Why you should up your antioxidants if you live with type 1 diabetes
Why do people like me (nutritionists!) always bang on about these little powerhouse compounds?
What’s the deal with antioxidants?
Why do people like me (nutritionists!) always bang on about these little powerhouse compounds?
Let me explain.
There's a balance between oxidants and antioxidants inside our body.
Oxidants – are produced due to oxidative stress and include things like Reactive Oxygen Species i.e. free radicals, which you’ve probably heard of.
Oxidative stress in the body can be caused by things many things i.e. micronutrient deficiencies, pollution, immune responses to an infection, high and low blood sugars (this is pertinent!).
Oxidative stress can be balanced out by our own internal antioxidant system and antioxidants we eat.
Antioxidants – compounds that can protect your cells from damage caused by potentially harmful molecules known as free radicals (think of them as coming along and ‘mopping up’ the free radicals).
If you live with T1D, it’s impossible to keep your blood sugars in range ALL THE TIME – you will have some highs and lows. That’s why it’s important to get lots of antioxidant-rich foods into your diet.
Antioxidants = fruits and vegetables! Specifically, phytonutrients found in the pigmentation. This is where eat the rainbow comes from (a cliché, but you can see why now!)
Aim to get as many different colours as possible
Red (apples, tomatoes, radish)
Orange/yellow (carrots, mangoes, turmeric, papaya, sweetcorn)
Greens (spinach, sprouts, watercress, broccoli, peas)
Blue/purple (blueberries, beetroot, aubergine, grapes)
White/black (cauliflower, coconut, parsnips, black garlic)
Which colour are you going to focus on this week?
5 ways to manage the dawn phenomenon if you live with type 1 diabetes
From my work with T1D clients (+ my own experience), I know just how tricky breakfast can be in terms of increased insulin resistance (thank you dawn phenomenon!). Here are 5 tips you can implement today!
Beth Edwards Nutrition | Dawn phenomenon | type 1 diabetes | breakfast | blood sugar balance
How to manage the dawn phenomenon
Virtual show of hands: who feels mornings can be the trickiest time of day to get a handle on blood glucose levels? Who also feels the morning rush of doing all the real life things that gotta be done, and wishing blood glucose just played ball so you can get on more easily?
If this is you, you're not alone. Managing mornings (the dreaded dawn phenomenon) comes up in the Beth Edwards Nutrition clinic a lot. I near enough discuss it with every 1:1 client who walks through my Zoom meeting room.
It's a tricky time of day with our normal circadian rhythms giving us a dose of stress hormones to get us up and out, but this indirectly raising glucose levels can be unhelpful for the t1ds among us.
Adopting a holistic, 360 approach is the way I play it. This covers all bases. But it can feel relentless work, and I get that. So let’s break it down into easier chunks - here are 5 nutritionist-approved tips you can adopt today!
1) Pre-bolus
Ensure you pre-bolus your insulin before eating breakfast. We know that ‘quick-acting’ insulin isn’t all that quick, and it needs at least 15 minutes to activate. You may find you need to try different lengths of time to establish the best pre-bolus for you (+ this may be different for each meal, too!). For further specific guidance, please see a detailed post I wrote on Instagram.
2) Movement
Do some gentle movement in the morning. We know that movement is a great way to shuffle glucose into the cell (to be used for energy) and that this can happen in the absence of insulin! Try some gentle stretching, a morning stroll, some yoga or reiki. It doesn’t need to be a full on sweat. The key is consistency, so find something you enjoy!
3) Sleep
Where possible, aim to get between 7-9 hours of quality sleep each night. The benefits of sleep on health are endless and when it comes to type 1 diabetes, getting decent shut eye will lower morning cortisol levels (the stress hormone that drives up blood sugars) and improve glucose tolerance. Both are important to prevent those post-breakfast spikes - winning!
4) Balance your breakfast
And I don’t mean on one finger… eating a breakfast full of complex, low glycaemic load carbohydrates (whole grains, whole fruits, oats), good quality protein (eggs, clean protein powders, chia seeds) and healthy fats (nuts, seeds, flax, avocado) will ensure your plate is nice and balanced. Most typical Western breakfasts - cereals, toast and jam - are just carbohydrates. If you pair carbs with protein and fats, this will slow down the absorption of the carbs, reducing the post-meal spikes in blood glucose levels.
5) Eat dinner earlier
And consider avoiding late night snacks. This will increase the fasting window between meals, allowing your body to reset, your digestion to do its importance maintenance work and your insulin sensitivity to increase. It also means you won’t be going to bed with insulin on board, which makes blood sugar management a whole lot easier overnight - fewer CGM beeps and more chance of good-quality sleep (see point 3!).
