🤔 Rethinking Nutrition for Type 1 Diabetes: A Personal and Research Perspective

🌟 In celebration of Dr. Richard Bernstein’s 90th birthday, I want to highlight a great resource from Andrew Paul Koutnik, PhD. 🌟

👨‍🏫 Andrew is a leading expert in nutrition and metabolism with a special interest in diabetes. He’s also a patient advocate for type 1 diabetes (T1D) and a remarkable role model in our community.

🎥 His TEDx talk, "Rethinking Nutrition for Type-1 Diabetics: A Personal and Research Perspective" given at the University of South Florida in 2018, showcases his commitment to empowering individuals and families living with T1D through nutritional knowledge.

To understand more about why nutrition therapy can make diabetes easier to manage, watch Andrew’s TED Talk:

👉 https://www.ted.com/talks/andrew_koutnik_rethinking_nutrition_for_type_1_diabetics_a_personal_and_research_perspective

Diagnosed with T1D at 16 during a family trip, Andrew’s life changed dramatically. He shares a pivotal moment from a few days following his diagnosis:

“My parents took me to a local restaurant… I remember this very clearly because I got there and I was sitting down, and I was so excited to eat some food that was not hospital food. I was looking through the menu at each of the items and thinking, ‘What do I want to eat?’ and I froze. You see, I had no idea how many carbohydrates were in those foods. How much insulin was I going to need to take? What do I do if I take too much insulin, and my blood glucose comes crashing down, or if I take too little insulin, my blood glucose goes skyrocketing. Errors are inevitable, and a lot was on the line with getting this right. Unfortunately, when sitting there, I realized it was no longer going to be normal again. My life had changed forever, and it was going to be a dynamic, mathematically guessing game with each meal of each day.”

In trying to regulate his own blood sugars and make diabetes management less stressful, Andrew has personally experimented with and used Therapeutic Carbohydrate Reduction as a nutrition therapy. He shares, "Within the first week, my blood sugar would test within the normal range of 80-120 mg/dl. You might ask: what intervention gave me true glycemic control, dramatically reduced my blood glucose variability, and dramatically reduced my insulin requirements? Well, the grocery store! I simply changed my nutrition.”

Andrew’s journey led him to study health and disease. He completed his PhD at the University of South Florida and now works as a research scientist at Sansum Diabetes Research Institute in California. One of his areas of research explores how nutrition therapy can improve glycemic control, offering hope to those living with T1D.

He shares, “When exploring the scientific literature on T1D, interestingly but not surprisingly, a chronically elevated blood sugar level and blood sugar variability are often accepted parts of a type 1 diabetic’s life. But do we have to accept that? If we know the origins of the risks and complications, can we find a solution?”

Andrew is another great example of people in the T1D community giving back. Andrew is a patient advocate, encouraging openness about the condition.

💪 At the Let Me Be 83 Carb Conference last year, he encouraged the children and teenagers to “own it”, own their diabetes and don’t be shy to proudly share with others that you are living with this condition.

➡️ Andrew will be speaking at the Low Carb USA’s 9th Annual Symposium for Metabolic Health in San Diego, California (August 15-18, 2024). [SIDE NOTE: if you have been thinking about becoming more of a metabolic health expert and advocate, health care practitioners and the public are welcome at this conference, and you can attend in person or take the livestream option!]

🙏 We are fortunate that our T1D community is filled with kind, caring, smart people who dedicate their time and talents to helping others. Thank you, Andrew, for inspiring our community to take control of our health through knowledge and exploration.

Have you ever watched Andrew’s TED Talk❓

If you haven't, I encourage you to watch. Andrew weaves his compelling personal story into his talk. If you have, what do you take away from it❓

For more information,

🎥 Andrew’s Ted Talk - Rethinking Nutrition for Type-1 Diabetics: A Personal and Research Perspective: https://www.ted.com/talks/andrew_koutnik_rethinking_nutrition_for_type_1_diabetics_a_personal_and_research_perspective

📒 Andrew Koutnik’s blog: https://www.andrewkoutnik.com/blog

📖 The Journal of Clinical Investigation’s review, Carbohydrate restriction for diabetes: rediscovering centuries-old wisdom: https://www.jci.org/articles/view/142246/pdf 

📖 The Harvard study Andrew refers to in his TED Talk with findings about exceptional glycemic control in T1D: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29735574/

📣 Low Carb USA’s 9th Annual Symposium for Metabolic Health in San Diego, California: https://www.lowcarbusa.org/smhp-symposiums/sd-2024/