{"id":35598,"date":"2014-03-25T09:00:44","date_gmt":"2014-03-25T13:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?post_type=feature&p=35598"},"modified":"2016-01-10T06:02:23","modified_gmt":"2016-01-10T11:02:23","slug":"the-three-year-diabetes-honeymoon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=35598","title":{"rendered":"The Three Year Diabetes Honeymoon"},"content":{"rendered":"

For Alexander Griffin, the path to a long diabetes honeymoon has meant lots of exercise, no gluten, and not many carbs<\/em><\/p>\n

I first learned about Alexander\u2019s diabetes honeymoon a day or two after our daughter, Bisi, was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. In those early rushed days of trying to find something\u2014anything\u2014that we could do to help ameliorate Bisi\u2019s condition, my husband found a case study about a boy diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in Denmark<\/a>\u00a0who had gone on a gluten-free diet after diagnosis and, sixteen months in, had an A1C of below six percent, with no daily insulin therapy. The study helped persuade us to start Bisi on a gluten-free diet, and though her diabetes honeymoon didn\u2019t last 16 months, it did last more than twelve. Recently, after I mentioned the study in a blog post on A Sweet Life, Alexander\u2019s mother, Ekaterina Lochoshvili-Griffin, reached out to me. We started corresponding, and eventually talked by phone, so I could learn more about Alexander\u2019s case and the many things Griffin has done to prolong his honeymoon period.<\/p>\n

Here are the basics: Alexander was diagnosed almost four years ago when he was about to turn six. Over the years, his mother has perfected a low-carbohydrate diet that relies heavily on vegetables, nuts, seeds, low-glycemic fruit, meats, and fish. He\u2019s had no milk or sugar of any kind since he was diagnosed, but does eat cheese and yogurt, and sweet desserts made with stevia. Exercise plays an important role\u2014he swims three times a week, plays on a soccer team, and, in the pedestrian-centric city of Copenhagen, walks about an hour a day. For the first three years, Alexander used almost no insulin, except for an occasional dose of long-acting insulin when he was sick or not getting as much exercise as usual. Lately, as his own insulin production has waned a bit, he\u2019s needed long-acting insulin more often, as well as the occasional \u00bd unit of short-acting insulin at the end of the day, though not with meals. During these years on the diet, Alexander has never experienced hypoglycemia, and his blood sugar has only very rarely topped 200. His A1C has hovered at 6 percent or below; and he\u2019s doing well on all measures of development.<\/p>\n

For someone like me, who has a child of a similar age with type 1 diabetes, this case brings up complicated emotions. I would have loved Bisi to have had a multi-year honeymoon, without the lows and highs that often come with the territory in type 1 diabetes. Though it could be the case that Alexander has an unusual genotype of type 1 diabetes where he\u2019s been able to maintain insulin production longer than other people would have, there\u2019s no doubt that a diet like the one he\u2019s on puts less stress on the pancreas, and leads to less jagged lows and highs. We see this when we eat at home, where we give Bisi food that is gluten free and relatively low carb. Her blood sugars remain in an even range. It\u2019s when we go out and she\u2019s faced with the normal temptations of pasta, pizza, and ice cream that her blood sugar numbers become more dramatic. Yet with Bisi, food can be a delicate dance. We don\u2019t want to turn it into more of an issue than it has to be, and she minds terribly when she can\u2019t have what others are having or feels like she is being unfairly limited because of her condition. So we have chosen to take a middle road on this.<\/p>\n

But I think Alexander\u2019s case brings up some important issues. Would type 1 diabetes be easier to manage if children and their families were given the tools, knowledge, and encouragement to try to follow a healthy (i.e., not just eggs and bacon) low-carb approach? Does a gluten-free diet slow down the destruction of beta cells? How can we harness exercise to help lower the need for outside insulin?<\/p>\n

For some perspective, I ran the details of Alexander\u2019s case by a pediatric endocrinologist, Dr. Martha Bardsley, who works at Nemours duPont Pediatrics outside of Philadelphia.\u00a0 Her response highlights both the potential benefits of following Ekaterina and Alexander\u2019s approach and some of the barriers in the way of doing so. \u201cI loudly applaud Ekaterina and Alexander. Her decisions about diet and exercise are safe and scientifically grounded, and appear to have decreased stress and improved health in their family. \u00a0Endocrinologists have swung from \u2018eat no carbs\u2019 when we didn’t have insulin to \u2018eat only a specific amount of carbs at specific times of day\u2019 with use of Humulin and Regular to \u2018eat whatever you want whenever you want, as long as you cover\u2019 with the 24 hour insulins and fast acting and pump. \u00a0In my experience the fewer high glycemic index carbs and the more exercise, the better the control, and the more research a parent does, the better the control. That being said, the single biggest hurdle to having stable sugars close to the normal range for most kids is the psychosocial stress: the power struggles that are part of normal development, the being different, the minute to minute and day to day, and year to year burden of this disease.\u201d<\/p>\n

I know that for me, learning about Alexander\u2019s case has brought a renewed resolve to work with Bisi on finding foods that taste good without wreaking havoc on her blood sugar. Griffin\u2019s Facebook page, Low carb experiences with a Type 1 kid<\/a>\u00a0, is a good place to start, with its collection of links to recent studies related to nutrition and diabetes, and recipes for things like herbed almond bread, granola, and low-carb chocolate cupcakes.<\/p>\n

Tomorrow we\u2019ll post my interview with Griffin<\/a>. She and I spoke twice by phone, while she was on vacation in her home country of Georgia.<\/p>\n

Click here<\/a> to read the rest of this story.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My husband found a case study about a boy diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in Denmark who had gone on a gluten-free diet after diagnosis and, sixteen months in, had an A1C of below six percent, with no daily insulin therapy. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":35602,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":{"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1587,1430],"tags":[1374],"yoast_head":"\nThe Three Year Diabetes Honeymoon<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"For type 1 diabetic child, Alexander Griffin, the path to a long diabetes honeymoon has meant lots of exercise, no gluten, and a low carb diet...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=35598\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Katie Bacon\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=35598\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=35598\",\"name\":\"The Three Year Diabetes Honeymoon\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=35598#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=35598#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/Three-Year-Diabetes-Honeymoon-home.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-03-25T13:00:44+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-01-10T11:02:23+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/#\/schema\/person\/d9db494b4a0cbf28744f6c4a9c73329e\"},\"description\":\"For type 1 diabetic child, Alexander Griffin, the path to a long diabetes honeymoon has meant lots of exercise, no gluten, and a low carb diet...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=35598#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=35598\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=35598#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/Three-Year-Diabetes-Honeymoon-home.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/Three-Year-Diabetes-Honeymoon-home.jpeg\",\"width\":600,\"height\":400,\"caption\":\"Three Year Diabetes Honeymoon\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=35598#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Three Year Diabetes Honeymoon\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/\",\"name\":\"ASweetLife\",\"description\":\"The Diabetes Magazine\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/#\/schema\/person\/d9db494b4a0cbf28744f6c4a9c73329e\",\"name\":\"Katie Bacon\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8cc124bd5d3d2d03be80239ba09df7cc?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8cc124bd5d3d2d03be80239ba09df7cc?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Katie Bacon\"},\"description\":\"Katie Bacon is a writer and editor based in Boston. 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