Anecdotal, but a Keto diet has completely flatlined my BG — in a very good way. I’m talking about being in the range of 4.8 to 5.8 for weeks on end. My endocrinologist thinks I’m a wizard and has never seen anyone with 100% in range.
I also love that I never have to bolus with food. It’s the closest I can get to pretending I’m not a T1D. I just eat. If I’m full, I stop and don’t have to worry that I accidentally took too much insulin. To reiterate, I take zero boluses when I’m on the keto diet.
Doctors are against it because they’re dealing with ketoacidosis on a regular basis. Ketosis also means your body is producing ketones (which I believe is the source of confusion for doctors), but that’s fine because your BG is in a normal range. Technically you’re at higher risk for ketoacidosis when on the keto diet because of those ketones, but realistically your BG is not going to reach >15mmol/L so you don’t have to worry too much.
By the way, you may be interested in Loop[0] if you wanted to look at a more advanced closed loop system. It can handle both auto basal and auto bolusing.
> To reiterate, I take zero boluses when I’m on the keto diet.
I'm very surprised by this and would love to hear what you eat while doing keto. I'm T1 but still have to bolus when doing keto, even when doing zero carb and fasting for 18+ hours a day. I only need between 1 and 3 units but there's rarely an occasion when I don't need to bolus at all.
> Doctors are against it because they’re dealing with ketoacidosis on a regular basis.
The issue my endo has is that my BG is much lower than he would like. I've heard the phrase "too well controlled" so many times and it irritates me no end. His concern is that I'll lose awareness of low BG, and can't comprehend how I'm able to function as usual even when my BG is ~2.5 mmol/l (to clarify - I don't aim to run that low; my target range is 4-6).
Could you please share a bit more information about the insulin (kind, amount) you use during the keto diet? and how did you discover the right amount of insulin?
It seems to me, if one would let the insulin slip too low, one would be in danger of ketoacidosis, isn't that so?
I also love that I never have to bolus with food. It’s the closest I can get to pretending I’m not a T1D. I just eat. If I’m full, I stop and don’t have to worry that I accidentally took too much insulin. To reiterate, I take zero boluses when I’m on the keto diet.
Doctors are against it because they’re dealing with ketoacidosis on a regular basis. Ketosis also means your body is producing ketones (which I believe is the source of confusion for doctors), but that’s fine because your BG is in a normal range. Technically you’re at higher risk for ketoacidosis when on the keto diet because of those ketones, but realistically your BG is not going to reach >15mmol/L so you don’t have to worry too much.
By the way, you may be interested in Loop[0] if you wanted to look at a more advanced closed loop system. It can handle both auto basal and auto bolusing.
[0]: https://loopkit.github.io/loopdocs/