cycling and diabetes

Quoted message said:

Tom Weaver at [email hidden] wrote:

I am a recently diagnosed type 2 diabetic using diet and exercise and no medication to control the
diabetes.

You one lucky boy at this point! I've been insulin dependent for 24 years and have always used
exercise to atone for my eating indiscretions.

Quoted message said:

My plan is to eat a lot of fruit and nutrition bars while riding and eating a good evening meal
each night. A good pancake breakfast (no syrup, dammit) should start the day off well.

Does this sound reasonable?

reasonably so. If you have never done a long-distance ride before as a diabetic, you might want to
test your blood sugar more frequently than usual and see how your body is reacting. You might find
that you really don't have to worry very much at all.

Also, bear in mind if you have delayed insulin uptake, you might crash and burn after your ride, not
during it. Did you find yourself having hypoglycemic reactions before you were diagnosed diabetic?

Quoted message said:

Are there any good gatorade-like drinks that would be good for me (i.e. low in sugar)?

Just water them down. They work better that way anyway.

And if your sugar goes a little bit wacky, it won't kill you. Just be reasonable about it. Have fun!

Michael

"Tom Weaver" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Greetings all.

I am a recently diagnosed type 2 diabetic using diet and exercise and no medication to control the
diabetes. In July I am planning to do the RAGBRAI and was wondering if other readers of the n.g.
have any advice as to food on distance rides.

My plan is to eat a lot of fruit and nutrition bars while riding and eating a good evening meal
each night. A good pancake breakfast (no syrup, dammit) should start the day off well.

Does this sound reasonable?

Are there any good gatorade-like drinks that would be good for me (i.e. low in sugar)?

I don't know about diabetes, but I'm under the impression that many of the sport drinks (certainly
Gatorade) have simple sugars that wouldn't be appropriate. There is a product which I'm pretty sure
does not contain simple sugars. It's called Sustained Energy. It, along with the company that makes
it, are well regarded in the ultra-cycling crowd. I think if you contact them, they would be helpful
in assisting you to determine the appropriateness of their product for your situation.
hammernutrition.comhammernutrition.comOpen ↗

In article <[email hidden]>,

Tom Weaver said:

Greetings all.

I am a recently diagnosed type 2 diabetic using diet and exercise and no medication to control the
diabetes. In July I am planning to do the RAGBRAI and was wondering if other readers of the n.g.
have any advice as to food on distance rides.

My plan is to eat a lot of fruit and nutrition bars while riding and eating a good evening meal
each night. A good pancake breakfast (no syrup, dammit) should start the day off well.

Does this sound reasonable?

Are there any good gatorade-like drinks that would be good for me (i.e. low in sugar)?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks, Tom Weaver

I am type 2 also, and ride a lot. Read the labels for sugar content and avoid anything with high
sugar content, obviously.

I think GU has a 2mg sugar content per packet - works for me anyway.

Take a look at http:/www.splenda.com for syrup and drinks w/o sugar.

Have fun at RAGBRAI!

We'll have fun here If we ever get to see the sun here.

--
"Freedom Is a Light for Which Many Have Died in Darkness"

- Tomb of the unknown - American Revolution

Morning Tom, I'll answer your post in parts:

I'm a type II diabetic also and have been for over 5 years.

Tom Weaver said:

Greetings all.

I am a recently diagnosed type 2 diabetic using diet and exercise and no medication to control the
diabetes.

Have you been to school yet to learn what you can and can't eat? sounds like you haven't
yet. That's "very" important!

Quoted message said:

My plan is to eat a lot of fruit and nutrition bars while riding and eating a good evening meal
each night. A good pancake breakfast (no syrup, dammit) should start the day off well.

Fruit is very bad for you, nutrition bars are very bad for you and "pancakes"???? ,maybe one
with sugar free syrup.

Quoted message said:

Does this sound reasonable? NO

Are there any good gatorade-like drinks that would be good for me (i.e. low in sugar)?

NO, Water, water and more water.

Don't let your count get above 120 in the morning so you must think as a diabetic every
second of your life now and every think you eat must be considered. I ride a few 100 miles
every week and it is great and sure helps my count. I also lift and do Yoga. Take the ride
but take the course at your local hospital ASAP.

And don't pay a lot of attention to what your friends say unless they are diabetic and in
good share. Diabetes is the number five killer in the would, aids is number six!!!

I hope to do the PCH from SF to LA the end of the month, I'm 61.

Burr Diamondback Road Bike REI Touring Bike Schwinn City Bike So. California Deserts

Burr said:

Morning Tom, I'll answer your post in parts:

I'm a type II diabetic also and have been for over 5 years.

Tom Weaver said:

Greetings all.

I am a recently diagnosed type 2 diabetic using diet and exercise and no medication to control
the diabetes.

Have you been to school yet to learn what you can and can't eat? sounds like you haven't yet.
That's "very" important!

Burr,

I met with a nurse practitioner/dietician the first day I was diagnosed. Since then (mid-november) I
have brought my sugar down for over 400 to under 100 (normal morning reading). All readings from the
last set of tests was in the normal range for a non-diabetic.

I've also lost over 50 pounds.

The nurse practitioner has released me from regular visits with her. It is now to the point where I
do a fasting test every 6 months.

