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If your first reaction to “intermittent fasting with type 1 diabetes” is “Oh my gosh, my blood sugar would be so low! I could never do that!” then definitely keep reading.
In this guide, I will cover everything you need to know about intermittent fasting with type 1 diabetes.
Table of Contents
- What’s the point of intermittent fasting?
- A note on blood sugar levels
- Special precautions
- How intermittent fasting works
- What an intermittent fasting schedule looks like
- Types of intermittent fasting
- But won’t I be hungry?
- But isn’t eating breakfast really important?
- How to do intermittent fasting with type 1 diabetes
- Frequently asked questions
- Why I love intermittent fasting as a mom
- Final thoughts: should you try intermittent fasting?
What’s the point of intermittent fasting?
There are three general reasons a person with type 1 diabetes might want to pursue intermittent fasting.
Weight loss
This is the most obvious and most common reason to give it a try.
Simplicity
Reducing the number of hours each day that you have to think about food, track food, make decisions around food, and cook food can be really freeing. Instead of frantically and unexpectedly skipping meals because of a hectic schedule, intermittent fasting allows you to strategically and methodically skip eating during certain parts of your day.
Energy
Once you get going, and you’re no longer worrying about how hungry you’ll feel, this approach to eating can actually give you quite a boost of energy. This is because your body will be burning fat for fuel instead of relying on sugar from your blood. Body fat is a substantial and long-lasting source of energy, providing a more sustained energy release compared to carbohydrates.
A note on blood sugar levels
Before we get started: If your blood sugar drops just because you don’t eat for a handful of hours, you’re taking too much basal (background) insulin via pump or injection. Talk to your certified diabetes care and education specialist (CDCES) or primary care physician about “basal testing.”
(Or check out the book Think Like a Pancreas by Gary Scheiner, MS, CDCES, and do the basal testing yourself.)
Basal testing consists of purposefully skipping a meal (or two) to see if your insulin keeps your blood sugar steady or if your blood sugar significantly rises or falls out of your personal goal range.
If it rises, you’re not getting enough basal insulin. If it falls, you’re getting too much.
Special precautions
Before we discuss the nuts and bolts of intermittent fasting, an important note: If you have diabetes and are thinking about trying this approach, speak with your healthcare team first.
They can help you with strategies to avoid potential complications such as hypoglycemia (low blood sugar), hyperglycemia (high blood sugar), dehydration, and diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA, a serious diabetes complication that can occur when blood sugar levels have been too high).
They can also assess if you have any conditions that increase your risk with intermittent fasting, advising whether you should avoid or postpone this approach. (The Association of Diabetes Care & Education Specialists [ADCES] has published four risk categories of fasting for people with diabetes.)
Those who have type 1 diabetes and are not in target range, for example, are considered very high risk.
How intermittent fasting works
When you wake up with an in-range blood sugar (ideally between 70 to 130 mg/dL as a person with type 1 diabetes — 130 mg/dL being on the higher end but offering some room for imperfection in a complex disease) and you don’t eat breakfast, which means you don’t take a bolus of insulin, your body will continue to burn fat for fuel.
This is because you have yet to introduce a new supply of glucose from food. You have yet to turn on that switch telling your body to rely on glucose for fuel instead of fat. The moment you eat or drink something containing calories, your body says, “All right! Now it’s time to burn glucose!”
Intermittent fasting takes advantage of this physiologic process by alternating periods of fasting with periods of eating.
What an intermittent fasting schedule looks like
There are a lot of different ways you can approach intermittent fasting, and after doing this myself for several years on and off, I’ve found I can flexibly create my own approach that feels most natural to me.
Types of intermittent fasting
There are a variety of different types of intermittent fasting, such as time-restricted fasting, overnight fasting, and alternate-day fasting. Here are three of the most popular fasting schedules, adapted from a guide to intermittent fasting by John Berardi, PhD, and colleagues:
24-hour fast
You eat dinner on Thursday (for example), and then you don’t eat again until dinner on Friday. This should generally only be performed once per week. (Read Dr. Berardi’s guide to see what happens if you do a 24-hour fast too often.)
16-hour fast
You eat dinner on Thursday (for example), and then you don’t eat again until 1 or 2 p.m. the next day. It’s important to note that you should still eat a normal day’s worth of calories during that 8-hour eating window.
If you’re trying to lose weight, that amount of calories might only be 1300 to 1600, but you still need to get your allotment of calories and nutrients while following a fasting program.
Periodic fast
You go 24 hours without eating, unrelated to your fasting or eating schedule throughout the rest of the week. I like using it when I know I’m going to be eating a really heavy meal (say, Thanksgiving dinner, pizza, Chinese food, etc.).
I’ve also used this when I know I’m going to be sitting in a car for a long time on a road trip, or if I know I’m going to be somewhere new with my kids and I really don’t want to risk any low or high blood sugars — I just want to remove diabetes from the equation as much as possible, so I’ll fast as long as I can that day.
If you search the web on intermittent fasting, you’ll find a range of perspectives. There are some people who emphasize that fasting for weight loss needs to coincide with very clean eating and attention to nutrition, while others say they fast all day and then eat pizza every night.
If you’re trying to lose weight (or generally improve your health), you’ll really want to lean toward the approach focusing on clean eating and attention to nutrition (with treat days planned, of course, for long-term success and adherence).
If you’re trying to maintain your weight, on the other hand, I think intermittent fasting offers some wiggle room for less healthy eating (although it’s still important not to overindulge for a variety of health reasons beyond weight).
During the holidays, for example, I often let my eating choices slide quite a bit compared to my normal routine, but I still follow a 16-hour or 24-hour fasting schedule most days of the week, so I don’t generally gain weight beyond a little carb-laden bloating and water retention.
But won’t I be hungry?
Guess what — it’s OK to be a little hungry. After you stop worrying about your belly not feeling full 24/7 and push through it (being sure to keep a close eye on your blood sugar levels), around 10 a.m., you might actually notice that you feel a little bit awesome. A little more clear-headed, a little more focused, maybe with even a little more energy.
Drink some water — it’s good for you anyway — and embrace that feeling of your body just being empty. Yes, there are many ways to lose weight by eating every 3 to 4 hours, but that’s not the only way to eat, and it’s not the only way to lose weight.
Are you someone who is always thinking about their next meal? Always snacking?
As Dr. Berardi explains, “Intermittent fasting can be helpful for in-shape people who want to really get lean without following conventional bodybuilding diets, or for anyone who needs to learn the difference between body hunger and mental hunger.”
If you’re an athlete or intense exerciser, you might find that you really need that morning fuel because of your athletic pursuits. And that’s OK! It just means that intermittent fasting isn’t for you.
But isn’t eating breakfast really important?
Eating breakfast can absolutely be a crucial part of weight loss and maintaining a healthy metabolism, but it’s not the only way, according to some experts.
“There haven’t been any conclusive studies that found eating breakfast to have a positive effect on weight loss or weight maintenance,” explained sports nutritionist and registered dietitian Leslie Bonci, MPH, RDN, CSSD, LDN, in Popular Science in 2017.
Also, the idea that skipping breakfast causes weight gain is oversimplified and not necessarily true. It may not be the act of skipping breakfast itself that can cause weight gain. In studies that have observed this effect, a large majority of those who skipped breakfast also lacked other healthy habits overall, which may instead have resulted in the weight gain.
“It could be that eating breakfast is simply a marker of a healthy lifestyle and, in itself, doesn’t protect against obesity,” explains a 2016 article on the website ScienceAlert.
And more recent research has continued to present mixed results on the importance of breakfast for weight management.
A 2019 systematic review and meta-analysis (analysis of data from several studies) published in The BMJ indicated that the impact of breakfast on weight and energy intake varied. This study, which looked at several randomized controlled trials, suggested that there wasn’t a clear-cut effect of eating or skipping breakfast on weight loss.
The results indicated that the general recommendation to eat breakfast might not have a universal impact on weight management. These findings highlight the complexity of dietary habits and their effects on weight, suggesting that individual dietary preferences and lifestyle choices play a significant role in weight-management strategies.
How to do intermittent fasting with type 1 diabetes
First off, be sure to get the all-clear from your doctor before you give intermittent fasting a try when living with any type of diabetes.
As you adapt to intermittent fasting, you may find a sense of mental freedom, especially if you have type 1 diabetes. This is because there’s less concern about experiencing high or low blood sugar levels after skipping breakfast.
Based on my experience, the awesome part of this for people with type 1 is that your blood sugar will likely be steady all morning long, until you end your fast by eating at 11 a.m. or 2 p.m. or dinnertime (depending on which fasting schedule you follow).
I’ve also found that if I do a 24-hour fast before a carb-heavy meal like pizza, the fasting cuts down significantly on the insulin I need for that meal.
If you stick to your fasting program consistently, you’ll likely find you lose weight and therefore increase your insulin sensitivity. This means you’ll be able to decrease your basal insulin rates, which is a good thing.
This is part of weight loss with diabetes, but if you aren’t expecting it, you’ll be annoyed and frustrated with the low blood sugars, so be prepared.
How to adjust high or low blood sugar when fasting
Waking up with an in-range blood sugar is extremely helpful, but obviously, we’re not perfect and things happen. Here’s how to manage your plan for fasting if your blood sugar is not in your ideal range when you wake up:
- If you wake up a little high, sure, you can take a reduced correction dose (read Think Like a Pancreas or speak with your healthcare team for more information on determining your correction dose) and carry on with the fast, but be aware that introducing that bolus of insulin could be enough to switch on your body’s need to burn glucose for fuel.
- For legitimate “dawn phenomenon” high blood sugars, you may simply need a bolus correction of insulin every morning that really is part of your “basal” insulin dose but is applied via pump or injection as a bolus. If this prevents morning fasting highs, it’s part of your fasting regimen. Learn more about managing the “dawn phenomenon” here.
- If you don’t take that correction dose of insulin, then you’re just spending the next several hours with a high blood sugar, which is counterproductive (and potentially dangerous) if our overall goal is health … right? So, definitely take the insulin you need in order to be at your target blood sugar levels — that’s your first priority.
- If you wake up low, then you obviously have to eat and fasting is no longer going to work. You’d be better off eating a healthy breakfast, fueling your metabolism since it’s already burning glucose for fuel, and trying again tomorrow.
- Similarly, if you develop hypoglycemia during a fast, break the fast immediately and use your hypoglycemia treatment plan to bring your levels back into target range.
- If you routinely wake up with blood sugars that are too high or too low, you need to go back and do some basal testing or test the insulin-to-carbohydrate ratios that you’re using for the food you eat before bed.
- An additional sneaky blood sugar issue to keep in mind: If this applies to you, it’s necessary to stop binge eating late at night. If you’re currently up at midnight eating yourself out of house and home, focus on this first before pursuing intermittent fasting. People often blame high blood sugars in the morning on the dawn phenomenon when it’s actually the result of late-night binge-eating.
It’s not a magic trick. It’s not a fad. It’s just basic science of how the body responds in a fasted state.
Exercising in the morning when fasting … is actually easier (in my experience)
When you’re fasting during your exercise, your blood sugar isn’t going to burn up and drop — this is a good thing! Exercising while fasting (which means you did not just take a bolus of insulin for food or a high blood sugar) is easier because your body will burn body fat for fuel instead of glucose.
I didn’t believe it either when I first learned this from the bodybuilders at my gym many years ago, but in my experience, it works.
You will likely find that with weightlifting or other anaerobic workouts, your blood sugar will possibly rise during a fasted workout, which means you might actually need a bolus of insulin for that type of workout.
