Type 1 Diabetes

Diet and Nutrition
1

particular question for any lifters with type 1 diabetes.

i want to try and remove gluten from my diet completely, ive managed to get rid of bread and stuff, but as i need to maintain a stable blood glucose level, particularly before i go to sleep at night i am unsure what would be a good food source.

i was eating porridge, but this contains gluten and as ive said i want to remove this.

so my question is, what do tye 1 lifters eat?

i was also eating beans and rice, thinking i had made a good substitution, however then i came across lectins and antinutrient discussions and arent certain i should be eating this either?

i am slightly confused, so if anyone could offer me some personal experience or clear up any of my uncertainties that would be greatly appreciated.

thanks guys.

2

Trying to minimize gluten could be potentially beneficial to anyone, could you explain why this is specifically important to you as a Type 1 diabetic?

For non-gluten Carb sources i’d recommend basically all kinds of root and tubers, potatoes, sweet potatoes, yams, cassava etc. Also, there are gluten-free grains (aka pseudocereals) the most common ones are quinoa and amaranth

do not worry about lectins too much, as longs as you are not consuming large amounts or several times per day

3

well i guess its not as important as i made it sound, with relevance to the post, i merely meant that as a diabetic i do need to eat a substantial carbohydrate source before i go to sleep to prevent hypoglycemia!

yeah i have just bought potatoes and sweet potatoes, i also got some quinoa. never used this before though so will see how it goes.

i was eating baked beans and kidney beans thinking that was a good idea twice daily.

is there any way you can explain to me about lectins, anti nutrients and phytins? seems to be an awful lot of stigma attached to these things.

whats the general consensus on things like rice flour and corn flour? as i found some gluten free pasta today which was made from this

4

I’m type one, had it for almost 18 years now. I’ve been through periods where i was consuming very low carb ie from veges/ trace only. I found blood sugars relatively stable, just adjust the injections. So as far as keeping blood sugars up I don’t see there being any issues when you are eating carbs. But yea if you are wanting to go gluten free, yams/ potatoes are easy.

5

[quote]hmorcom wrote:
[…]
is there any way you can explain to me about lectins, anti nutrients and phytins? seems to be an awful lot of stigma attached to these things.[/quote]

lectins are a huge group of proteins which are very common throughout nature in all kinds of eukaryotes. One of their functions is to bind selectively to certain carbohydrate structures, especially to those foreign to the organism (i.e. plant lectins bind to sugars common in invertebrates or fungi)

In humans, they can bind to the cell surface of the intestinal villi and can cause gastrointestinal distress especially in the small intestines.

Those kinds of lectins may be some form of primitive molecule-based immune system or a deterrence against herbivores.

However, they do much more (glycoprotein synthesis, cell adhesion, regulation of soluble proteins etc), and usually in the context of nutrition only a very small subset of lectins is actually relevant.

lectins (like almost all proteins) are inactivated by cooking.

“phytins” is a word that doesn’t really exist, i think you mean phytic acid (or the anionic salt, phytate, inositol hexakisphosphate when you want to google it).

It is very common in many seeds and grains and its function is storage of phosphate (very important for a growing plant) cations (potassium, magnesium, calcium, manganese, barium, etc) and energy.

nonruminant vertebrates (such as humans) cannot digest phytic acid because they lack the necessary enzyme, phytase.

Because plants use it for its ability to form stable chelate complexes with cations (for storage), it can bind to minerals in their cationic form (most notably calcium, iron, zinc), preventing their absorption in the small intestine.

It can be problematic when your only source of those minerals is plant-based (such as in developing countries, where some sort of cereal is basically the only food available on a regular basis), but it’s a non-issue when you have a somewhat balanced diet.

antinutrients refers to any substance that lowers the nutritional value of food.

I do not want to sound harsh or to insult anyone, but those words are often thrown around by people who don’t really understand their meaning to sound scientific or smart.

[quote]hmorcom wrote:
whats the general consensus on things like rice flour and corn flour? as i found some gluten free pasta today which was made from this[/quote]

both rice and corn contain no gluten.

6

Petrichor thank you for that extremely detailed response, i am grateful that you took the time to explain in a concise manner. I understand what you have said, i was merely unsure about the characteristics of those things and so was probably naive in believing everything that i had previously read condemning them.

So from my understanding, lectins in general aren’t bad, it is just that they cannot be digested and can cause minor gastrointestinal distress. So beans contain lectins and cause the infamous gaseous problems, is this all that is meant by distress or is there more to it?

Is it necessary to avoid phytic acid then? Or is this going over the top with small scale things?

Thanks again.

7

[quote]hmorcom wrote:
[…]

So from my understanding, lectins in general aren’t bad, it is just that they cannot be digested and can cause minor gastrointestinal distress.[/quote]
Yes.

The amount of distress is depended on the amount and frequency of consumption of lectin-containing food and varies between individuals

As long as a significant portion of your meals (50%+) do not contain large amounts of lectin and you have no symptoms, i would not worry about it.

Lectins have been consumed by mammals as long as there were mammals.

[quote]hmorcom wrote:
So beans contain lectins and cause the infamous gaseous problems, is this all that is meant by distress or is there more to it?
[/quote]

Yes, but the flatulence has nothing to do with lectins. Its caused by a certain sugar (raffinose, a trisaccharid) which the human body can’t digest because it lacks the necessary enzyme alpha-galactosidase. Bacteria in our small intestine break down the raffinose and gas is a byproduct of the fermentation process.

[quote]

Is it necessary to avoid phytic acid then? Or is this going over the top with small scale things?

Thanks again.[/quote]
Not really, phytic acid is a problem in developing countries where people are pretty malnourished to begin with and the only available source of nutrients is grains for extended periods of time. Those people can develop certain deficiencies because of the reduction of absorption rate due to phytate content.

Since you are posting on this forum i assume you have some basic interest in your diet and thus have a reasonable balanced diet consisting of more than millet for 7 days a week, you should not worry about phytic acid.

That being said, most people benefit from a reduction of grain content in their diets.

8

Petrichor, brilliant thanks again for the detailed response.

you have answered my question very well, thank you!

9

[quote]hmorcom wrote:
Petrichor, brilliant thanks again for the detailed response.

you have answered my question very well, thank you! [/quote]

I’m glad i could be of assistance :slight_smile: