medic75

My diet is low simple carbs. I eat most vegetables at will, but very limited sweet fruit. My lunch today consisted of a turkey wrap on multigrain with a small bag of chips (13 total carbs). I typically unwrap these, eliminate the excess tortilla & then rewrap. My dinner for tonight will be italian sausage with peppers & onions (no roll) and a side salad (hold the croutons).

After my commute home, I plan on hitting the mountain bike for a 17 mile ride with 1,300 feet of climbing in the first 4 miles. I'm going to eat a banana / apple sauce packet about 20 minutes before the ride to see what that does for me.

I refuse to go 0 carb. IMHO, 0 carb type diets are temporary & unsustainable diets. Temporary diets always lead to bad things. IMO, a diet is a lifestyle that must be able to be maintained.

bikebreak

Yeah, that sounds good for diabetes, not for ketosis. You're burning carbs, and when your riding hard you need more. Try adding a little bit of carbs on the bike (eat during the ride) and see if you can hit the hills harder. Since your muscles are pulling the sugar out of your blood, it should not effect your diabetes control. Test your blood sugar pre and post, see what happens.

I imagine you're tracking your speed with GPS, if you use Strava or the like you may see faster times on hill segments with some carbs on board

medic75

I tracked my ride last night with strava. Come to find out, the initial elevation change is about 700 feet in 4 miles. Regardless, after eating an apple sauce packet 20 minutes prior to the ride, I made it to the top without a break. I was just starting to run out of steam when I got there. In the past this ride would have required at least 2 quick breaks. I can also confirm that when I did run out of steam, it seemed to hit harder than normal. I would love to think that this is somewhat psychosomatic, but making it to the top of the climb without a couple of breaks is a significant milestone for me.

Please keep in mind that about 50% of this ride is dirt roads and I did this ride on a 29+ mtb.

KittyBikes

I am having a similar experience and cannot seem to add miles into my routine because after 8 miles I am DEAD. My muscles literally will not work.

I share your feelings about no carbs, I just think that diet makes you want to eat ALL the CARBS! At least that's been my experience. I am overweight and insulin resistant, so I do take insulin, but I want to take as little as possible of course. I may experiment with a small serving of carbs toward the middleof my ride to see if I can start going farther.

Anyway, I appreciated this discussion.

Carbonfiberboy 

If one who is reading this comment is a Type II diabetic who is interested in getting better, rather than someone who is more interesting in arguing about it, I have a few advice points:

1) Type 1 diabetes is a much simpler disease than Type II. Type 1s simply have to control their balance of insulin and carbs. How to do this is well known. I ride with Type 1 diabetics who eat on the bike exactly like any non-diabetic rider. Type II is much trickier.

2) If you are not now seeing an endocrinologist, you need to be doing so. Medical doctors are scientists who study humans. They know a lot about it, and specialists in diabetes have the knowledge to help and guide you. We here have only the tiniest bits of information in comparison.

3) If you have not read the studies posted above in comments 18 and 20, do so now. Medical knowledge of Type II has progressed to the point that it is relatively easily treated. The answer to the question of who is going to read all that stuff is "anyone who wants to get well."

3) "Remission" means one no longer has the symptoms of the disease. It's my impression, and your doctor can correct me if I am wrong, that Type II perhaps does not have a cure, only remission. It's also possible that we who do not have the symptoms of Type II are essentially also in "remission," since any of us could develop it if we went off the wagon of diet and exercise we're on.

4) The number 1 thing is to get your A1C down. It's my guess that a Type II needs to get into remission before embarking on any program of strenuous exercise. Talk to your doctor about that. You have to learn how to control your blood sugar before you have a hope of becoming a decent cyclist. Those of us who are not Type II have also had to learn to control our blood sugar, and it can be a steep learning curve. I've helped many a rider on long rides who simply didn't know how to do that and was completely out of gas, or overloaded and sitting on a curb, ready to faint.

5) Your dietary macros have little to do with success in controlling your diabetes. One of the studies mentioned above shows great success with a diet of 75% carbs. It's not the macros so much as what foods comprise those macros and of course quantities.

6) Non-diabetics and Type 1 diabetics can and do eat completely differently on and off the bike. I suspect that is also true of Type IIs, but talk that over with your doctor.

bbbean 

My endocrinologist was very clear when my A1C moved into the normal range (4.9 to 5.3 since 2013) and stayed there without medication - “diabetic” is a condition, not a permanent diagnosis. I am not diabetic. I was, but I corrected the condition.

I’m sure there are multiple perspectives on the issue, but when my endocrinologist says “you are not diabetic”, I take him at his word.

BB

Carbonfiberboy 

OK then it's like I said above: listen to your doctor. I've assumed that metabolic syndrome/insulin resistance was something that was easier have come back than it would be for someone to get who'd never been there. Not so?

bbbean 

I didn’t ask the question. I maintain my diet and exercise routine as if I would be a 300 lb diabetic if I didn’t, so the answer is moot to me.

FWIW, my first post on the subject also included the advice to talk to his doc. The primary benefit (IMHO) of discussion here is simply to be reassured with a few attaboys and success stories. I remember how tough the original diagnosis was. I pictured myself losing limbs, dying early, and being an overweight slug in poor health forever. It was useful to talk to folks who’d been there and got healthy/strong/fast etc.

BB

zowie

This has been debated endlessly in certain corners and has as much to do with how you define terms as the known science. I think it's half right. If one can eat the regular lousy western diet and respond to it with normal numbers, like someone who has never developed blood glucose problems, then that'd be true. It does seem to happen occasionally and maybe did to bbbean. But if one can maintain normal numbers only by eating a very low carb or other special diet or lifestyle, wonderful and healthful as that may be, they are still "diabetic."

redlude97

fixed that for you