Type 1 diabetics into her practice because she did not have the time to devote to controlling a Type 1 diabetic. I wrote her a letter to let her know she would not need to worry about that because I had the Type 1 diabetes under control. In fact, I was not interested in having a doctor control my diabetes. However, I still needed a doctor that could write prescriptions for insulin because times have changed and I cannot get insulin, syringes or test strips without a prescription. I needed a doctor that would prescribe those without fighting about my control regime.

My control regime controls both ends. In other words, the traditional method is that you take insulin to bring the blood sugars down. Blood sugars are always ramping up and you're taking insulin to pull it back down again. With my method, I use the insulin to switch that to a continuous blood sugars down ramp instead of a continuous up ramp. I then use fruits to level the down-ramp. My doctors would completely freak out anytime I explained what I was doing and tell me "Ohhh.... you're going to crash and die." So, I just quit telling them.

I take the insulin so that I have a continuous downward trend. Then I use fruits to level it. So, as the blood sugar is coming down, but before it gets low, I'll have a piece of fruit. I have learned how much fruit to take for whatever the circumstance to coincide with the ramp-rate (in electronics that is called slew-rate) of the downward trend and level it off. This way I can maintain my blood sugar levels in the normal (70 to 100 mg/dl) range all the time instead of what is classed as diabetic levels. I didn't want the diabetic levels. I don't want to be a diabetic. I want normal levels. I am able to do it using my method. That always frightened all my other doctors who tell told me "you should never do that." But, I tell them "I have been doing it for decades."

The doctors would tell me that my A1c was "wrong" because it would always range from the low to middle 5's. The doctors would tell me that is outside the diabetic range. I would tell them "Yeah, but it is inside the normal range." They would tell me, "Yeah but you're a diabetic and diabetics should be over 6 like in the 7's or 8's or higher." And I would tell them "But, I don't want it there, because I know that is damaging."

My first doctor told me that no matter how well I controlled my diabetes I would definitely still have diabetic complications. He said, "just know that is going to happen." Now I know why he said that because if I had kept my range and control method as he prescribed, then yes, I would definitely have had complications by now. As it turns out now after almost three decades, I have no diabetic complications. I don't have any test results to show that I am a diabetic. Unless I tell the doctor's, they wouldn't know.

My eye doctor has told me that she can always tell a diabetic by looking at the capillaries in their retina. She can't see that in me. She told me that my retinas look like that of a child or young adult (30 or less years old). She retook my retina photos to be sure since I am 65. Interestingly, I was in my 30's when I changed my diet to whole food plant based. Apparently, I may have arrested "normal" deterioration around that time.

My life before the diabetes started, was on the Standard American Diet. During that time, I had issues like most Americans have. I had a really bad case of Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), for which the doctor just put me on medications, without mentioning anything about diet, apart from saying that diet didn't make any difference. The IBS was really chronic and problematic for me.

One day I was killing some time and walked into a health food store and started looking at some books and I noticed there was an article in one of the books about bowel issues. I thumbed through the book and read that bowel issues were a problem caused by insufficient fiber. The book showed the food items that had fiber, all of which were plants. So, I decided to give some of those foods a try. Within a week all of the colon issues were gone. I was astounded at the rapid rate of healing though I was still eating meat.

My diabetes onset took place over a period of about one month; from no symptoms to being carried to the hospital after being found passed out at my desk. It was a really quick transition. I had been going to the doctor for my IBS and my blood sugar levels were always normal. Then I found myself getting super thirsty, super tired and super weak and rapid weight loss. Throughout my prior life, I had always been overweight. I lost 40 pounds within that month down to 108 lbs. I was deathly weak and could barely walk. It was dangerous to drive. Just getting into the car was a struggle. I did manage to make it to work and the next thing I knew I was being carried out to the hospital. I had passed out at my desk. This all happened around Thanksgiving of 1988.

