Daily Diabetical Carbcount conundrum

[rossi_mac]

Everyone is different but if my meal is over 15 units I do a 75-25 split before and after meal

Sounds like a good idea Boi!

I ate the jacket last night and injected after I ate, and injected 4 units basing it on a 60gram meal as when cooked it weighed 200 grams and I didnn't count for the mayonnaise ni the tune or the salad even though I had about a dozen little tomatoes.

Couldn't have been that bad as before bed I was 6.3 and 6.7 this morning!

Just had a chicken and bacon salad 40 grams of crabs so inject 6 units as a wee bit high and will have a choc biscuit in a bit.

So it looks like I have 3 different ratios and they might even work! Breaky 12 grams, lunch 10 grams, dinner 15 grams!

Cheers

Rossi

 

[novorapidboi26]

Sounds like a good idea Boi!

I ate the jacket last night and injected after I ate, and injected 4 units basing it on a 60gram meal as when cooked it weighed 200 grams and I didnn't count for the mayonnaise ni the tune or the salad even though I had about a dozen little tomatoes.

Couldn't have been that bad as before bed I was 6.3 and 6.7 this morning!

Just had a chicken and bacon salad 40 grams of crabs so inject 6 units as a wee bit high and will have a choc biscuit in a bit.

So it looks like I have 3 different ratios and they might even work! Breaky 12 grams, lunch 10 grams, dinner 15 grams!

Cheers

Rossi

Looks like your getting to grips with it mate.........I think with the jacket pot, on its own, is that its a steady release of glucose, even if its not straight away which is why splitting it probably wouldnt of done much, I only really split if its a mixture of different foods with different GIs that will all be released at different rates as my digestive system sifts through it....

Where does the 40g come from in your salad..........?

 

[rossi_mac]

it said so on the back of the packet didn't question it lots of sauces, twas a layered one from m&s (half price) although shaking like a leaf right now, so maybe it is questionable!

 

[novorapidboi26]

it said so on the back of the packet didn't question it lots of sauces, twas a layered one from m&s (half price) although shaking like a leaf right now, so maybe it is questionable!

lol...........get some jelly babies in you.............if thats what the packet says its probably right, I didnt think of any dressing sauces as I, or the misses, makes mine at lunch......

Might of been one of those per 100g carry ons...............

 

[mimms2]

Right , when i first got diagnosed i got the usual leaflets and pep talks , nothing mentioned about carb counting and ive never been offered courses . I ve had the usual struggles with getting my readings down and the juggling of insulin ,, but im human and still love the odd packet crisps or cake etc ,
I really dont think ive been educated about what to eat etc ,, im goign make appointment for docs and ask about this DAFFRE course ,, Im also goign ask about weight referal , i need to lose weight ,, I didnt know these things excisted until I came on this support forum ,
I been reading all this with utter confusion ,, you are all wonderful ,, i really need to understand all this !

 

[rossi_mac]

Hey mimms

Sorry you feel you haven't been educated about what to do, but glad you've found this gaff, crackin ain't it!
Not sure how long you have been diagnosed, but I assume you're on Insulin so I would guess you should get to know about carb counting etc.
However when I was first diagnosed I wasn't told about carb counting, I had a couple of months just eating normally (?), and injecting a set amount prior to each meal and before bed. Then they told me about adjusting my dose. I think for me this was a good way around it, there is a hell of a lot to take in and they can't tell you everything straight away.
If you have any specific questions, please do ask on here or another thread or start your own thread.

Take care,

Rossi 🙂

 

[Phil65]

Tried a different approach last night. I had spaghetti carbonara, bit of side salad, and some garlic bread, total carbs were 145. I split my dose of humalog, I took 20 units before eating (my pre meal BG was 5.1) and another 10 units 40 minutes later, my BG at 11.10 pm was 5.0 🙂 took 38 units of lantus. This morning at 7.30 my BG was 6.8 🙂 Really pleased!!, pasta often a problem for me, but splitting the dose (as read on this forum) has definitely worked for me and I will continue to use this method!!

 

[rossi_mac]

nice work there phil, I think I would consider splitting if I had a large bowl of pasta.

Had chip van fish & chips and weighed my portion of chips and fish and consulted my gem book and used the ratio of 15gramms injected all at begining, and all good, even with a glass of red to wash it down!

