Diabetes and Alcohol / What to drink as a diabetic?

I discuss considerations to be made by diabetics when consuming alcoholic beverages and impact of various alcoholic drinks on blood sugar levels. I explain how much carbohydrates is included in beer, wine, spirits, mixed drinks, and cocktails and share how I adjust my medication and insulin dosage when I drink alcohol. I talk about short term and long term impact of alcohol consumptions on diabetics.

0:43 Are diabetics allowed to drink alcohol?
1:03 Maximum recommended alcohol consumption
1:18 What do different kinds of alcohol do with your blood sugar and how much carbs they contain
3:33 Drop of blood sugar after drinking alcohol

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Additional information: Please read!
When you are a diabetic and plan to drink alcohol make sure to carry your medical ID card and any other diabetes identification you use. When you plan to drink alcohol with your friends please let them know what to do if case of hypoglycaemia. In this video I do not recommend anyone to drink alcohol. I am only sharing my experience with alcohol as a type 1 diabetic and talk about generally known facts related to alcohol consumption by diabetics.

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I regularly release videos covering type 1 diabetes topics. Let me know if you have any questions or topics you would like me to cover. I really appreciate your input!

Disclaimer: I am not a medical professional and my videos are not medical advice. Please consult your medical professional regarding your diabetes treatment.

Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY 3.0

[norajeanjez]

Wow! Just found you and you are great. I have been a diabetic for 63 years. I was 9 years old when I got Type 1. You have really gone into diabetes. You make everything easy to understand. I have enjoyed all of your videos. In my 63 years of being a diabetic you are at the top of the list. Thanks so much.

[barefootrocker]

Tom, thank you for the effort and thought that you put in to your channel and for your honest sharing of information and experience. I am a big fan.

I am also a T1D for 31 years now. I got into trouble in college with drinking, having a number of hypo episodes and once went to the hospital after over consuming and not being able to raise my blood sugars. I had the theory at the time of exactly what you said, that the liver was processing the alcohol first instead of the carbohydrates. I was drinking sugared soda as fast as I could but couldn't get my BS to come up. It was a scary experience.

So yes, go ahead and have a drink now and then, but be responsible! I will either drink beer and bolus for the carb content, or mixed drinks with diet soda and not bolus anything.

[danielengel]

Hi Tom! Very nice Video, as always. I am 46 years old and Type 1 since 1 year. Before my diagnose I drank a lot of Beer. I avoid beer now, because high spikes at the beginning of drinking. What works best for me is drinking dry white Wine. No spikes at all, and no hypos in combination with eating enough while drinking. Thank you for all that interesting Videos. My TIR is 98% constantly and following your advices helped me a lot to get there!

[terencehawkes]

As a LADA insulin-dependent diabetic, I have found your videos extremely useful. I am very sad that you have decided to close your channel but I understand because hosting a channel is a heck of a lot of work. Good luck with whatever you choose to do in the future,

[lozano]

Thanks for the video, although as someone has already said this is common knowledge, it is worth remembering.
I am also a type 1 diabetic with more than 30 years of evolution (diagnosed in October 1989 at the age of 13).
When I was a teenager I related a lot with a group of friends who belonged to an association of diabetics and we are all diabetics so we shared a lot of information within the group in which we were approximately the same age and sometimes we drank together.
I usually drink wine (red or white) always dry with my wife sometimes a couple of glasses with dinner and this does not affect my glucose level.
At other times I drink beer and it is difficult to control because of the amount of carbohydrates.
Other times I drink aged rum with soda and my levels are practically unchanged.
If I'm honest, I prefer aged rum with soda, but I try to only drink it on special occasions.
Greetings from Spain.

[nthatotsotetsi]

Hi Tom ! I'm type 2 diabetic I always drink my whiskey on rocks, but during that I slice a green apple 🍏 and keep eating it whiles I'm drinking. It works well with me.

[yodaddy]

As a long time diabetic and drinker i concur the message. Love ur videos as they are very informative and delivered very well. Subing was worth it b

[marktownsley]

When I drink beer it's usually 2-3 bottles. Whiskey with zero sugar soda. Glucose stays pretty level, maybe a little raise.👍

[LonleyCopy]

I dont normally drink now i call myself a water baby as i drink lots of mineral water but sometimes i have a guiness since its full of iron with a dash of blackcurrent but only once a year to remember family who passed away

Great video

[danieltavares]

I was diagnosed recently with DM1, and started to drink just dry red wine. As I am in honeymoon, and I am not doing the treatment with fast insulin so far, I think it is better to keep in this way off the beer.

[lizethyedid]

I appreciate all the info a lot. Didn’t know that dry wine was ok! I’ll try it 🙂
In my case, I tried some zero carb Amstel seltzers (delicious!) and had stable BG while pairing them with some cheese and a couple of crackers bc they have higher alcohol % than beer, so keep that in mind.

[davidagiel]

I gave up alcohol and just smoke weed, doesn't raise my blood at all.

[Shankarees]

Hi, I sometimes have gin and diet tonic or whiskey and Diet Coke before dinner. Also, I have dry red or white wine with meat or fish. I became extra careful when drinking gin or whiskey because of a hypo one night because of access gin.

Prague is one of the most loved cities. I had spent two vacations there and love the people — Villi and Vladia who were my guides and friends whom I miss but lost touch with.

[RedPetrol]

I drink beer and usually don't take a shot with it. Only the first beer raises my glucose level, the second just keeps it hovering. For example once in a pub first beer had the level topping 8.8 but it went down to 5 quite fast, second beer having no significant change to it.

[veemontana]

I’m a diabetic and I drink a 6 pack of low carb beer everyday… don’t let people scare you enjoy yourself but be safe at the same time

[dinnes]

Thank you so much. I love your suggestions and practical tips. Stay well, Best Wishes from Western Canada.

[tranquil]

Good realistic analysis. People are going to drink: better learn how to do it in the least harmful way, and not kid yourself. The perfect can be the enemy of the good, as Voltaire is reputed to have said. If you can't be perfect, be good!

[no-el]

Good info. Watch your consumption of too.

[highrzr]

Me, I like beer. I find that low carb beers are better for me, but it's really hard to find a "low carb" beer that actually tastes good. Fortunately, I found 2 that I actually like. I also like Bourbon, Kentucky Straight or Tennessee Straight varieties. I prefer to "sip" my whiskey so there's nothing ever mixed with it.

[lucieni]

Watered down Vodka absolutely definitely. Spikes nothing but gets you where you want to go man...x