While still in the hospital and hooked up to IV's, I had a conversation with a fill-in physician who saved my life. I was in distress. I was swinging from blood sugars that were so high that I could barely maintain consciousness to low blood sugar induced convulsions. I had no idea what was going on. It was horrific. I did not think I was going to survive. It was terrifying. I felt completely helpless. After a few days in the hospital, I was expressing my fears to the fill-in physician, Dr. Talbert, who was standing in for my regular doctor while he was out of town. Dr. Talbert told me "No doctor can control your Type 1 diabetes. You need to be able to track it too quickly and the doctors can only see you occasionally at visits. That's impossible. You have to know what you are doing. You have to control it yourself." He explained that it would be like a back-seat driver telling you how to drive a car while you're driving wearing a blindfold.

That was really good news to me when Dr. Talbert said, "You have to learn to do it and you have to do it yourself". I thought "I feel more comfortable with that." It gave me hope. I decided to deal with it the same way I already practiced in my profession as a fault analysis engineer. I decided to log everything to find out what does what. By now I did have an idea that diet was involved. But, I had no idea how. I did know that what was being done was certainly not working. 

I got a standard engineering spiral bound notebook which became permanently attached to me. I would log my insulin dose, the time, what I was doing, and what I would eat. I knew, from my profession that you had to reduce the variables. So, I narrowed the food down to as simple as I could possibly get it. I would just eat one thing for a long time and then another thing for a long time and log it. It really did not take very long for me to discover that eating meats and fats was really bad. Meat and/or fat gets the insulin out of sync and it is almost impossible to get the insulin to match with the food. It creates big spikes and valleys and made it impossible to get a straight line.

My logs morphed in time as I gained understanding. I still log but the logs that I use now are very simple. Perhaps I could be okay now without logging but I am more comfortable maintaining the logs. It is just a part of me. I would feel lost without it. But I no longer log the food because I have it so well memorized that I no longer need to track it. Also, I originally had to count calories to match the insulin, but that went away when I started my both-ends control scheme. Now, as long as I keep animal products and fat out of my diet, I can eat indiscriminately without issue.

1989 was the year that I figured out the diet by trial and error. In the beginning I weighed everything, vegetables, fruits, starches, everything! I also counted calories and logged it all to calculate my insulin dose. Now since I maintain a constant downward trend in blood sugar I don't worry about it. I am not going to get a blood sugar spike. I can eat really high glycemic foods, such as potatoes until I am miserably stuffed and I still won't get a spike. I still have to fill in later with some fruit or something to keep from dropping too low. And this is controlled with about one quarter of the amount of insulin I used to take before when I was eating meats and fats.

Sometimes, but rarely, I have gotten 'contaminated' with a film of olive oil or sliver of avocado "sneaked" into a salad. The effects will last for about a month. It becomes difficult to get the insulin to match (sync) with the food in order to maintain a normal straight line without blood sugar swinging up and down.

The reason I believe people don't discover this is because it takes two days before the effect starts, then about two weeks before it begins to subside and a month to get back to normal. The effect is just too slow to make the connection to any particular thing eaten. If a person has just a 'little bit' of oil once per month, they will never ever know what it feels like to be insulin sensitive. The problem is they won't notice because it takes so long to start, it is such a slow ramp of change and it has a super slow recovery time. This is true for the non-diabetic as well. The only difference is that in the non-diabetic, the insulin/blood-sugar control loop is still functioning. It is maintaining normal blood-sugars although struggling to do so. This makes fats appear benign. So, basically, having a "little" fat once a month (or less) you will never ever get to the point where you know what feel-good actually feels like. From my experience, I don't believe there is any such a thing as 'a little bit' of oil. Any is too much. It creates insulin resistance. And - it's not just oil. Any ingredient in any dish that contains more than 10% calories from fat does the same thing as oil, just scalable less with oil being 100% fat. I have also found that it is virtually impossible to get too little fat. Even raw lettuce contains 8% fat. Celery has 9%. You only need 6% or less. Over the past three decades of being an obsessive fat-free fanatic, I have yet to find a minimum.