This will not take away from your fasted efforts — this simply helps use the glucose that’s produced when glycogen stored in your muscles is broken down during anaerobic exercise.
I LOVE fasted cardio! In fact, I make sure that all of my exercise sessions happen either fasted in the morning or fasted in the evening (by not eating anything after 1 p.m. and then getting on the treadmill around 7 p.m.).
This ensures that all bolused rapid-acting insulin is well out of my system. It works. When I used to lift weights, I did find that I needed 1 unit of insulin in the morning if I was doing a fasted weightlifting workout.
So in a nutshell:
- Wake up with an in-range blood sugar (or correct a slight high with half of your usual correction);
- Begin your workout while fasted;
- Check your blood sugar halfway through your workout for safety’s sake;
- If your anaerobic workout proves to typically raise your blood sugar, take half of what you would take to correct that high — but take it when you start exercising to prevent the high in the first place;
- If your workout is aerobic (cardio), just continue your workout — you shouldn’t see a rise in blood sugar from aerobic fasted exercise;
- Check your blood sugar at the end;
- Shower (thank you), and enjoy the rest of your fasting.
Frequently asked questions
Is intermittent fasting safe for people with type 1 diabetes?
For people with any type of diabetes, attempts to try intermittent fasting should be done only with the guidance and feedback of your physician.
In many cases, it appears to be safe. But you need to speak with your healthcare team to make sure that you don’t have any other conditions for which intermittent fasting is contraindicated and that your insulin doses and medications are properly tuned.
For people with type 2 diabetes who typically take morning medications to lower blood sugar, it’s advisable to consult with your doctor about taking the medication with the first meal of the day instead of the usual morning schedule if you’re planning to fast in the morning.
With your doctor’s OK, this adjustment can help you better manage blood sugar levels in accordance with the altered eating schedule.
For people with type 1, as discussed extensively above, your insulin doses should be finely tuned (even if you don’t ever plan to fast) so that you can miss meals and your blood sugar is generally steady and in a healthy range.
Adjusting your insulin doses to meet this standard is called “basal testing.” If you’ve never done any basal testing to assess the accuracy of your personal insulin doses, definitely do that first. And do it even if you don’t ever intend to fast. It’s essential to diabetes management.
During your first week of fasting, check your blood sugar often during your fasting window to see how your body responds. If you stick with it long-term, you’ll likely find you will need to reduce your basal rates (even within a week or two) because intermittent fasting has the fantastic benefit of increasing your sensitivity to insulin.
What can you drink during intermittent fasting?
During the timeframe that you’re not eating calories, you shouldn’t be drinking any calories either. Black coffee or tea or water or seltzer (or diet soda, if you must) are all safe to drink.
In general, I don’t encourage the consumption of drinks loaded with artificial sweeteners. Drinks like Vitaminwater, even the sugar-free version, still contain calories. Read your labels carefully, and ideally, ditch the “diet” products for some all-natural plain water.
Be sure to drink enough water to avoid dehydration, one of the more common risks of intermittent fasting.
Do you need to do intermittent fasting if you already follow a ketogenic diet?
You’re obviously going to be burning more fat than the rest of us after eating a ketogenic breakfast, but even some of that breakfast will be converted to glucose and require a bit of insulin to digest, so intermittent fasting still applies to keto-folks, too.
Adding fasting to an already disciplined ketogenic diet will definitely help your weight-loss progress.
Just beware, however, that if you don’t already understand how to eat enough on a ketogenic diet, adding fasting to the mix can be a recipe for a binge during the eating period of your fasting plan.
I highly recommend studying and practicing ketogenic eating for a few months before adding fasting to it. It’s very common for new low-carb eaters to eat too little because they are still afraid of eating too much fat. (And fat, as you’ve probably heard, is a pretty crucial part of a successful ketogenic diet.)
Why I love intermittent fasting as a mom
I can wake up in the morning, drink a cup of black coffee and guzzle some regular ol’ water, then pack our bags and head out the door to the playground or playgroup or the library. I can chase my kids around all morning long and I don’t have to worry about my blood sugar.
