Adventure Cycling Association Forum
Bicycle Travel => General Discussion => Topic started by: kemmett on March 27, 2009, 10:26:11 am
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Hey everyone,
I hate to use the cliche of 'get busy livin' or get busy dying', but I was recently diagnosed with type 1 diabetes and felt like I had to do something. What better way than to ride across this great land of ours while raising money in the hope of finding a cure. Now I realize there are inherent risks in cycling almost 4000 miles across the country, with or without having diabetes, but I was wondering if any one has accomplished this out there who could give me any advice on....... anything. Anything at all. Im going into this relatively "blind" and would appreciate any feedback any of you may have. Thank you in advance for your wisdom.
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There are quite a few people on this forum who have bicycled across the United states. Use roads that are best for cycling. Be careful. There are web sites devoted much to bicycle touring. I am not sure about cycling with diabetes. Diabetes can be controlled through diet, but I don't know about curing it or erasing it entirely.
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I think your goal is wonderful. Even if you don't raise a lot of money, you can raise awareness and be an inspiration.
My only concern, is keeping you properly nourished. I don't know what you can and cannot eat. I just have a vague understanding that you have a restricted diet, and that you may have eat more often (probably smaller portions).
Can you into more details about the dietary restrictions of someone with Type 1 diabetes?
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I think your goal is wonderful. Even if you don't raise a lot of money, you can raise awareness and be an inspiration.
My only concern, is keeping you properly nourished. I don't know what you can and cannot eat. I just have a vague understanding that you have a restricted diet, and that you may have eat more often (probably smaller portions).
Can you into more details about the dietary restrictions of someone with Type 1 diabetes?
Hey paddleboy,
As far as my diet goes, there are certain things you are recommended to stay away from, excess sugar, alcohol, and basically any item that is not necessarily good for a non-diabetic. But in reality I can eat anything I please as long as I correct the ingestion of carbs with an insulin injection. I currently wear an insulin pump which makes this process much easier and at this stage correcting my carbohydrate intake with insulin is almost second nature. So as far as food goes, nothing is really banished from the menu.
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Do you ride a bike now? Practice riding around home on one day rides. You will figure out how the diabetes behaves more or less during these rides. On extended tours with day after day of activity, the baseload insulin will need to be reduced. Checking the blood glucose multiple times during a ride is recommended. Every hour basically. Look into a CGMS, they enhance control. CGMS would not work logistically for a three month ride away from home but would aid in the learning around home.
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It is a medical question. If the pancreas cannot produce enough insulin to help metabolize blood sugar, there could be something wrong with the pancreas or the intake of sugars is too high so that after a period of time the pancreas becomes sort of burned out trying to produce enough insulin to keep blood sugar concentrations at acceptable levels. Something like that. Diabetes can be caused by excessive intake of highly refined sugars over a long period of time, and also by excessive intakes of iron and fats. Excessive urinary excretions have something to do with it too. Diabetes is caused by a long term diet that is incompatible with the human digestive system. There seems also to be a hereditary aspect to the disease which has been investigated. Some Doctors seem to think the passing along of diabetes from generation to generation is more a matter of passing along dietary habits than a matter of genes and DNA and such. Eating foods that cause the pancreas to over produce insulin to the point it is exhausted, and then taking extra insulin is not the way to go. A special diet, or lets just say a normal diet, has as far as I know always been part of the treatment for diabetes.
In some parts of the country it might not always be possible for you to buy the foods you need. If anyone wants to prevent diabetes to begin with, just eat fresh fruitsm fresh vegetables, whole grains, whole cereals, nuts, seeds, etc. A diet high in fiber is adviseable. World populations where highly refined sugars were not part of the diet were totally free of diabetes. After highly refined sugars became part of the diets diabetes appeared,sometimes in epidemic proportions. The onset seemed to be about twenty years after the beginning of habitual ingestion. Diabetes comes at varying levels of severity. The questions you have and the answers you seek are matters between you and your doctor. Perhaps there is a cyclist on this forum who has the same kind of diabetes you have.