Some key concepts covered in detail in my blogs are Insulin Resistance, Insulin Sensitivity and Ramp Rate. Insulin sensitivity is an opposite term to insulin resistance. With metabolism, glucose is your fuel. Insulin is like the fuel injectors on your car. Insulin is a hormone that injects glucose into the cells to be metabolized much like the fuel injectors, of your car, inject gas into the cylinders to be burned. If the injectors are clogged, that is like insulin resistance. You have the fuel available but you can't get it into the cells. You should be burning it, but you can't burn it. When we have insulin resistance, just like your car with clogged fuel injectors, we have less energy - like your car, we feel tired. Insulin sensitivity is when the injectors are super clean. Everything is working top notch. The fuel is there, its flow is unhindered and you burn it right away. When we have insulin sensitivity we feel like we have boundless energy.

Ramp Rate can be measured over time and calculated. It is a rate of change. It can be charted and graphed. You always want your blood sugar levels to stay in the normal range and to not change too fast. The range I have chosen is 70 to 100 mg/dl. When the rate changes too fast it just doesn't feel good. If it drops really fast I feel nervous. When it rises really fast I feel sluggish. Actually, anytime blood sugar rises is because it is not being burned fast enough, making you tired.

Ken Climbing on a Playground Structure

My expectations about life before the diabetes was for me to be in line with my family. When all the people I knew started getting near their fifties, their health would start failing and they would have all these problems like heart disease and diabetes. When the diabetes hit me, I wasn't sure I was going to survive it. But now after I have started living this lifestyle, my amazement is that the potential for a good life is so far beyond all of that. It is beyond what I could have ever imagined.

I am now 65 and I feel better than I did when I was 20. I weigh less than I did when I was 20 but have measurably more strength. I enjoy working on cars. Now at the age of 65 I can take a break over wrench and put it on a lug nut at 150 pounds of torque and take it off using one arm. I used to need to use both arms and leverage the weight of my body to do that. I never would have thought that would happen at the age of 65. Insulin sensitivity appears to increase our strength as the system burns fuel efficiently.

As such, it is no surprise to me that the world's strongest man record holder, as of 20 September 2015, happens to be vegan. His name is Patrick Baboumian. How do you beat that? I think this has been the way things have always worked. Plant eaters are stronger. Mankind started killing and eating animals, mistakenly thinking it would make them strong. But it is the animals that are not carnivores that are the strongest. The herbivores have strength and stamina far beyond the carnivores. The carnivores have kill power because they have built in killing apparatus, not because they are stronger. The meat industry capitalizes on these misconceptions. But, now at this point in my life I can see the absurdity of the meat and milk industry.

Watching the children of family and friends growing up, it is apparent to me that children naturally prefer plant based foods. They have to be taught to eat meat. This is so ingrained in our society that the parents are not even aware they are teaching them to eat meat. But, the foods they always gravitate to are fruits and vegetables. I can't count the many times I have witnessed a child not being excused from the table until after they have eaten their meat.

A few years back (2012) my life got really happy, beyond just the health benefits, when I discovered that there was actually a plant based community, other people who lived like this. I discovered Dr. McDougall, Dr. Esselstyn, a long list of others, and of course Dr. Carney. Then I started attending health events like the Healthfest in Marshall Texas, the ATX Alive PlantPure Potlucks in Austin Texas and many more. All of this is extremely thrilling to me because previous to this I felt very alone in my dietary lifestyle.

Ken Climbing on Rock

About a year after the diabetes onset, and after I had things in check by eating a plant based diet, things became more normal. I was a member of the singles group at a local church. Most of the people were late teens and early 20s. I was almost 40 at the time. The group went on a trip to Six Flags Over Texas in Dallas. We got there early in the morning when the gates opened. I had a ball all day until they closed the gates late at night. I was overflowing with energy. The rest of the people were exhausted. They became annoyed with me because I wanted to walk to the vehicle and not take the tram. That was a real eye opener for me. I had only been plant based for a year. I realized then how great I was starting to feel and how much energy I had. It has been that way ever since. It was an Aha moment.