On same lunch as yesterday and hope not to hypo so have taken less 2.5 instead of 4!

Cheers

🙂

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Loving this thread Rossi. Brilliant to see carb counting working so well for everyone. Some cracking results being posted even with tricky meals.

Mimms - if you haven't come across the idea before but are curious there's an online course you can do here http://www.bdec-e-learning.com/

I sent a letter to DUK about the dreadful lack of education given to some people on insulin here: Not counting - the cost

 

[Phil65]

Loving this thread Rossi. Brilliant to see carb counting working so well for everyone. Some cracking results being posted even with tricky meals.

Mimms - if you haven't come across the idea before but are curious there's an online course you can do here http://www.bdec-e-learning.com/

I sent a letter to DUK about the dreadful lack of education given to some people on insulin here: Not counting - the cost

Great article Mike........I wonder if DUK will publish?!!

 

[mimms2]

Thank you for making me aware of the importance of carb counting ,
Im reading through all the posts and going to try the online course ,
Mike, your letter to DUK made perfect sense , im so overwhelmed at the lack of information ive had with my medical team , thank you all x🙂

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Understand this point but can never work out how you do that if cooking for more than one person? (Same with rice)

Hi Carolyn

Sorry I missed your reply... took my eye off this thread for a few days!

Perhaps our approach is a bit more crude than others, perhaps we've just got used to it after so many years, but we find measuring out dry ingredients works well enough for me. By contrast some people's approach seems like laser-precision! We only ever really count in numbers of 5g or 10g rounding up or down. There are so many other variables (number of times I've walked up and down stairs, size of piece of fruit, ripeness, actual makeup/number of raisins in that particular bowl of muesli, ambient temperature, stress level... blah blah blah) that gram-perfect counting hasn't ever really seemed worth the bother.

For simplicity I often aim for the same amount of CHO in an evening meal (60g). Not a huge plateful for pasta, but we bulk up with lots of yummy roasted veg or whatever that counts for little. Pretty decent helping of rice (though not a takeaway-style blowout by any means). Before we had kids it was easy... measure 200g of pasta and dish up equally between 2 plates. When the kids were small we did three portions and dished up 1 1 .5 and .5

These days, now that the girls are bigger, we do 4 lots of same sized portions and sort of split it evenly. I'm also pretty used to what a helping of around 60g CHO in rice or pasta looks like on our plates (though we still measure the cooked quantity to begin with).

With that ready-reckoner in my head, guestimating monster takeaway portions and meals out has become a bit more art than science. But then I think a lot of diabetes management is like that.

Like most things in my life it's a sort of combination between careful measurement and stab-in-the-dark guesswork.

Seem to be getting away with it quite a lot of the time though 🙂

 

[MeanMom]

Thanks MIke - yes I think with more practise (and confidence) the 'guestimate' is the way forward. I accidently did it last night (sort of) because K and I had pasta and my lentil bolognase (sp?) and Id weighed hers but then couldnt remember which was hers and which was mine (she eats about the same amout as me) So just guessed which was hers (Her BS all over the place anyway so no idea what the result was)
In the 'early days' my hubby made mash potato (always his job) and said 'o thats about 200g of mash' which I decided was too much for her so took about half off. Weighed what she had left and it was still 150g! (We have measuring spoons for it now😉

What about this one this morning?
Woke up BS 8 (ish)
Slice of 'Best of both' toast - 20 carbs
Jam -20 carbs
200ml Milk - 10
Cream cracker - 6
I know, I know , too much jam😱 - my husband does her breakfast😛
So total carbs 56 divided by 5 (her new 1:5 b'fast ratio) = 11 units Novorapid BEFORE b'fast
School , inclu PE, also including a 15g snack (either rice cakes or malted milk biscuits - she had both with her)
Pre Lunch reading 13 (ish) - so that didnt work - did it

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Hmmmm tricky one that!

My first thought given the jam and best of both (which would both hit me quite quick, no idea about K) is that if I spike way up after a meal I need more insulin to bring me back to proper levels.

I'm sure I read some clever explanation somewhere (here?) about how much more insulin is needed to reduce by x mmol/L at 12.x as opposed to 6.x or whatever.