If I woke up at 90 mg/dL, I know my blood sugar is still in that zone.
I don’t have to spend any time making my own breakfast. Or trying to find the time to make my own breakfast. I don’t have to worry about getting real, healthy food into my own belly until we come home from our morning activity, and I get the kids lunch and get everybody settled.
(If you’re not a mom of two children, let me tell you that finding time for your own breakfast is actually incredibly challenging some days amongst the diaper changes and the bottles and playtime and the … on and on and on! When that second kid pops out, parenting is ON in full-power mode, 24/7.)
By 1 or 2 p.m., I’m not starving, and I actually feel pretty energized after that morning fast. And making myself a healthy meal feels very doable because the busiest part of the day is behind us.
Final thoughts: should you try intermittent fasting?
If all of the above sounds appealing to you, talk to your doctor about giving it a try! (And remember that intermittent fasting won’t be appropriate or effective for everyone with type 1.)
A few things to keep in mind when embracing intermittent fasting with type 1 diabetes:
- Do you currently have a healthy relationship with food? If not, I would address that first. Fasting is not ideal for the yo-yo dieter or someone trying to recover from an eating disorder. Check out my books Emotional Eating With Diabetes or Dealing With Diabetes Burnout to get started.
- Take good notes! The first week you try fasting, write down the insulin you took before bed, what your blood sugar was in the a.m., etc., so you can pinpoint any diabetes-related variables that are causing lows or highs in your blood sugar during the fasting period. For example: If you’re still up at midnight eating chips and ice cream, you can absolutely bet that will raise your blood sugar during the hours of 6 a.m. to 12 p.m. when you’re fasting. Some people blame the dawn phenomenon for what is actually late-night binge eating.
- During the first few fasts, check your blood sugar often. Even though fasting itself shouldn’t cause low blood sugars, your insulin doses simply might not be appropriate. And nothing will reveal that sooner than fasting. Check your blood sugar often and take good notes. Learning how to study and adjust your insulin doses is a crucial part, I believe, of long-term success in life with type 1 diabetes.
- It doesn’t have to be done 100% to benefit you: If I wake up and feel really hungry and genuinely feel an intense need to eat, then I listen to my body, and I eat breakfast. If I want to go out to breakfast (once in a blue moon) with my family, then I eat breakfast. It’s not a big deal! Make it work for you. Follow the program as much as you can, and don’t freak out when life gets in the way.
- You may find it useful to embrace fasting for a few months, then go back to a normal schedule. I’ve found that intermittent fasting has been really wonderful for me for several months at a time. Then I take a break from it for a couple of months, and eventually I naturally feel ready to follow that schedule again. Listen to your body and find what works for you.
- Be patient. If you fail a day of fasting because you gave in and ate one of those darn office muffins, relax. I’m a big believer that creating your own life around nutrition is a very long work in progress. Be constantly open to evolving, learning, trying new things, and never never never shaming yourself for being imperfect. It’s one big science project. Enjoy the project, stop punishing yourself, and learn to love the food you eat. Food can be fun, even when you’re trying to lose weight!
Learn. Study. Experiment. Repeat!
Update: I recorded this video in which I talk more about why I do fasted cardio, how I do it, and the benefits. Please let me know what you think in the comments below.
Liz H
This article is really helpful and informative- thank you!
Quick question: I’m in the early stages of figuring out appropriate modifications during fasting. Because of this, I need to have a juice box or something to help me in a brief hypo spell.
Is this detrimental to my fast? Does this signal to my body that my fast is over? I would think no because there is a limited amount of glucose to process (the juice box only), but I was worried that it screwed up my body’s ability to continue breaking down fat for energy. What are your thoughts?
Ginger Vieira
Hi liz,
Yes, technically having the juice-box breaks the fast and your body is burning glucose for fuel.
Personally, if I wake up with a mild low BG (50 to 80), I know I can actually do nothing and my dawn phenomenon will bring it back up to a stable number within the hour.
