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Ok I'm a type 1 diabetic and have been for almost 25 years now. Paleo + Crossfit has put me in the greatest shape of my life. I've lost 55 lbs (from 195lbs two years ago to 140lbs today.) I'm faster and Stronger than ever. At times I have a hard time keeping my blood glucose levels up (believe it or not) especially on rest weeks that I'm not beating the high intensity tar out of myself. So how do I figure out how much of this is attributed to my insulin medication and how much if any is naturally occurring? The amount of insulin I take now is so low it is unreal.

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Have no idea other than Paleo low carb is good to control blood sugars (Dr. Bernstein) but CONGRATULATIONS! That is awesome. – henny Jun 17 2011 at 6:19
What is your total daily insulin dose? How many grams per day of carbohydrate do you consume? Are you using an insulin pump? – Nasty Brutish and Short Jun 17 2011 at 19:21
no pump. Injections at meals. 22 units of levemir in the am and 4 units of levemir at bed time and 1 to 2 units of novolog at each meal. Meals are mostly lots of lean meat and veggies. I'll eat a sweet potato after a WOD and rarely have an open meal. – Caveman formally known as Dan Jun 17 2011 at 21:17
Thanks. How much insulin were you taking when you weighed 195 lbs? I'm a 175 lb Type 1 diabetic. I eat low carb but I'm only moderately active so I take 45 units of NPH and 4 units of Humalog per day. When I was eating high carb I was taking 4X as much Humalog. – Nasty Brutish and Short Jun 17 2011 at 21:39
BTW I'm a bit concerned that your sugar is lower on rest days. Normally workouts improve insulin sensitivity rather than diminish it. Maybe you're overdoing it with the training and the cortisol is affecting your metabolism? – Nasty Brutish and Short Jun 17 2011 at 21:49
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That's all awesome, but if you're type I, there's no reason to believe that your pancreas will be miraculously fixed. Even if you're type II, the best you can probably hope for (in terms of pancreatic function) is a cessation of beta-cell burnout. I definitely recommend Dr. Bernstein's book and monthly phone conference (see here).

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To know your insulin output...get a C-Peptide test done. While you are at it, check your leptin levels, C-Reactive Protein (for inflammation) and A1c. If you still have some living Betas, you may get some regeneration if your BS is normal. Have you tried injecting in the love handles. According to Dr. B, you get a 10% more efficient utilization of insulin. He still shoots in the back of the arm or the butt. He is thin and must search for fat sites to inject into. Great work on your improvements. All us Diabetics got to do the right thing..find our way without the ADA.

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