It is only my opinion, but any project regarding diabetes should be aimed at prevention, even moreso than at cure. Medical science does not say dietary habits are the only cause of diabetes, but in the western world dietary habits are by and large the main cause.
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Westinghouse, I am not a type 2 diabetic where lifestyle and diet have contributed to the onset of diabetes. I am a type 1 diabetic where my diagnosis was purely genetic. People are usually diagnosed with type 1 as children and only make up about 5 percent of the total diabetic population. I would only raise money for DRI also known as the diabetes research institute which deals with type 1 diabetes specifically and deals mostly with children. There is nothing you can do to prevent type 1 diabetes, you can only find a cure.
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Yes, diabetes 1, appearing in childhood and young adulthood. It can be very serious. It has to be controlled, and I really am not aware as to whether or not you would be able to cycle 4000 miles across the continent, and still be able to do what is needed to maintain that control. Surely you would be able to. There must be someone somewhere who would know but this.
I was just reading the Mayo Clinic's take on type 1 D. They say you are at higher risk of having T1D if one or both of your parents had it too. Here again, they played down genetic aspect as causative saying genetics may be a cause, with may being an important distinction because may means possibility. They did not verify a sure genetic cause, perhaps because they do not yet know enough about genetics to say one way or the other with absolute certainty. For treatment they centered mostly around weight, exercise, insulin, and diet.
Nutritional experts I have read tend to play down the genetics as cause theories. They claim diabetes is caused by the devitalized, overly processed foods the food adulterating companies have been convincing us through massive campaigns of propaganda are good for us. In other words, even if it is slow poison, if we pay for it and are willing to be duped they will sell it to us, and spend billions of dollars making us believe it is right. I am not a doctor or an expert in this area of knowledge, but I have read medical reports and results of research. They also claim eighty per cent of all cancers could be prevented through diet and exercise, which also translates into lifestyle. The nutritional experts have said if you are raised in a family environment where a diet of highly refined sugars and overly fatty foods were the norm, the diabetes probably came from that. At any rate, the Mayo Clinic reports genetics as only a possible causative factor. They also mentioned something about viruses.
We as Americans do not want to admit that our food industries are deliberately poisoning us for profit. We may not like the idea they are artificially manipulating the ingredients in food to cause addiction to oral gratification, an addiction as powerful and binding as any for many many people, but the fact is that is exactly what they are and have been doing. Study the advertising campaigns of big tobacco, and see the blatant lies. The fact is millions die annually in the USA of diseases that are directly attributable to lifetime habits of ingesting devitalized, processed foods. Do not expect the medical professionals to go overboard trying to alert you to these dangers because it is not in their interests to do so. All these horrific new sicknesses have kept the medical class rich and in business like never before. A normal diet of natural, wholesome, foods should help to alleviate your T1D.
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Westinghouse, I think you're veerin a little off topic. I simply would like advice on to cycle across the country with diabetes. Not personal conspiracy theories. In future posts be a little posts please be a little more specific to the topic. Thank you.
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No firsthand knowledge on this, except that I will say that it was an effort for me to stay fueled. The amount we ate on our Trans America was huge. What worked for me was to eat constantly rather than eat huge meals, I suspect that would be the way to go for a diabetic as well. I don't know if you test your blood sugar and adjust diet accordingly or if you use insulin injections. In either case my guess is that you will need to adjust what you do to accommodate your activity level.
You might want to read this journal by a guy with type 2 diabetes:
http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/jdhst
The author said "The real purpose for this ride is to see how much of an effect extended exercise can have on my Type II diabetes."
Also search the other journals there for the word diabetes. There were quite a few hits, but I am not sure how much useful information.