If I have a low blood sugar later in the morning, then I know a) my fast is over and I should just eat breakfast and b) that my insulin doses need some adjustment!
Let me know if that’s helpful.
At the end of the day, it’s no big deal if a day’s fasting or here there gets screwy because of lows. Our first priority is to manage our blood sugar. You don’t have to do IF perfectly every day to get the benefits.
At this point in my life, I actually DON’T fast because it just doesn’t feel like a good fit right now. This is one of many approaches to nutrition and it can be great for some, or great for some period of time. Listen to your body and see how it goes!
Sara
I’m going to share this article with my mother, who is 70 yrs old and was confirmed Type 1 when she was 9 yrs old. She would like to try IF as she’s seen my great results (50lb loss) over the past year along with the other related health benefits. I am not diabetic though. If you can recommend any literature, we’d appreciate it.
Sara
I follow an IF podcast that I believe you should be featured on!
Ginger Vieira
Hi Sara! Cool! Send that podcast a link to my article and suggest they reach out to me at Ginger.Vieira@gmail.com 🙂 Thanks for reading and for thinking of me!
Christel Oerum
We link to some different literature in the article. All blue text indicates that it’s a link and you can click on it to be taken to the source
Abdulla alsuwaidi
Hi
thanks for your information it was really nice . I started the IF recently , I checked my weight and I found that I loose about 700 gram within one week but as you know with insulin maybe its need more time .
I have noticed that it all about cutting out the calories … am I right ?
Christel Oerum
Yes, I would agree with that conclusion. There is one newer study that indicates the actual fasting timeframe might also be of importance but overall it comes down to your calorie balance
Darrel Whiteley
I have had Type I for over 40 years, and have gained weight slowly but surely over the years. I got up to over 230lbs. I now have continuous monitoring with feedback to my pump and have been able to lose weight again. Down about 20 lbs over last two years with the 670G. and doctor believes/knew i would have My H1AC has been running 6.5 to 6.9 the last two years. I looked at my insulin patterns and have had multiple periods of 90 to 120 minutes the past few days with no basal insulin because my blood sugar is in such good control. With this IF program I might be able to go from minutes to hours with no basal and burn fat. I’m so excited by this article, and it’s given me the reason to try it out! Thanks!
Alyssa Tulman Bruner
Every comment that I read has to do with people who are still on shots. How does this work for someone on an insulin pump? I have a medtronic 670g which allows for me to go into automode. I have a CGM so I’m not too concerned about counts dropping as I have an alarm that goes off. I just started looking into IF as I have been doing paleo for about 8 months and have seen very little for weight loss results. I have Hashimotos and PCOS as well. I’ll be honest; this is quite daunting as it contradicts everything I have been taught in the last 20 years of my diabetes journey ?.
Thank you for this article!
Ginger Vieira
Hi Alyssa!
So, I’m afraid I personally don’t have any wisdom on doing IF with the 670g. I do know several friends in the diabetes community are working on trying to “hack” the device to gain more control over certain details for exactly situations like this!
Meanwhile, I want to add that IF isn’t necessarily for everyone. With Hashimotos and PCOS, maybe IF isn’t right for you? I can tell you personally that IF was great for me for a certain time in life….but it doesn’t feel beneficial or “good” right now for me.
There are SO many ways to help the body drop body fat, and this is just one way.
I hope this is helpful — let me know what you think!
–Ginger
A
Are dosages of insulin enough to stop your body’s ability to stay in fat burn mode? I.e. there are some meals I have when I need insulin a few hours after I eat. I have consulted my endo and its just a case of how my body digests certain food. For example I will have dinner at 7 but need a few doses at 10pm to combat a rise. Even though my calorie intake ended at 7pm do I need to start fasting after my bolus dose? Sorry for the question. This is literally the only helpful information I can find on fasting and type one.
Ginger Vieira
Hi there!