So there we go, some top tips you can easily implement today to help you better manage and get on top of the dawn phenomenon. Let me know below - do you have any other T1D tried and tested tips?
Pret-style almond + coconut bites
These almond + coconut bites [resonant of Pret's] are often necessary to get me through Monday. If you are feeling similarly to me (in need of a little pick-me-up and feeling a mixture of joy and sadness that you can't spent lots of money on Pret's snack selection) then this recipe is for you.
Pret-style almond + coconut bites
These almond + coconut bites [resonant of Pret's] are often necessary to get me through Monday. If you are feeling similarly to me -
in need of a little pick-me-up and feeling a mixture of joy and sadness that you can't spent lots of money on Pret's snack selection -
I have the perfect recipe for you.
Ingredients:
- 200g almonds
- 2 tbsp runny honey or maple syrup
- 2 tbsp melted coconut oil or olive oil
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 100g unsweetened desiccated coconut
- 200g dark chocolate (70%)
How to:
Line a baking tray with baking parchment
Blitz the almonds in a food processor for 5 minutes
Add the honey or maple, the coconut oil, vanilla and a good pinch of sea salt and blitz for a few minutes
Add the desiccated coconut and blitz again until you have a rough dough-like mixture
Press the dough into the lined baking tray to even it out into a square about 2cm thick and place in the freezer for 5 minutes
Melt the chocolate in a bowl over a pan of gentle simmering water (make sure the bowl doesn’t touch the water)
Take the almond/coconut mixture out of the freezer and cut it into 24 bars
Place back into the freezer to chill
Once the chocolate has melted, take it off the heat and allow it to cool and thicken, stirring occasionally
Dip the bars into the melted choc using two forks, then lay them onto another lined baking sheet
Once all the bars are coated, place back in the freezer to set
I tend to store these in the freezer (wrapped in the used parchment).
Enjoy! Let me know if you’re also in need of a little snack-attack-pick-me-up!
How to eat breakfast without stepping on the blood sugar rollercoaster
Despite eating breakfast are you still getting hungry at 11am? Feeling like you’re on that blood sugar rollercoaster and want to get off it? Don’t worry - this is the blog post for you.
How to eat breakfast without stepping on the blood sugar rollercoaster
Despite eating breakfast, do your energy levels ever crash at 11am and you feel hungry again? Despite your best breakfast efforts, you just don’t feel like you’re ‘doing it right’?
I get it – it’s frustrating that you’ve fuelled up with breakfast, but then feel yourself reaching for the coffee and croissants mid-morning.
However, it doesn’t need to be this way. With a few simple tips and tricks, you’ll be able to create a breakfast that’s so nourishing, you won’t even be thinking of lunch until, well – lunchtime.
Yes, really!
I’ll share my number 1 top tip to keep blood sugars stable throughout the morning and finish up with a banging recipe to keep you fuller for longer.
The trio of glory (macros)
Any meal, but breakfast especially, needs to contain the three macronutrients:
- complex carbs (oats, berries)
- protein (chia seeds, Greek yogurt)
- healthy fats (flaxseed, nut butters)
The reason why? Well when we eat carbohydrates with protein and/or fat, the breakdown of carbs – into glucose is slowed down.
This means that glucose is absorbed into your blood streams at a slower rate too, giving you a steady stream of energy throughout the morning.
Winner!
The problem with Cheerios
The typical western breakfast is normally a carbohydrate-heavy breakfast, without any protein or fat – cereals with milk, toast with jam.
This means that the glucose from these carbohydrates is broken down super quickly and hits your bloodstream. This gives you an initial boost of energy, but this quickly wears off – hence the drop in blood sugars at 11am and the rising hangriness.
Blood sugar loving overnight oats
I’m a massive of fan of oats. They’re a great source of complex carbohydrates and fibre and if you want more #oatporn, follow me over on Instagram for regular pictures and recipes.
This is my go-to overnight oats recipe. It’s packed with nutrients, blood sugar loving foods and tastes pretty darn good too.
Ingredients
- 1 cup of oats
- 2 cups of plant milk (I like oat by Rude Health)
- Handful of frozen berries
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- Half a banana
- Dash of coconut oil
- 1 tbsp nut butter
Method
1. The night before, mix the oats, berries, milk and cinnamon in a bowl.
2. In the morning, add the coconut oil to a pan and gently fry off the banana until golden brown (approx. 3 mins on each side).
3. Top on to the oats with the nut butter.
4. Enjoy!
Ta da!
So there we go. My golden tip for eating breakfast like a queen, preventing that blood sugar rollercoaster and keeping you powered up ‘til lunchtime.
Meaning: more productivity in your morning and fewer growling tummies!