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If you think those are my personal conspiracy theories, you have not read the many books out on nutrition. They are written by doctors. If you think I am accusing the food adulterators, you should read what they say. Diabetes has nothing whatever to do with cycling to begin with. If you have a disease, it is your responsibility to determine what you must do to deal with it, and determine if you can do that on a long tour. Diet has always been part of the maintenence regimen for diabetes. The fact is, in some areas of the country you might not be able to get the sorts of foods you might need. In other regions the foods you should eat are plentiful and always available. You said your diabetes was genetically caused. The Mayo Clinic says no genetic cause has been substantiated for D1. So who are we supposed to believe, long standing experts on the subject, or you? So, you know better than they do? You say I am expressing my personal conspiracy theories when you have not a clue where I got that information. I assure you I have studied about this sort of thing off and on for years. The facts about the adulteration of foods and the resulting diseases it has caused have been fairly well known at least since the 1920s, and before. If you are unknowledgeable on these matters, or indifferent to them, perhaps that is why you have T1D to begin with. Learn the facts before you set out trying to invalidate what someone else has to say. You came here asking a question totally unrelated to bicycling. You have a personal health problem. I tried my best to answer you. The next thing I know I am accused of being a conspiracy theorist and veering off the subject. OK.
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"If you are unknowledgeable on these matters, or indifferent to them, perhaps that is why you have T1D to begin with."
I know of many experts and professionals who would be appalled at this statement. Please see a psychologist and stop posting on this subject or I will report you.
I apologize to anyone else who has posted on this subject who is legitimately trying to give me sound advice. Please don't let this deter you from posting for many of you have already been a huge help. Thank you.
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Diabetes has been a known disease for over 2000 years, not a whole lot of food adultering going on back then.
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Hey paddleboy,
As far as my diet goes, there are certain things you are recommended to stay away from, excess sugar, alcohol, and basically any item that is not necessarily good for a non-diabetic. But in reality I can eat anything I please as long as I correct the ingestion of carbs with an insulin injection. I currently wear an insulin pump which makes this process much easier and at this stage correcting my carbohydrate intake with insulin is almost second nature. So as far as food goes, nothing is really banished from the menu.
I think I would give you the same advice I would give anyone else:
Start with some short weekend tours to get your self familiarized with the process of touring. That works for learning about your equipment, and it is true for your dietary needs as well. My metabolism changes fairly quickly on tour to a mode in which I need a high protein diet. You sometimes hear about backpackers surviving for months on a diet of oatmeal and macaroni. I would not make it through the first day on that.
There are a lot of similarities with backpacking and touring. If you are camping, the gear is the same. If you can find a book on backpacking and diabetes, there may be something useful for you. But I still think experimentation via short term trips is your best tool to finding out what works for you.
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Post removed due to violation of the forum rules. Please keep on topic and and do not flame other forum members.
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Please keep this thread on topic and related to cycling. This is not the place to argue the causes of diabetes or make accusations about other forum members. Any further posts that are off of the original topic will be removed or the thread will be locked.
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Post removed due to violation of the forum rules. Please keep on topic and and do not flame other forum members.
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Check this out for some inspiration: http://www.teamtype1.org/
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Check this out for some inspiration: http://www.teamtype1.org/
Wow, I had no idea a cycling team was dedicated to Type 1 that was completely comprised of people with type 1. Thanks for the link.
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Check this out for some inspiration: http://www.teamtype1.org/
Wow, I had no idea a cycling team was dedicated to Type 1 that was completely comprised of people with type 1. Thanks for the link.
Only two or maybe three members have diabetes. The rest do not.
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I first want to congratulate you for taking charge of your illness and not letting it control you. My only advice is to speak to a nutritionist. They should be able to work with you in order to develop a meal plan for your trip. I am sure that if you stop frequently and eat the right things, it may take a little longer than it would have without the diagnosis, but you will succeed. I also have a friend who participates in bike rides for the Juvenile Diabetes Association (not positive on that name). Perhaps you could contact them, they may be specific to kids but I am sure they could point you in the right direction. Good luck with your challenge and remember you are an inspiration.
http://www.bikecarrierdirect.com
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Go for it. Get busy living. You'll have the time of your life.
Gradually up your daily conditioning mileage 'til you can comfortably ride about 50 miles in a full day. Of course monitor your blood sugar during the rides. You'll learn to read you body's signals and quickly get a handle on all that.