I had similar experiences when I used to be a skydiver before we moved to Austin. I would often want to land way out so we can have an adventurous walk back through the countryside. But, nobody else was interested. The difference was the food.

Ken Performing Parachute Landing

I now know what food is and what isn't food. I love it. Before I thought I loved food. I thought I loved a juicy steak. I was single and would buy myself fancy filet mignon and fish filets and really fancy stuff and I thought it was wonderful. But, the tastes that I get now from plant based foods far exceeds any flavor I enjoyed before. At that time, I would never have imagined that would happen. Eating this way is not a struggle at all. This is what now feels natural.

Traveling or social meetings used to prove a challenge to me. But, it has been so long for me that now it is no big deal. I am used to it. We prepare before we travel, mapping out grocery stores like whole foods and make sure we have plenty of food with us. The foods I previously loved would taste awful to me now. Learning curves are always difficult but only while you are learning. Once you have learned things become easy and routine. This is the easiest way to live.

The care I received from Dr. Carney is a polar opposite to any care I ever received before. I had some expectations when I found her on the list of plant based doctors on Dr. McDougall's site. Before I met Dr. Carney I never knew what a real doctor was. Dr. Carney is a REAL doctor, one who is genuinely interested in making you healthy instead of just treating your disease. Visiting all the other doctors was like being on an assembly line or a cattle chute. Extremely impersonal. But, Dr. Carney changed that view. I now realize that she is what a doctor is supposed to be.

I have been able to help other Type 1 diabetics through my Member Blogs on DrCarney.com, through conversations at the ATX Alive potluck, through lunch with Type 1 diabetics at Dr. Carney's office that Dr. Carney arranged in order for me to talk with other Type 1 diabetics. When traveling we meet people and share with them. I wrote a blog called Be Careful What You Pray For! about one of those encounters. Spoiler alert: This way of eating is not a sacrifice.

I grew up in Texas cattle and oil country. We all believed that you could not survive more than three months without eating meat. At the time, that made sense to me and I believed it. But after I started eating plant based and three months passed I was surprised because I was feeling better and better. I was definitely not dying. So, I never ate another piece of meat again.

Not only has my experience proven to me that a Whole Food Plant Based life style is the best, it is also proven by the people I know. Everyone I know; members of the McDougall forum, member of the ATX Alive potluck and many others that are living a WFPB lifestyle are all in great health and growing healthier. Everyone I know who are living on the Standard American Diet; their health is in a steady decline. That is 100%. Everybody I have ever met who is following this lifestyle has gotten dramatically better or is in the process of getting better. That is also 100%. This is the way things should be. It is how the human system works best.

For Further Discussion:

Sign up to interact with Ken in the Social Network at DrCarney.com

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More Information:

(1) Read all of Ken's blogs starting from the back and work your way up

(2) Discussion explaining how Insulin Resistance prevents weight loss

(3) Low-Carb Theory Regarding Meat/Insulin is Flawed

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Comments (64)
    
Rated 5 out of 5 · 1 ratings
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site

That is absolutely one of the best success stories I have ever read. It is full of discovery and adventure and hope. I need to get my type-1 nephew to read this somehow. It could absolutely change his life.

Marky Yvanovich
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Thank you Marky!

We feel the same way about Ken's story. I personally have learned so much from Ken and his wife, that I have used to help others.

I appreciate your comment.

Comment was last edited about 7 years ago by Site Admin Linda Carney MD
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Marky,

You are so right. This is one of the most important stories we have ever published. i hope it can be shared far and wide and that others will come join us here in order to get more information from Ken on this subject.

Sean

Sean Carney
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Thank you Marky, Dr. Carney and Sean for the kind words. Also thank you for being here for me and creating this website for us to all share!