But with a set up like that (breakfast... exercise... level of activity... post PE snack...) it's almost impossible to know what caused what without a bunch of tests in between breakfast and lunch. Hardly practical for her at school

I suppose if this is a regular school day you could take today's result as a basis for further experimentation the next time that day comes round on the timetable? Try without the snack? Miss the cream cracker at breakfast?

 

[MeanMom]

Hmmmm tricky one that!

I suppose if this is a regular school day you could take today's result as a basis for further experimentation the next time that day comes round on the timetable? Try without the snack? Miss the cream cracker at breakfast?

Welcome to our life

That wasnt her usual breakfast and yes any bread I'm beginning to think is dodgy for her (she usually has wholemeal, but thats nearly as bad) Usual breakfast is scrambled eggs and toast or cheese on toast though so it was only the jam that was 'new'

Like you say the only way to know for sure is to test more - not going to happen at school I'm afraid and at home levels are a whole different calculation so wouldnt help much with school day levels. Ho Hum

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

That wasnt her usual breakfast and yes any bread I'm beginning to think is dodgy for her (she usually has wholemeal, but thats nearly as bad) Usual breakfast is scrambled eggs and toast or cheese on toast though so it was only the jam that was 'new'

HI Carolyn

Thanks for your 'battered sausage'/'throws calculator out of window' thread. Made me laugh 🙂

Regarding bread... you may well know this already, but I did a little bit of looking around earlier this year (I'd always thought anything wholemeal would be fine, but like you found there was little difference in release time between that and white). The best bread (in average GI terms) for many diabetics seems to be Burgen soya/linseed which has a GI in the 'low' category. It's quite a seedy one (whole seed and grains far harder for the gut to break down so slower release). If K is anything like my girls she may have an aversion to seedy breads. Both my daughters did, though one now loves Burgen and will choose it over regular wholemeal! Stoneground wholemeal seems to be slower release than regular wholemeal (the grains are not so effectively mashed in the coarser stoneground flour so there's more work to be done breaking them down).

Of course for a slower release the cheese in cheese-on-toast will work wonders 🙂

Hth
M

 

[rossi_mac]

Morning campers

How about this one...

So I've worked out some ratios, no doubt I'll be tweaking them a bit over the next wee while.

Do your ratios work for all food types?

I got a low for lunch t'other day and carb counted right as had it written on the side. I realise some foods have different GI values so sometimes splitting a dose is done to match the profile of the insulin with the profile of the food..

Any thoughts etc always welcome.

Cheers

Rossi 🙂

 

[Phil65]

Morning campers

How about this one...

So I've worked out some ratios, no doubt I'll be tweaking them a bit over the next wee while.

Do your ratios work for all food types?

I got a low for lunch t'other day and carb counted right as had it written on the side. I realise some foods have different GI values so sometimes splitting a dose is done to match the profile of the insulin with the profile of the food..

Any thoughts etc always welcome.

Cheers

Rossi 🙂

I always now split my dose if I'm having pasta or pizza. 2/3rds before I eat and a 1/3 after I eat. Last week I had a big bowl of spaghetti carbonara, carb counted, I am 2 units of humalog to 10g of carb, took 20 units before I ate, 10g an hour after eating, I was 5.1 pre meal at 8.20pm, at 11.10pm I was 5.0and at 7.34am I was 6.8!! Happy days. I had always ran high with pasta with a single dose pre-meal.

 

[rossi_mac]

I always now split my dose if I'm having pasta or pizza. 2/3rds before I eat and a 1/3 after I eat. Last week I had a big bowl of spaghetti carbonara, carb counted, I am 2 units of humalog to 10g of carb, took 20 units before I ate, 10g an hour after eating, I was 5.1 pre meal at 8.20pm, at 11.10pm I was 5.0and at 7.34am I was 6.8!! Happy days. I had always ran high with pasta with a single dose pre-meal.

Cracking result there Phil,

Can I ask what "10g an hour after eating" means? So you took 20 units before meal then every hour you took 2 units until you had taken your lot?

Sorry if I'm being (extra) dim

Rossi

 

[Phil65]

Cracking result there Phil,

Can I ask what "10g an hour after eating" means? So you took 20 units before meal then every hour you took 2 units until you had taken your lot?

Sorry if I'm being (extra) dim

Rossi

Doh!! Sorry Rossi.......I meant 10 units not 10g!!!!!