We all need insulin in our body 24 hours a day to stay alive — including those without diabetes. So your fasting begins after your last meal. YOu may still need small doses of insulin during your fasting window. For example, I know that my body needs 1 unit of insulin as soon as I wake up in the morning, and another unit of insulin 3 hours later if I am skipping breakfast in order to fast until 1pm.
Let me know if this answers your question fully.
Ed
I’m not on a pump right now, but I am on a CGM, how do I figure out when and how much to take and how to adjust? I take 60 of Lantus at night and a carb ratio of 1:10. Do I adjust the Lantus when you’re talking about adjusting my basal rate?
Thanks,
Ed
Ginger Vieira
Hi Ed! Correct — Lantus is your basal insulin. (I’m on shots and Lantus, too!)
-Ginger
Nastia Rodriguez-Vale
My husband and I started intermittent fasting for weight loss and all other health benefits. I’ve read that fasting is not recommended for children, though I personally don’t see the big deal of just skipping breakfast for the health benefits such as energy, alertness and mental clarity. What are your thoughts? My son is 10yrs old and type 1 diabetic. Most mornings he doesn’t want breakfast, but my fear of him dropping or losing weight won’t allow me to let him skip it. I really want the health benefits. What do you think? He would end up doing a 16hr fast by the time lunch comes around. If not safe, at what age would this be appropriate? Thank you so much for the article.
Ginger Vieira
Hi Nastia!
I would NOT recommend fasting for a child or young adult. His body is GROWING so much. He needs FUEL. His body needs so much more fuel than your body as an adult. You are just maintaining your bones and muscles. His body is GROWING those bones and muscles. And his BRAIN. His body needs food — especially breakfast.
Let me know if you have any other thoughts on this!
Ginger
Ashwin
Hii,
This is Ashwin, T1D from past 25 years.I starting doing IF from past 2.5 weeks after reading about it for ages and trying multiple times without success. I have chronic constipation and bloating however i had no relief on that through IF. Sugars seems to look better but overall energy levels are yet to pick up. Brain Fog is still there. I know it varies for an individual but still want to know how long do i have to motor through to see energy upswing and stomach comfort. Wishing IF to be magic wand! please dont disappoint me
Ginger Vieira
Ashwin!
You know, Intermittent Fasting is not a cure-all for anything. It’s just one approach to nutrition, and it’s definitely not for everyone. For some, it can really increase cortisol and growth hormone and create stress in the body rather than relieve it.
It sounds like IF may not be a great choice for you. And personally, I found that it worked well for a while but isn’t something I love doing now.
Other things you coudl look at though: have you removed GLUTEN from your diet?
Your brain fog and upset stomach sounds like a gluten intolerance to me.
I would recommend removing gluten for at least 3 weeks, see how you feel, and then add it back in and..see how you feel!
Here’s an article on DiabetesStrong about gluten: https://diabetesstrong.com/gluten-and-diabetes/
Let me know what you think!
Adrienne
Hi Ginger! Thank you so much for all of this awesome info! I am just starting with my IF journey and also take lantus and humalog. Just wondering, do you take lantus first thing in the morning or do you take it in the evening? I know we are just trying to mimic a normal pancreas with the insulin we take but I don’t want to mess up the fasting that I am doing! Thanks again!
Ginger Vieira
Hi Adrienne!
For me — whether I’m practicing IF or not — I do best when I take my Lantus as night. If I take it in the morning, I run into much higher and more stubborn blood sugars because we are already more insulin resistant in the morning due to hormones, so taking my Lantus at night means I have an good active dose working in my system by morning.
I do, however, also take 1-unit of insulin almost every morning as soon as I wake up in the morning — also to counteract those morning hormones! If I don’t take it, I’ll easily wind up at 250 mg/dL an hour or two after waking up.
If I’m doing IF and skipping breakfast, I find I usually need another 1-unit of insulin around 9 or 10 a.m. too!
I hope that helps! Holler back with any other questions!
