Low-Carb Diets and Cycling

[Triskeliongirl]

Hi Dianyla- I was wondering about you. Glad you got a good report from your doc. I was very impressed reading the paleo diet for athletes, and think that it is a good choice for you given everything you have told us. I wish I could follow it, its just still a little to carb rich for my body to tolerate, but as I said before, I am really impressed with the qualifications of both co-authors. -eileen

[dinabean]

I know this thread is three years old, but someone directed me to it when I asked a question recently about fueling long rides while on a low glycemic diet. I've been fascinated by everything I've read here -- I was recently diagnosed with Hashimotos Hypothyroidism, my fasting sugars were regularly around 110 and my doctor recommended a gluten-free, low glycemic diet for me, which I have been following for about three months now. I bought a blood sugar monitor (the one from Target, it's house brand, is cheap and the test strips are cheap!) and the food seems to be helping, as my fasting sugar is now more around 90-ish most days.

In any event, are the OPs still around? If so, how are you doing with your diet and exercise? Curious for an update if you're still around.

[Triskeliongirl]

I noticed this thread pop up again. I am doing really well thanks. At this point I have been diagnosed as a mild type I diabetic. Mild because while most type I diabetics make virtually no insulin, I make just enough to maintain glucose homeostatsis without a carb challenge (but still much less than I should, especially when challenged with carbs). Part of why I can maintain glucose homeostasis without much insulin is that tests by a colleague in a research lab revealed that I also have unusually good insulin sensitivity (this is the OPPOSITE of a type II who makes a lot of insulin but doesn't respond well to it). But I am really rather unusual, which is why they don't know how to classify me (and why they call me a mild type I for lack of a better descriptor, since it communicates best that what I have is an insulin defeciency rather than a problem with insulin sensistivity, even though I can manage it without taking insulin).

I still manage it with a low carb/high protein diet and exercise (and lots of glucose monitoring). On the bike, I drink muscle milk lite in my bottles, plus almonds as needed if its a longer or more intense ride. On very long rides (like metric centuries and longer) I've used pretzels.

Recently I started to have problems with the Dawn phenomena, that is slightly higher than normal fasting blood sugars (~110). This correlated with a change from bike commuting (where I was riding 2X a day, am and pm) to morning gym workouts. I found by doing evening (a few hours after dinner) spinervals/trainer workouts instead of a morning gym workout, I am back to low normal blood sugars (~85) in both the post workout evening hours and morning hours. I also noticed that whenever my blood sugars are off even a little my weight also goes up a little (in part because I get hungrier and eat more), but now that I switched my exercise from morning to evening my weight came back down (normalized I call it, that is how I describe how I feel when my hunger/satiety cues are in sync with what my body needs to maintain a healthy body weight).

I also feel best with reduced meal frequency (and find its a painless way to control calories when I need to lose weight), so I use a regimine called intermittent fasting (leangains.com) where I eat a big dinner, but then don't eat anything again until lunch the next day. Basically 2 good meals a day (lunch are leftovers from dinner). The only exception is if I am biking in the morning, then I'll have a high protein pre-ride meal (like 2 chicken sausages), and then my protein shakes and almonds on the bike. I'll also relax it a bit on the weekends, especially with things like alcohol and Lindt 85% dark chocolate (something that's been termed 'flexible dieting').

I also found out recently that I had a vit D defeciency, so now I take a supplemental multi-vitamin, calcium, and vitD every evening with dinner. In the am, I still take my synthroid/cytomel combo for my hypothyroidism (Hashimotos) (150ug synthroid, 5 ug cytomel) and my thyroid numbers look great and I have good energy.

[limewave]

So interesting to read about what works for other people. I have tried many different combination of meals/snack times. I've found that I do best when I eat a large breakfast. I love breakfast. Dinner, meh. I kind of do the opposite of what you do: Big breakfast, Big lunch and then my dinners are more like a snack.

[dinabean]

Thanks for the updates, ladies. Interesting re skipping breakfast -- I find myself much more even since i started eating breakfast regularly. But I am so glad you have found a system that keeps you controlled. My boss is diabetic and he's out of control and scaring the heck out of me (as in, sugars in the 400-500 range lately). I am very worried for him.

[lisathew8lifter]

thank you for the info on this, girls. i have copied parts of this and am brining it with me again next week when i do the glucose tolerance test. my thyroid is being managed and i'm almost hyper (counts are free t4+ .80, TSH .16, Free T3, .83 but i can't lose weight, in fact i'm gaining it. i have been dropping all grains and have found that i have a reaction to them and while eating sugar. i fall asleep like someone turned out the lights! i mentioned this to my endo, and the fact that while my thyroid is low, obviously my metabolism isn't working. i mentioned glucose intolerance, or insulin resistance due to what i was reading in this thread...my doc is out so i have no idea what the test results were but i know AS a result of the TESTS she ordered the glucose test.
anyhow, i'm rambling, but i want to thank you all for contributing to this thread since i has helped me immensely!

[Triskeliongirl]

Interesting to see this thread pop up again. I thought I'd update again. I mentioned playing with intermittent fasting, but in the end I returned to what I call three squares, 3 good high protein/low carb meals with minimal to no snacking. If I do snack late at nite, I eat lean protein like canadian bacon. On the bike I still use my muscle milk lite to drink, and nuts for long rides, no more pretzels. I find as long as I keep my blood sugar in a narrow range I feel good on or off the bike and my weight is stable/normalizes. My latest exercise regime is to swim laps during lunch, so for that I need a good breakfast, and/or an early lunch. Basically a high protein meal ~1 hour before I exercise. Then I do club bike rides on the weekends. The mid day exercise is also very good for controlling my blood sugars.

I also find the Livestrong MyPlateD a great place to track food intake, exercise and blood sugars.