I have the what to eat down pretty well, I do believe. My concern is what to eat on an extended
ride like RAGBRAI. I don't want to go real low and bonk like I did the last couple times. Of course
on one of those days the temp was over 95 and there was no shade. Another was the 115 mile day.
Bonked very big time on that one. Luckily a fellow team rider came along and escorted me the last
couple miles.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

My plan is to eat a lot of fruit and nutrition bars while riding and eating a good evening meal
each night. A good pancake breakfast (no syrup, dammit) should start the day off well.

Actually a couple pancakes with sugar free syrup is a pretty good breakfast. Add some sausage and it
gets real good. As long as the pancakes are a reasonable size and not "cover the plate" big like
some in Iowa.

Quoted message said:

Fruit is very bad for you, nutrition bars are very bad for you and "pancakes"???? ,maybe one
with sugar free syrup.

I've looked at some of the nutrition bars and not all of them have tons of sugar - most do but not
all. They are convenient to carry and better for me than the home-made cherry pies available in most
towns along the route. It's hard to pass those up - especially when they drop a nice scoop of ice
cream on top.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Does this sound reasonable? NO

Are there any good gatorade-like drinks that would be good for me
(i.e. low in sugar)?

NO, Water, water and more water.

Don't let your count get above 120 in the morning so you must think as a diabetic every second
of your life now and every think you eat must be considered. I ride a few 100 miles every week
and it is great and sure helps my count. I also lift and do Yoga. Take the ride but take the
course at your local hospital ASAP.

And don't pay a lot of attention to what your friends say unless they are diabetic and in good
share. Diabetes is the number five killer in the would, aids is number six!!!

I hope to do the PCH from SF to LA the end of the month, I'm 61.

Burr Diamondback Road Bike REI Touring Bike Schwinn City Bike So. California Deserts

Sounds like your doing real well, keep after it. Your doing better then me.

Burr

If you could take a glucometer along with you, you would find it invaluable.

It takes the guess work out of the hypo/hyperglucose question.

I find, that I can add to my to diet, esp breakfast. I would ride 15-20 miles before breakfast.

So, enjoy the pancake syrup.

I found that gatorade is not a good thing for diabetics, cut with water by at least half
if not more.

Remember that the water demand on this ride is very high, I use a hydro pack system.

For the event of an hypoglycemic event, I carry straight Coke-cola. I have had to use this once.

I have learned not to count on the food stops, this happened on a centuary ride.

Please note the importance to protect your skin form the sun and take extra socks each day, along
with something for blisters.

Enjoy the ride.

gandalf

"Tom Weaver" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Greetings all.

I am a recently diagnosed type 2 diabetic using diet and exercise and no medication to control the
diabetes. In July I am planning to do the RAGBRAI and was wondering if other readers of the n.g.
have any advice as to food on distance rides.

My plan is to eat a lot of fruit and nutrition bars while riding and eating a good evening meal
each night. A good pancake breakfast (no syrup, dammit) should start the day off well.

Does this sound reasonable?

Are there any good gatorade-like drinks that would be good for me (i.e. low in sugar)?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks, Tom Weaver

Quoted message said:

For the event of an hypoglycemic event, I carry straight Coke-cola. I have had to use this once.

I use a product called "Dex" glucose tablets. They come in a little plastic cylinder and look like
thick necco wafers. They will last a long long time in your bike saddlebag.

Because they are glucose and not sucrose, they get into the blood stream quickly and replenish your
mid double-digit glucose values significantly quicker than sucrose products.

Plus they just don't seem like "candy" to me so there is little worry of rejuvenating my oh-so-pesky
sweet tooth.

Michael

Quoted message said:

Subject: Re: cycling and diabetes From: "gandall" [email hidden] Date: 6/3/03 4:24 PM Eastern
Daylight Time Message-id: <[email hidden]>

If you could take a glucometer along with you, you would find it invaluable.

It takes the guess work out of the hypo/hyperglucose question.

I find, that I can add to my to diet, esp breakfast. I would ride 15-20 miles before breakfast.

So, enjoy the pancake syrup.

I found that gatorade is not a good thing for diabetics, cut with water by at least half if
not more.

Remember that the water demand on this ride is very high, I use a hydro pack system.

For the event of an hypoglycemic event, I carry straight Coke-cola. I have had to use this once.

I have learned not to count on the food stops, this happened on a centuary ride.

Please note the importance to protect your skin form the sun and take extra socks each day, along
with something for blisters.

Enjoy the ride.

gandalf

"Tom Weaver" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Greetings all.

I am a recently diagnosed type 2 diabetic using diet and exercise and no medication to control
the diabetes. In July I am planning to do the RAGBRAI and was wondering if other readers of the
n.g. have any advice as to food on distance rides.

My plan is to eat a lot of fruit and nutrition bars while riding and eating a good evening meal
each night. A good pancake breakfast (no syrup, dammit) should start the day off well.

Does this sound reasonable?

Are there any good gatorade-like drinks that would be good for me (i.e. low in sugar)?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks, Tom Weaver

Tom, come on over to alt.support.diabetes and ask your question there. Lots of knowledgable people
living with and without diabetes will be happy to help you out. Ellen

Tom Weaver said:

Greetings all.

I am a recently diagnosed type 2 diabetic using diet and exercise and no medication to control the
diabetes. In July I am planning to do the RAGBRAI and was wondering if other readers of the n.g.
have any advice as to food on distance rides.

My plan is to eat a lot of fruit and nutrition bars while riding and eating a good evening meal
each night. A good pancake breakfast (no syrup, dammit) should start the day off well.

Does this sound reasonable?

Are there any good gatorade-like drinks that would be good for me (i.e. low in sugar)?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks, Tom Weaver