The exercise induced euphoria of cross country cycling is well documented in journals. It's a brain thing. The physical benefits are multitude. I just bet blood sugar control is one of them. Weight control certainly is.
Journal your ride on here or on www.crazyguyonabike.com. I'd like to know how you do with this.
As a personal aside, I climbed 7 mile long, 11,000 foot Wolf Creek Pass in Co. puffing on oxygen. Might have been a first. Most infirmities can be overcome with a bit of ingenuity and effort.
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Thanks for the motivation. Is that your website? If so I have seen your site before when I googled the words 'cycling' and 'diabetes'. It sounds extremely interesting, however I must admit that I haven't read much of it but I surely will now. If you did do it with type 2, what were your biggest obstacles in riding that distance? How did you overcome them? How do you take your insulin? Diet? Carry any sugar? What form? I would really appreciate any info you could give. Thanks a bunch.
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Good thread..very enlightening. Sometimes I wonder if some people who post must know each other off line and can't wait to pop each other in public.
In any case, the advise that made sense to me from the posts would be for Kemmett to hook up with a nutritionist. From the journals I read on CGOAB some touring cyclist make it across on junk food while others are highly selective. Cliff bars, grilled cheese, milkshakes and a carb dinner were my go to foods.
Kemmett It's a great country to see at 10 mph. Do it.
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Thanks for the motivation. Is that your website?
Gosh no. Neil Gunton owes that site. It's dedicated to touring cyclists and their journals.
And I do not have diabetes. Just mild COPD. I have no proof that the oxygen actually did any good. Would have had to go down and ride back up without it. I guess it had to tho. Passed on that experiment.
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Good thread..very enlightening. Sometimes I wonder if some people who post must know each other off line and can't wait to pop each other in public.
In any case, the advise that made sense to me from the posts would be for Kemmett to hook up with a nutritionist. From the journals I read on CGOAB some touring cyclist make it across on junk food while others are highly selective. Cliff bars, grilled cheese, milkshakes and a carb dinner were my go to foods.
Kemmett It's a great country to see at 10 mph. Do it.
The junk food was my concern. On the southern tier it was possible to go quite some distances with only convenience type stores for rehydrating and food. Sometimes, a cyclist can run across stores which have pretty much nothing but what we would consider junk food. A person with no particular health concerns can take that kind of a nutritional beating a while without worry, not that anyone should, but they can if they must. When cycling one must stop and refuel much more often than a person driving a car, and this is a fact of which many non cyclists are not consciously aware, and lacking in the experience of it, there is no reasoin they should be aware of it. Where proper dietary intake might take on a more ominous meaning, such as with a person with diabetes or whatever, the chosen route would be more important. For example, on the atlantic route stores selling all kinds of food are plentiful and everywhere; here there is no problem. In certain extents of the ST and the WE there may be a dearth. To give someone with any given disease advice for a 4000 mile cycling tour, you need to know the issues that might arise because of that disease. Nutrition is definitely an issue here. I have no such disease myself, but at times along the ST I was beginning to have concerns about the distances between sources of really good wholesome food. Going along on devitalized junk food gets a bit scary after a while even for a normally healthy person. You have to be careful about what you eat. If it is devitalized, it can sneak around back and bite you in the vital parts over the long run.
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It probably depends on what you consider junk food, but I think for a cyclist riding longer distances there is probably a lot more room for deviation even for a diabetic. As far as having to stop more often, why? It is possible to stuff a couple days worth of snacks in your jersey pockets and lots of reasonably healthy food keeps well enough to pack a couple days lunches if needed including fresh fruits and veggies.
I am not a diabetic, but I think that there is a lot of stuff that while maybe not health food is readily available and no so bad. I tend to have things like Jerky, fig newtons, fresh or dried fruits, nuts, and baked stuff in my jersey pocket. As a diabetic he may need to be more selective, but given the rate he will be burning fuel he will probably have a lot more latitude than normal. In a pannier I have lunch items like bagel pbj makings, hard boiled eggs, dried hummus, fresh fruits, fresh veggies (avacados, carrots, and cabbage kept well and worked for us), crackers, tortillas, foil packed tuna or salmon, hard cheeses, and canned chicken or other meat. Once in a while for a change of pace we bought a sandwich in the morning for later in the day.
