[breezeonby]

I am trying to lose weight as well as my BS how many carbs does your body need daily to do this? I saw someone eats 50-60 daily is this a good amount? please help.

Mary, your last A1C in November 2010 is a little high. It might be good to try and understand carb counting and the effect that it has on your blood glucose. Since you take insulin, you can cover your carbs. The sliding scale doesn't work well with carb counting and you will need to know your insulin to carb ratio. This is all very simple to learn and if you have a library near you, get the book "Using Insulin" by John Walsh. 50-60 carbs a day is a good start. You need to find out your insulin to carb ratio. Start out with 1 unit of carbs cover 10 grams of carbs. So if you eat 50 grams of carbs with a meal then you will need to take 5 units of insulin. If you are testing high after meals then go to 1unit for every 5 carbs. Test often so that you find your best insulin to carb ratio.

 

[breezeonby]

Mary, I know you are struggling to find doctors right now, but I really do feel that you need to find out what type of diabetes that you have.
I am insulin dependant and have been since 2005, a pill and diet and exercise no longer can keep my blood sugar stable and I am Type 2. What happens to you when you don't take your insulin? If I do not take my insulin, my blood sugar can read in the 300's and will not go down until I take my rapid-acting insulin (novolog), without my nightly dose of Lantus my fasting blood sugar would be totally out of range and my pre-meal readings would also be much higher and then that pushes post meal readings up and it is a constant battle to get my blood glucose under control. I have always included carbs in my diet and I don't have any intention to change that. I eat carbs almost every meal, I try to keep my total carbs at about 150 grams per day. There are many days that I only eat one meal per day and I allow myself to dip into that 150 gram allowance and other days when I only eat 50 carbs. I am 100% aware of every carb that I eat and I do pick and choose the type of carbs that I eat. Maybe someday, I will get the will power to cut my carbs down, but until that time comes, I will manage my diabetes to the best of my ability.

 

[breezeonby]

I agree with Doc, that taking control of your diabetes has to be multi-faceted approach: diet, exercise, medications, attitude, etc.

What annoys me are the doctors and educators that have told me well intentioned but inaccurate information, like "try to limited your carbs to 50 per meal" and friends who gave me 'diabetic cookbooks' with recipes for complicated casseroles with only 48 grams of carbs ... yikes! Many of us will never get our sugars under control following that advice. I think many of the posters in this forum have a better understanding of diabetes than the so-called "professionals."

Off Topic Warning.....I like your new picture, but which one is you?