Dodo
Hi Ginger. Finally someone suffering form my problem.
If I wake up with very good at 70-90 mg/dl, as soon as I start moving out of bet, it jumps up to 250 mg/dL. I thought this was the liver producing glucagon, so i tried eating a very minimal thing as soon as I open my eyes (an almond), but it doesn’t stop the rise.
I am a huge fan of IF and love to do it starting 6pm till 11 am the next day. Again, 2 hrs after my 6 pm meal I have good blood sugar, then by 11pm of 5hrs IF, I find it 370 mg/dL.
Note that i take 22 units of Levemir at night.
Do you have any suggestion to try? I am desperate to lose a few pounds and doing my best but it’s not working.
Thanks in advance 🙂
Ginger Vieira
Hi Dodo!
Eating an almond isn’t gonna fix it, I’m afraid.
But the solution is easy: you need to take 1 unit of insulin as soon as you wake up. The EXACT same BG spike happens to me (and many other active T1 women I know). I just take 1 unit of novolog as soon as I wake up…UNLESS I’m low (for a mild low, I actually don’t even treat it, I just let my liver bring it up OR if I took insulin earlier in the middle of the night to correct a high.
Let me know what you think of that approach!
It doesn’t interfere with the benefits of IF because you’re simply giving your body the insulin it would’ve given itself if you weren’t diabetic.
Nancy
I’m researching IF (PWD Type 1 for 11 years) to try to drop a few extra pounds that menopause has so kindly bestowed upon me… I was SO happy to stumble upon this particular topic of high morning blood sugars because this is exactly what I’ve been dealing with and it is SO frustrating!!! So happy to know that it’s not “just me” and that I’m not alone! Thanks so much Ginger!!
AP
This was extremely helpful — thank you! I am curious as to how often T1Ds fast? I know you referenced a 24 hour fast as something to do maybe once a week if not less, but what about a 12-16 hour fast? Thanks for all the knowledge and information!
Christel Oerum
There should be no reason why you couldn’t do a 12-16 hour fast on a daily basis
Mattie
What about the long acting insulin we have to take. I take tresiba in the mornings. Does this consider my fast to be broken? Thank you!
Christel Oerum
You should still take your insulin, long as well as rapid-acting, and you’ll still be doing Intermittent Fasting. Just be aware that your basal needs might decrease so keep an eye on that and adjust if needed
Lisa
I normally have a diet mt dew as my morning “coffee”. can this be done if i’m fasting 16 hours (dinner through lunch). They have me take a 13 carb bolus b/c the caffeine was raising my blood sugar (unless it was the not eating breakfast/liver/glyocen thing that i did not know but they knew my breakfast was basically sliced cheese).
Ginger Vieira
Hi Lisa!
A cup of black coffee during your fasting window is considered still fasting.
However, just because the nutrition label on Mountain Dew says zero carbs doesn’t mean it’s an equal replacement for black coffee.
Lisa
So no Diet dew ? I don’t drinks coffee.
Christel Oerum
If you enjoy diet Mountain Dew you can, it’s not breaking your fast. But if you go high you need to dose for it
Monica Valenzuela
I got diabetes type 1 three years ago (I am 59 ), I don’t have thyroid and also have arthritis.
My weight is about 84 pounds (Height 5’2, I ‘m very petite) and I eat a lot, very well. I take lantus by morning and humalog every meal, my Ac1 mostly high, especially when my Tsh Is High…. I want yo gain weight at the same time lower my glucose… very sensitive to carbs…. what can I do? Is intermittent fasting 8/16 Is good for me? My glucose Is usually high….
Ginger Vieira
Hi Monica!
I do not think intermittent fasting is a good fit for you. It sounds like you’re looking to gain weight, and it also sounds like your insulin doses need to be increased. I’d recommend talking to your healthcare team ASAP about making some small adjustments in your insulin doses to help bring your blood sugars down. You’ll feel better! Our insulin needs change easily and we need to constantly fine-tune them to get the blood sugars we want!