The Honest Version
I do low carb. A lot of the time, it works well for my blood sugars. Less glucose in, more predictable response, less need for large insulin doses, fewer of the dramatic swings that come from high-carb meals.
That’s the case for it. And it’s a genuine case.
But here’s the part that doesn’t get talked about as much: low carb eating with T1D can also put me off eating entirely. It can make me eat as little as possible. It can trigger the food-fear pattern I’ve described elsewhere — the sense that eating is a risk, that carbs specifically are a threat, that the safest option is to not engage with food at all.
And it can go the other way too. The restriction builds until it doesn’t hold anymore, and then comes a carb binge. The thing I was avoiding, eaten in large quantities, partly out of hunger and partly out of the particular frustrated anger that restriction produces. That feeling of missing out — of watching other people eat freely while I calculate — that can tip into resentment toward the condition. A quiet, bitter “fuck this.”
The Emotional Reality Of Food Restriction With T1D
T1D already complicates your relationship with food. Adding a significant restriction layer on top of that complication requires careful management — not just of the blood sugar, but of the emotional relationship with eating.
The freedom that low carb can provide — fewer spikes, more predictable management, less insulin — is real. And for many T1Ds, the predictability it offers is worth the restriction.
But the restriction has a cost. The meals you’re not eating. The social situations where you’re calculating while everyone else is eating freely. The persistent low-level resentment at yet another thing the condition has taken from your relationship with food.
That cost doesn’t mean low carb is wrong for T1D. It means it needs to be approached with as much awareness of its emotional effects as its physiological ones.
What’s Changed
It’s nowhere near as bad as it used to be. Not because my blood sugars are radically different, or because the restriction has become easier to maintain. But because I’ve done a hell of a lot of work on myself.
The emotional relationship with food — the fear, the restriction, the binging, the resentment — has shifted as the broader relationship with the condition has shifted. As I’ve become more accepting of the condition, more able to separate my self-worth from my management, more able to approach food with curiosity rather than fear — the food relationship has become less fraught.
It’s still complicated. T1D makes food complicated. But complicated is not the same as impossible, and it’s not the same as it was.
Finding The Balance
Low carb with T1D works best when it’s approached as a tool rather than a rule. When it serves you rather than controls you. When the physiological benefit is real and the emotional cost is manageable.
If low carb is producing a restriction-binge cycle, or significant food fear, or a worsening of your relationship with eating generally — it’s worth talking to your diabetes team and considering whether the approach needs adjusting.
The goal is blood sugar management that supports your quality of life — including your relationship with food. A management approach that improves your numbers but damages your relationship with eating is not a net positive.
Want Deeper Support?
Ready to shift from resistance to empowerment? Counting carbs can be a minefield and you can become so bogged down by it, that becomes your life. I’ve been there countless times, and I’m here to help fellow T1Ds help themselves remember who they are using simple and supported mindset shifts. Book a free Discovery Call today to find out more about what I do.
Yours as always,
Pete