Ken

Ken Thomas
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Great post, Ken! I'd love to know your opinion about how to factor exercise into your control system. I'm a T1D, plant based whole foods low fat McDougall style. My A1c hovers around the 5.6 - 5.8%, total cholesterol is about 120 mg/dl. I too have a doctor who tells me my A1c is too low and dangerous. I'd like to get my A1c to the low fives. I haven't needed to bolus since being plant based. I take 4 units of Levemir at breakfast, and 2 units at the evening meal. I walk 6km (1 hour) before breakfast, and ride my bicycle for 2 hours after breakfast, every day. If I don't exercise, I need 30 units of Levemir instead of 6. Fasting bgl is around 90 mg/dl. After meals, I do get a spike, up to 220 mg/dl. Three hours later it is down to the 70s. That's the effect of both the tiny bit of Levemir and exercise.

I would like to flatten the post meal spikes, but am concerned about exacerbating the exercise effect with rapid insulin, which would guarantee hypos every time. One option would be to eat smaller meals more frequently. Do you have experience with regular exercise in your regimen? I would love to know your take on this.
Regards, Rien in Australia.

Marinus Hofman
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Hi Rien,

Thanks for your interest and question!

Exercise is never a problem - it's a benefit as it provides another element of insulin sensitivity. The primary element to my control method is logging. Logging allows me the know what to expect - to know what the ramp rate is to let me know what to do when - always before-hand, never after-the-fact. For example; yesterday morning I knew that I needed 1/2 apple at 8:00 AM (after 6:30 AM breakfast) to intersect with blood-sugar crossing 70 mg/dl in its downward-ramp. This is derived from the log indicating the current blood-sugar ramp rate and knowing the effect rate and magnitude of the apple. This morning, I needed a whole apple timed at 8:45 AM for the same effect. This goes on throughout the day and is always different depending on what I'm doing. This may sound complicated, but the logging makes it very clear. The object is not to follow, but to lead. That is, not to adjust in response to hyper or hypo, but to know what is going to happen and adjust before it happens. The lower you can get your insulin resistance, the shorter the lead time of both insulin and food, making it so much easier to control.

I have no experience...

Hi Rien,

Thanks for your interest and question!

Exercise is never a problem - it's a benefit as it provides another element of insulin sensitivity. The primary element to my control method is logging. Logging allows me the know what to expect - to know what the ramp rate is to let me know what to do when - always before-hand, never after-the-fact. For example; yesterday morning I knew that I needed 1/2 apple at 8:00 AM (after 6:30 AM breakfast) to intersect with blood-sugar crossing 70 mg/dl in its downward-ramp. This is derived from the log indicating the current blood-sugar ramp rate and knowing the effect rate and magnitude of the apple. This morning, I needed a whole apple timed at 8:45 AM for the same effect. This goes on throughout the day and is always different depending on what I'm doing. This may sound complicated, but the logging makes it very clear. The object is not to follow, but to lead. That is, not to adjust in response to hyper or hypo, but to know what is going to happen and adjust before it happens. The lower you can get your insulin resistance, the shorter the lead time of both insulin and food, making it so much easier to control.

I have no experience with Levemir. I use Humalog and Lantus, but the logging lets me know what to take and when to take it. When you never get any spikes, you know you have it all in sync.

Yes, I exercise daily, generally one hour per day, generally walking/jogging from 2 to 3 miles plus some resistance exercises. From my log, I can estimate at what point in the exercise I will cross 70 mg/dl and I take "calibrated" snacks with me to take at the right time to intersect with the predicted 70 mg/dl cross point. I always want to keep my blood-sugar ramping down - even after a meal. The control is with the fruit snacks to keep it pushed up inside that 70 - 100 mg/dl range. I have found that to be the easiest way to keep it level. Fats, however really disrupt that control by pushing the timing out, disrupting the sync.

Actually, I do not believe fasting blood-sugar holds any relevance for a T1 because the control loop is open and there is no idle state. You are controlling it 24/7 - eating or not.

I'm embarrassed to say that I don't know what bolus is. Can you shed some light on that?

Sorry this is so long. I hope it helps!

Sincerely,

Ken

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Ken Thomas
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Hi Ken,

Thanks for your extensive and informative response. You have definitely challenged me to get rid of my post-meal spikes, and achieve a better sync. My endocrinologist is going to be so unhappy!?

