{"id":52278,"date":"2020-05-21T10:07:42","date_gmt":"2020-05-21T14:07:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=52278"},"modified":"2020-05-21T10:29:07","modified_gmt":"2020-05-21T14:29:07","slug":"the-case-for-using-regular-r-insulin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=52278","title":{"rendered":"The Case for Using Regular (R) Insulin"},"content":{"rendered":"

As a teen athlete with Type 1 diabetes, I achieve normal blood sugars<\/a> using a few key tricks from Dr. Bernstein<\/a>. One of the most important of these tricks I discussed was the use of Regular insulin (Humulin-R) as my bolus insulin. \u201cR\u201d insulin is a core Bernstein concept which I have implemented for just about 7 years and it has been an absolute game changer<\/em>. In this article, I would like to share what I learned about Regular insulin from Dr. Bernstein, how I use R, and why it works so well for me.<\/p>\n

First, let me provide some motivation. Consider the standard diabetes management method we are taught at diagnosis: carb counting. The idea is that we can simply add up all the carbs on our plate, dose the corresponding amount of insulin, and everything will magically work out. If you have Type 1 diabetes, you know that doesn\u2019t work. Just look at the data – the average A1C for a Type 1 kid is about 8%, which is an average blood sugar around 200 mg\/dL! And that high average often comes with constant fluctuations from very low to very high blood sugar. Sometimes these fluctuations are so fast they outpace the response time of the CGM, which is particularly scary. Essentially, as people with Type 1, we are taught to use a method that will fail. So, if you are trying hard to get carb counting to work and feeling frustrated or being admonished by your physician \u00a0for poor results, please realize it is not your fault.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s important to understand why carb counting fails. The basic problem is that it is impossible to consistently match a dose of fast acting insulin and a meal of fast acting carbohydrate. There\u2019s enough variation in the action of each that you can never get the peaks of the insulin and the peaks of the carbohydrate to line up. The resulting blood sugars are different every time. Dr. Bernstein explains it perfectly:<\/p>\n

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Moreover, it is not just the fast-acting carbohydrate that is the problem with carb counting. Protein also requires insulin to metabolize and this effect is totally ignored (protein has to be accounted for due to complicated physiologic reasons, but suffice to say it is not because protein is somehow carbohydrate).\u00a0<\/p>\n

How does Dr. Bernstein solve this problem? He uses physics. To put it simply, Dr. B turns the sharp peaks of BOTH the food AND the insulin into shallow hills which, unlike peaks, can<\/em> be matched. Let\u2019s discuss this strategy in a little more detail.<\/p>\n

First, the food. To solve the food aspect of this problem, Dr. Bernstein removes blood sugar spiking high carb foods and instead uses a low carb\/high protein diet. This diet generates slow rates of glycemic action on blood sugar. For me, this simply means that meals consist of healthy combinations of protein foods and fibrous veggies with the occasional low carb dessert. These meals have a very slow effect on glucose levels working over a period of several hours rather than mere minutes.<\/p>\n

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(Image courtesy of Dr. Ted Naiman)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Now, how do we cover these low carb slow acting meals? That\u2019s where Dr. B\u2019s ingenious use of Regular insulin comes in to play. We want a slow acting insulin to match these slow acting, low carb\/high protein meals, and as it turns out Regular insulin is PERFECT for the job.<\/p>\n

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Dr. Bernstein has a great video on how to determine the timing and dose of Regular insulin for a given low carb\/high protein meal at a given time of day. The short of it is, that you use an initial estimate based on the amount of carb AND protein in that meal combined with a bit of trial and error to home in on the timing and dose of R insulin to cover a given meal. Dr. Bernstein\u2019s method does require some initial effort – everyone is a little different regarding how much insulin and how much, if any, prebolus will be required – but if you stick with it, you can determine the amount and timing of R insulin for all your meals. Dr. B\u2019s video explaining how to do it is here:<\/p>\n

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