19th of MAY 2020 I had the pleasure of taking over the YADC Instagram page for there "Tuesday take over". I was actually asked if I would like to do it a few weeks prior but I wasn't confident enough.. things had changed over the following 2 weeks and I started to think, this is something that I really need to do to get my message out there to help give guidance and advice on a better way of managing type 1 diabetes, and that is via the implementation of a low-fat plant-based diet. so I reached out to Jake who is the chairman of the YADC to see if that offer was still available, which it pleasantly was :)
The day commenced for me at 5:30AM when my alarm went off, my plan for the day was to go for for a 3 - 4hr bike ride with a friend of mine up in the Perth hills up around Kalamunda, and then back home for the day to get through a bit of study and self-development course work.
upon awakening I filmed a few attempts at an introduction on myself and what my morning routine was. I finally filmed What I classified as a satisfying intro.
I documented the mobility and movement part of my morning routine with a short time-lapse, which then lead onto my morning hot beverage which consists of cocoa, maca powder, rice malt syrup, turmeric, cinnamon, and rice milk, the Carbohydrate content and my bolus of 1.5 units to cover 60g of CHO was noted and documented. I then proceeded to get ready for my ride and just before I leave I consume a banana dipped in date syrup, which later on turned out to be a bad idea and I struggled to lower my BGL.
15mins into the ride my BGL was 12.5 +/-, I chose to put a temp basal on at 150% for 90mins. When I ride in the hills I put 50 - 80g of table sugar in my water bottles to help fuel the high intensity, so the 150% basal is to help allow the glucose to enter the muscle cells. I checked BGLs again while riding about 30mins later and got a reading of 10.2 so I micro-dosed 0.2 units of insulin and continued on up into the Perth hills. I stopped again around 1.5 - 2hrs into the ride before the temp basal finished and checked my BGL, I got a reading of 9.4 so decided to adjust the temp basal to 180% for a further 90mins and microdose another 0.2 units of insulin to bring my BGL slightly lower while also allowing the uptake of the glucose during the ride which consisted of the sugar water, dried figs, and a muesli bar.
60mins goes by and I check my BGL again to see that it hasn't changed much so I decided to change the temp basal to 200% and continued on riding, heading back down to the flats of the Perth metro area. Finally got my BGL to come down to normal with my next test recording 7.4 and then the one after that 5.5. Temp basal removed and I started to consume a few dried figs at that point to stop or at least delay the dropping BGL, nearly home by that point following the bike path along the Midland train line, BGL started to stabilize so I continued on until I started feeling a bit odd.. oh no! I feel low, that dreaded feeling of going low finally showed its face 10mins from home, 2.8 was the reading so I consumed a Clif bar which is 45g of CHO. I got just around the corner from home to check my BGL once again to see that it had come up to 7.1, from that reading I decided to pre-bolus for my lunch and for 50% of the Clif bar that I consumed.
Once home I checked my BGL with a result of 4.7, lunch preparation started which consisted of 2 cups of brown rice, 1 can of four beans, tempeh, and mixed vegetables.
BGL checked before eating and I noticed I was rising even though I had not eaten yet, I got a result of 6.4 so put my lunch aside for 10mins and went to pack up and cleaned my bike, etc and came back to check my BGL which was 4.8 so it was then safe to eat lunch without the risk of spiking which may have happened if I had started eating before hand
For the remainder of the day I had a few hours of study to complete for the online nutrition course that I have been chipping away at for the past 10weeks, as well as finishing off some work from the content that my personal development coach had uploaded.
The next snack for the day was afternoon tea at 3pm which consisted of a smoothie with a whole array of ingredients
with a side of fruit which I did a pre-bolus for 50mins before eating, BGL control for the remainder of the day was ideal and that lead me into dinner which was a whole sweet potato, 400g worth, chickpea tempeh, and mixed vegetables. For the remainder of the evening leading to bedtime I did some reading while listening to some calming music to help send me to sleep.
I hope you enjoyed the read and if you tuned into the Instagram takeover on the day hopefully you gained a better in-site into the methods I use to manage type 1 diabetes.
don't forget to subscribe
Ben