I will start this new challenge today, probably with the midday meal first. Diabetes never gets boring! I mean this in a positive way. I'll just have to work out the practical details. Fortunately I have the Libre flash glucose monitor. It shows me my sugar at any time, a graph, and a trend indicating how fast my sugar is rising or falling, or steady.

The bike ride will take some logistics. At present my sugar before breakfast is around 4.6 mmol/L (83 mg/dl). I eat, then ride. During the ride bgl goes up to about 9 mmol/L (162 mg/dl). By the time I get home two hours later it is back to 4.6 mmol/L (83 mg/dl). I do not inject rapid at present, and will have to think carefully how I will flatten that spike.

Sorry about the jargon, bolus means rapid insulin (Novorapid in my case), as opposed to basal (Levemir). I was on Lantus, but it got me in trouble a few times. When I manage to inject into a blood vessel or a skinny spot, instead of slow acting, it becomes fast acting....

Hi Ken,

Thanks for your extensive and informative response. You have definitely challenged me to get rid of my post-meal spikes, and achieve a better sync. My endocrinologist is going to be so unhappy!?

I will start this new challenge today, probably with the midday meal first. Diabetes never gets boring! I mean this in a positive way. I'll just have to work out the practical details. Fortunately I have the Libre flash glucose monitor. It shows me my sugar at any time, a graph, and a trend indicating how fast my sugar is rising or falling, or steady.

The bike ride will take some logistics. At present my sugar before breakfast is around 4.6 mmol/L (83 mg/dl). I eat, then ride. During the ride bgl goes up to about 9 mmol/L (162 mg/dl). By the time I get home two hours later it is back to 4.6 mmol/L (83 mg/dl). I do not inject rapid at present, and will have to think carefully how I will flatten that spike.

Sorry about the jargon, bolus means rapid insulin (Novorapid in my case), as opposed to basal (Levemir). I was on Lantus, but it got me in trouble a few times. When I manage to inject into a blood vessel or a skinny spot, instead of slow acting, it becomes fast acting. Scary.

I am very grateful to you for your blog. It prompted me 18 months ago to switch to a plant based starchivore way of life. It has been a wonderful journey, and I feel absolutely great.

I have been worried about the spikes, but my endo assures me they will do no damage. I do not quite believe her in that respect.

I will keep you informed about my progress.

Thanks again,

Rien Hofman.

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Marinus Hofman
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site

Rien,

I am encouraged that you are finding Ken's writing as inspiring as I have.

Best Wishes in your journey,
Dr. Carney

Linda Carney MD
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The techie side of me wonders if this approach could be assisted by some type of monitoring app/hardware that was paying attention to the ramp and gave you real time notifications regarding when you will reach the bottom of your range and maybe even suggested possible solutions based on the information (1/2 apple, a whole apple, etc.).

Marky Yvanovich
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Hi Ken,

I was diagnosed with type 1 recently, LADA. I'm experimenting with the insulin requirement for different food groups and various combinations.

Can I ask for a peek at your insulin log? Not many people I know (type 1) maintain meticulous log. My own is just a week long with blood sugar level both before and after an insulin dose.

Thank you.

K M Idamari
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site

Hi Rien,

The conventional T1D control methods employ insulin and meals. Tradition also instills deep fears of going low - hypo. The fear is great enough to tolerate spikes and elevated A1c's.
My method employs three things, not just two. I use insulin, meals and fruit snacks. Implementation wise, the fruit snacks are the most prominent. Example; I do not always carry insulin on me, but I do always carry fruit snacks on me. On occasions when I get tripped up and find my blood-sugar over 130 mg/dl, I take enough Humalog to force it down fast. This, of course, will result in an extreme low, but I double test to find the ramp rate. Example; if the ramp rate predicts I will cross 70 mg/dl in 30 minutes, and my on-hand fruit snack has a 20-minute onset, I will then take it in 10 minutes so the action will be in sync. The fruit snacks are my greatest control element. With that, I never worry about going low, not even by accident like getting an injection in a vein or taking the wrong insulin, etc. In surprise cases like that I have six or eight ounces of apple juice. Apple juice fixes a low, even a deep one, in about 5 minutes. It's much easier to fix a low than a high. My current...

