We Both Know That Diabetes Can Be Challenging

Living with diabetes can sometimes feel like you are pushing a rock up a mountain. The moment you get to the top the rock rolls down the other side and you have to start over again.

Doing this day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year and decade after decade can feel exhausting.

It does not matter how good or bad your day with diabetes has been, tomorrow you have to find the energy to do it all over again.

Click on the video to learn more about how I can help you with your diabetes.

Insulin Sensitivity

Eating a diet that is high in fat will reduce your insulin sensitivity and that means that the action of your insulin will become much less predictable and that makes your diabetes harder to manage.

It is true that genetic forms of diabetes, like type 1, LADA, type 1.5, and MODY are not caused by insulin resistance. However, the evidence shows that insulin resistance is an important factor in ALL types of diabetes.

You may have been taught to restrict your carbohydrates, or perhaps even that you can eat whatever you want provided you give the right amount of insulin for it. The problem is that the evidence shows us that diets that are high in fat and protein need significantly more insulin than diets that are based upon unrefined carbohydrates. The biggest problem here is that the additional insulin is needed  more than 150 mins after eating and the insulin resistnace from a high fat, high protein meal lasts for between 8-12 hours! And that might mean that your insulin requirements at the next meal are also affected.

The evidence suggests that insulin resistance  increases your risks of developiing complications of diabetes even your your blood glucose levels are great.

Even healthy fats make us resistant to insulin and the more deitary fat you eat the more resistant to insulin you become.Then the moment you eat carbohydrates your blood glucose climbs high and stays high and naturally you blame the carbohdyrates, but it is not their fault. You have set the stage for insulin resistance.

Sadly diets that are low in carbohydrates are, by definition, high in fat. Even healthy fats increase your insulin resistance.

Are You Sure?

I can hear your next question already, when I eat a carbohydrate restricted diet I need a lot less insulin, so my insulin sensitivity must be higher, right?

Yes, you need less insulin when you are follwoing a carbohydrate restricted diet, but that does not make you more sensitive to insulin. It simply means that you are avoiding carbohydrates to reduee your insulin dose.

It turns out that high levels of free fatty acids coming from your diet get storedin your liver and your muscles. These tissues are not 'designed' to store faty acids and when they do  this their ability metabolise insulin is reduced, in other words a low carbohydrate diet creates Insulin resistance.

Insuln resistance is an important predictor of all of the complications of diabetes, in ALL types of diabetes; having a great HbA1c may not be enough to protect you.

My name is Paul Coker, I have been living with type 1 diabetes for 44 years and I earned an MSc in Diabetes Practice (passed with Distinction) at Swansea University Medical School; my area of special interest is improving insulin sensitivity.

Does that make me an expert in your diabetes? No, not at all, your experience of diabetes is no doubt very different from my own; but it does mean that I understand the challenges that you face and I have both first-hand experience and a great academic background to help you achieve your diabetes management goals and I will always do this without any judgement or stigma.    

My aim is to give you more freedom to make better choices about how to manage your diabetes on your terms and to improve your quality of life. 

What is the Answer?

It turns out that if we focus on eating more unrefined carbohydrates that are low in dietary fat and high in fibre that we can significantly improve insulin sensitivity. Improved insulin sensitivity can make your insulin more predictable and that makes your diabetes much easier to live with.

I know that your diabetes is very individual to you, so the real question is can this work for you?

Find out what others who have followed this coaching system have to say. I mostly work with people that have to say.

I focus on on helping people with type 1 diabetes, but I also have clients with type 2 diabetes who have seen massive benefits too.

This is not a fad diet, it is not about replacing real food with supplements, it is not about milkshakes. This is about eating more food than you can imagine, all of it tasty, delicious and available from your local shops. You can do this and still lose weight, if that is one of your goals.