Low-Carb Diets and Cycling

[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.