Hi Rien,

The conventional T1D control methods employ insulin and meals. Tradition also instills deep fears of going low - hypo. The fear is great enough to tolerate spikes and elevated A1c's.
My method employs three things, not just two. I use insulin, meals and fruit snacks. Implementation wise, the fruit snacks are the most prominent. Example; I do not always carry insulin on me, but I do always carry fruit snacks on me. On occasions when I get tripped up and find my blood-sugar over 130 mg/dl, I take enough Humalog to force it down fast. This, of course, will result in an extreme low, but I double test to find the ramp rate. Example; if the ramp rate predicts I will cross 70 mg/dl in 30 minutes, and my on-hand fruit snack has a 20-minute onset, I will then take it in 10 minutes so the action will be in sync. The fruit snacks are my greatest control element. With that, I never worry about going low, not even by accident like getting an injection in a vein or taking the wrong insulin, etc. In surprise cases like that I have six or eight ounces of apple juice. Apple juice fixes a low, even a deep one, in about 5 minutes. It's much easier to fix a low than a high. My current carry-around fruit of choice is medjool dates, because they are relatively quick, with a relatively short duration and easy to carry in my pocket in a little ziplock snack bag. I always keep four or five in my pocket anytime I'm out.

Here is a blog on that subject.

Sincerely,
Ken

P.S. I fired my endocrinologist several years ago. I never received any "help", only resistance. I also noticed that over all the years I went to him, his waiting room was always filled with the same decrepit, lifeless, sick people. None of them ever getting any better.

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Comment was last edited about 7 years ago by Ken Thomas Ken Thomas
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Hi Marky,

Yep, there is indeed a technical device that does all that. I use it every day. I call it a log!

But really, no doubt a device can be designed to do that. It would entail a bit of AI to slide everything into sync. The down-side is that you would have to always tell it exactly what and when you are going to eat in order to calculate insulin timing and sync, otherwise the control would be single-ended and after-the-fact - back to tradition. The AI would have to use history to estimate the delays and ramp-rates as they are always changing. The app would be somewhat like a self-driving car - which currently exists and works quite well. Myself, however, feel much more comfortable in the driver's seat.

Ken

Ken Thomas
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Hi KM Idamari,

Here is a link to a blog on logging.
I don’t have a filled out one on that blog, but I will look into adding a filled-out example to that blog. Please give me a day or two to get that done.

Regards,
Ken

Ken Thomas
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Hi KM Idamari,

I have added my current log on the log blog. It is current to today. It is a pdf and is the last of the down load links at the end of the blog.
Please let me know if you have any trouble downloading it or if you have any questions.

Best Regards,
Ken

Ken Thomas
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Hey Ken,

Thanks for the filled out log. It has been really helpful.

I'm currently on a rapid onset insulin (~30u) and a 12u long acting insulin (Lantus), which is similar to your own insulin regimen. Only my BG ranges from 80 - 150 mg/dL, depending on the starch load of my diet.

I noticed that for most of the time your BG stayed below 90 mg/dL . It made me wonder if your body is running on fasting mode, burning stored fat for fuel. Have you done a urine ketone test? I ask because I have tried the lchf diet.

Thanks again for taking time to reply.

~K

K M Idamari
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Hi KM Idamari,
I just posted my reply to this in the newly created forum: https://www.drcarney.com/discussions/1400-type-1-diabetes-helpful-support-discussions

Happy Wishes,
Ken

Ken Thomas
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Ken answered this question in the new discussion on Type 1 diabetes in the forum: https://www.drcarney.com/discussions/1400-type-1-diabetes-helpful-support-discussions

Sean Carney
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Hello Ken, Rien, K M, and Marky,

I am very intrigued by the potential of these conversations to be a big help to people with Type 1 Diabetes. And, as such I am wondering about creating either a thread in our discussion forum or what I suspect would be better yet; a create a Support Group on this site. So far I have not seen any subject arise that seems right for the creation of a group. But, this subject is. I would keep the group OPEN so that anybody could join and participate. We could reevaluate that decision if anybody became a problem.

