CARB COUNTING PROBLEM

[mum2westiesGill]

Hi,
What would you do if you were eating a meal & we're totally unsure how many carbs to bolus for? ~ I've made a stew for tea & the problem is with the potatoes ~ I've cheated & used tinned potatoes ~ the carb count on the can says 17.1g of carbs per 1/3 of a can ~ a lot of the potatoes are really small

 

[Radders]

Hi,
What would you do if you were eating a meal & we're totally unsure how many carbs to bolus for? ~ I've made a stew for tea & the problem is with the potatoes ~ I've cheated & used tinned potatoes ~ the carb count on the can says 17.1g of carbs per 1/3 of a can ~ a lot of the potatoes are really small

I'm not sure why you can't work out the carb content Gill?
Did you add the whole tin? Or are you worried that the distribution of potato in the stew might be uneven?
If it's the latter I completely sympathise and I would make sure when dishing up that I either left out the potatoes altogether on my own plate or I might even count them out: one for you, one for me, you get my drift!

 

[khskel]

Dish them out as evenly as you can and that's just short of 26g of carbs from the spuds.

 

[mum2westiesGill]

I'm not sure why you can't work out the carb content Gill?
Did you add the whole tin? Or are you worried that the distribution of potato in the stew might be uneven?
If it's the latter I completely sympathise and I would make sure when dishing up that I either left out the potatoes altogether on my own plate or I might even count them out: one for you, one for me, you get my drift!

Hi @Radders
I added 3 tins to the stew & it was the latter some potatoes were tiny & some were bigger.
In the end I ate then corrected 1 hour after eating ~ BG was 21.2 but I'm happy to say it's come back down. Maybe next time I will dish mine up without the potatoes & have mine with something else 😡

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

With difficult meals (either home made or when eating out) I think you need to just make your best guess and then keep an eye on things afterwards. But you will get better results if you have at least SOME insulin, even if it's a conservative guess, before you eat.

That 21.x must have made you feel really grim! 😱

 

[Pumper_Sue]

Hi @Radders
I added 3 tins to the stew & it was the latter some potatoes were tiny & some were bigger.
In the end I ate then corrected 1 hour after eating ~ BG was 21.2 but I'm happy to say it's come back down. Maybe next time I will dish mine up without the potatoes & have mine with something else 😡

Why don't you just cook stews like that in a separate/individual dish? Solves a lot of problems

 

[mum2westiesGill]

With difficult meals (either home made or when eating out) I think you need to just make your best guess and then keep an eye on things afterowards. But you will get better results if you have at least SOME insulin, even if it's a conservative guess, before you eat.

That 21.x must have made you feel really grim! 😱

Hi @everydayupsanddowns,
Thanks for your reply & yes that would be a much better thing to do ie injecting at least SOME insulin before eating.....

Yes when I saw that horrible 21 it did make me feel pretty grim especially after having lots/hundreds of levels like that when I had DKA

Would it maybe be best to have just 2iu ~ for me with my ratio of 1:10 that would cover 20g of carbs ~ before the meal then check 1-2 hours after eating.........? Obviously it would also depend on what BG'S are before eating.....

 

[Kaylz]

I would do as @Pumper_Sue suggests, make everyone else's in a normal sized dish and make your own in an individual dish so you know exactly how much is in it, much easier that way x

 

[Lucy Honeychurch]

It's all a learning curve. Perhaps next time just cook the spuds separately, as been suggested.

 

[trophywench]

I would only put a spud in stew if I'm short of other veg. As far as I'm concerned, spuds are not a an ingredient of it and the root veg are quite filling enough. In any event with the shallots/onion/leek plus the carrots, parsnips, swede and turnip need jabbing for anyway cos there's A Lot in my stew! LOL If Pete doesn't think it's filling enough - he has some bread with his.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

I would generally assume that everything was completely evenly distributed, and dose on that basis as a proportion of the whole "I think I'm having about a quarter/fifth of this...".

But then because I *know* it's not always going to be evenly distributed, I check a bit more often through the evening. We include spuds in a few of those hearty soups/stews (like the Scotch broth one stuffed with root ved and grains) and it usually works out not far off... or it it doesn't I'm watching out for it. 🙂

 

[Radders]

I would generally assume that everything was completely evenly distributed, and dose on that basis as a proportion of the whole "I think I'm having about a quarter/fifth of this...".

But then because I *know* it's not always going to be evenly distributed, I check a bit more often through the evening. We include spuds in a few of those hearty soups/stews (like the Scotch broth one stuffed with root ved and grains) and it usually works out not far off... or it it doesn't I'm watching out for it. 🙂

That's what I would do, but like Jen I just wouldn't add potatoes to a stew.

 

[declan88]

Hi

I think the best approaches are either:
I) ideally in advance cut bigger spuds to size of smaller ones so then every ladel gives even amount on average
Or
2) buy a 0-500g scales
Out of your portion of stew
Pick spuds out and weigh then in a plastic container, before returning to stew.

 

[mum2westiesGill]

Out of your portion of stew
Pick spuds out and weigh then in a plastic container, before returning to stew.

I might try this next time