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I am a type 2 diabetic and while I have not had the opportunity to ride cross country, I do go on multiday tours, up to a week in length. I also particpate in many one day local club rides. I consulted a diabetic nurse/nutritionist recently and asked her about diet, sport drinks, and energy or food bars as a way to maintain proper nutrition levels during the time I am riding. I brought some of the products with me so that she could read the content information. These included Clif Bars, Gatorade, and Cytomate. She recommended the use of those and similiar products as a way to stay "fueled" during the ride, in addition to eating regulare meals. It was explained to me that a diabetic does not replace glycogen and other needed body system fuels the way a non diabtic does and that we burn them out of our body faster, and that these supplements are good to use, as long as you are careful not to overload on the carbs that they contain. She recommended eating small amounts at frequent intervals. I think that this would be more critical to balance for a type 1 than a type 2.
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I first want to congratulate you for taking charge of your illness and not letting it control you. My only advice is to speak to a nutritionist. They should be able to work with you in order to develop a meal plan for your trip. I am sure that if you stop frequently and eat the right things, it may take a little longer than it would have without the diagnosis, but you will succeed. I also have a friend who participates in bike rides for the Juvenile Diabetes Association (not positive on that name). Perhaps you could contact them, they may be specific to kids but I am sure they could point you in the right direction. Good luck with your challenge and remember you are an inspiration.
http://www.bikecarrierdirect.com
I remembered the name of the organization. It is Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.
http://www.bikecarrierdirect.com
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Thanks mike, my mother does work for the Diabetes Research Institute and she said they are an excellent organization. Also, I know it sounds a little ridiculous but I currently use a Omnipod diabetes management system and was hoping if I told them I was talking their system cross-country, they might help with finances. Shooting a little high I know, but its worth a shot and its all for a good cause. I've done the penguin plunge here in Burlington, Vermont (basically a jump into lake champlain in the middle of february) and raised close to $2,000 for the Special Olympics. Figure if I can raise that much for jumping into a lake, a ride across the nation might do a little better.
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I currently use a Omnipod diabetes management system and was hoping if I told them I was talking their system cross-country, they might help with finances.
Omnipod sponsors Team Type 1. They have quite a bit of experience with bicyclists using their pump during stage races and on team RAAM. Team Type 1 won team RAAM the past couple years. Omnipod has been out for a couple years now. So its unlikely you would be anywhere near the first recreational rider using their product on a long ride.
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I realize this, but it never hurts to ask. If one were to inquire to the point of near harassment who knows what could happen.
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Kemmitt;
i dont know what this westinghouse is saying and havnt bothered to continue reading it frankly.
im 17 and was just diagnosed with t1d last month. since then i havnt been bike touring yet - but this summer I biked across the country from Seattle to New York on the northern tier.
i really dont think food is that big of a problem even in the middle of no where. at least on my trip - the longest distance we went without a town was about 50 miles and in those conditions - you would stock yourself with high carb and sugar foods.
what route are you taking? i would be glad to answer any questions :)
have fun!!
a
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Hey Annalisa,
Im sorry to hear about your diagnosis. I was bummed when I was first diagnosed at 21, but now at 24 managing seems like second nature. I didn't believe that when when I was first diagnosed, but its true. The tech coming out to manage this disease it great and only getting better. I digress. The route I am taking will be from Manchester, NH to Astoria, OR. I believe it rounds out to about 4000 miles even.
I don't use syringes anymore, but an insulin pump. Do you think this will be an advantage/disadvantage? I know you haven't had diabetes long but any advice would help. Again, best of luck with your T1 D, any questions you may have about it, feel free to ask.
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Kemmet,
I have only one bit of advice and from what I am reading the best bit of advice. Seek out a Certified Diabetes Educator. These people are board certified and next to a doctor have the best information concering type 1 and type 2 diabetes. Don't rely on internet advice, support groups and hearsay, talk to an expert and your trip will be very enjoyable.