Would you be interested in my creating a Type 1 Diabetes Support Group here? It would function much like a group does on Facebook, Yahoo, etc...

The group content should be indexed by search engines. But, I will make sure from the software developers. Otherwise we could consider the discussion forum thread instead?

Let me know your thoughts on trying to create a support environment for people with Type 1 diabetes who are on a whole foods plant based no oil low fat dietary program.

Thanks, Sean

Sean Carney
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Hi Rein,

I forgot to mention that anytime I get a spike after a meal, I know that the injection timing was too late. I always take meal insulin several minutes before the meal to match the meal blood-sugar rise with the insulin action timing so that both peak together, but with a slight downward ramp - to be later leveled with a fruit snack.
I guess, with my method, I'm eating something throughout the day!

Regards,
Ken

Ken Thomas
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Hi Sean,
My thoughts: I suspect that a forum thread might provide the same benefit with a lot less software effort. This is routine on the McDougall forum and it appears to be very effective. Via mall effect, It would also help generate other beneficial thread topics as well.

Regards,
Ken

Ken Thomas
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OK Ken, Sounds good to me. The discussion forum is simpler. I will start a thread there inviting people with Type 1 Diabetes to ask questions and provide comments? I will put it in the Support Discussions category.

Comment was last edited about 7 years ago by Sean Carney Sean Carney
    
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I just created a forum discussion about Type 1 Diabetes in order to better facilitate this conversation. I am hoping you will all visit the forum, and make a comment in order to subscribe to the thread. Here is the URL: https://www.drcarney.com/discussions/1400-type-1-diabetes-helpful-support-discussions

Sean Carney
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Thanks Sean!
I'll respond to questions there...
P.S.
I'm going to be out-of-pocket for about a week due to a heavy business load plus visiting family. So, please understand if my responses are slow.

Happy Wishes,
ken

Ken Thomas
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No problem. Have a great week. I will try to encourage people to post questions there in the forum and they can be waiting for you. :-)

Comment was last edited about 7 years ago by Sean Carney Sean Carney
    
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Ken - Thanks so much for all of your efforts. What you are doing is very intriguing and impressive. Would you mind (if you haven't done so already) sharing a sample meal plan for a week. I'm curious what you eat on a day to day basis.

Thanks again!

Trey Venters
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Hi Trey,
That's a great question! I have a blog that answers that, but I just notice an apparent glitch and that information has gone missing! I will fix it ASAP; however, I am traveling out of town early tomorrow morning and don't have time to do it tonight. I'll be back early next week, so I should be able to get it by Tuesday.

Until then, have a great weekend!
Ken

Ken Thomas
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Hi Trey,
The blog that includes some samples of my meals can be found here. The meal examples are about midway down the blog.
These are just examples, and I will make a better list as soon as my workload lightens up a bit.

Happy Wishes,
Ken

Comment was last edited about 7 years ago by Site Admin Ken Thomas
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Trey and Ken, Ken,
Check this out now: https://www.drcarney.com/blog/condition-related/insulin-resistance-insulin-sensitivity
Also, Ken, There may have been others because I found some other images that were missing and copied them over after reducing ALL of them in size (bytes not pixels).
Sean

Comment was last edited about 7 years ago by Sean Carney Sean Carney
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Thank you Sean! I really appreciate your diligence!

I am still working on my meal plan (among EP work), but since I do not restrict myself to a rigid meal plan, I can summarize by saying that my meals are open to anything that came from a plant that has no or minimal processing and includes no ingredients containing 10% or more fat calories. I have no carbohydrate (or sugar) restrictions - just fat.

Thanks,
Ken

Ken Thomas
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