Food labels

[Charl]

At a recent meeting with my dietician she said I should be checking the sugar content (which I had not been doing) as well as the carbs, cant remember whether she mentioned figures, on a simple tin of tomato soup it says
Carbohydrate of which sugars
4.8 per 100g
9.7 per half can
So for the can 19.4
What is more or less an acceptable figure for a diabetic.
Thanks again

 

[Robin]

At a recent meeting with my dietician she said I should be checking the sugar content (which I had not been doing) as well as the carbs, cant remember whether she mentioned figures, on a simple tin of tomato soup it says
Carbohydrate of which sugars
4.8 per 100g
9.7 per half can
So for the can 19.4
What is more or less an acceptable figure for a diabetic.
Thanks again

If you are carb counting to work out your insulin dose, then carbs is the only thing on the label that you need to consider.
I wonder if your dietician is worried about spikes in your blood glucose readings, and thinks that if you avoid sugary foods it might help with those? I find eating stuff that’s low in sugar but high in refined carb is just as bad, so I’m not sure how much help that will be.
The best thing I find is to look at a spike, think about what I ate, and then decide whether I could have avoided the spike by taking my bolus insulin a bit earlier, or whether I need to eat the food with more protein or fat, or sometimes (rarely) whether it’s worth eating it at all, or only as an occasional treat.
Avoiding excess added sugar is good for our general health, but I don’t think it’s necessarily a useful thing in isolation for Type 1 diabetes management.

 

[Charl]

Yes it was the spikes, she said the insulin should look after the carbs as I carb count but to get rid of the spikes I should be looking more at the sugar content.

 

[Robin]

Yes it was the spikes, she said the insulin should look after the carbs as I carb count but to get rid of the spikes I should be looking more at the sugar content.

Ah, yes. I can see where she’s coming from, but looking at the sugar content in isolation isn’t going to solve the problem. Refined carbs have just as much of a spike effect on my blood glucose, and sugar or refined carbs are tamed somewhat if I've eaten protein or fat with them, as you would in a balanced meal.

 

[rebrascora]

Totally agree with what @Robin has said.
For something like a can of soup which isn't that high in sugar the timing of your bolus insulin will be key but you could add a little cream or have plenty of butter on your bread to help slow it down a bit or just have half a tin which after all is a normal portion size. To my mind with soup though it is just a question of timing your insulin and finding out how much of a head start it needs over the soup. ie. how much prebolus time.

How long do you currently inject your insulin in advance of a meal and do you vary it for different meals?
For instance I generally need 45mins prebolus time at breakfast but just 10-15 mins at other times of day and if my BG levels are in the 4s I can get away with injecting and eating straight away provided it isn't something to high in sugar or highly processed carbs.... and at breakfast time my insulin still usually needs half an hour head start.

These are the timings that work for me. You have to steadily increase your prebolus time by a few minutes each day until you find the right timing for you where the insulin and glucose hit your blood stream at more or less the same time. If you spike high, the glucose got there first, so you need to give the insulin more of a head start.

 

[Charl]

My prebolus time on a morning is around 20mins so I'm going to experiment with the times. Thanks

 

[Charl]

Increased my bolus timing to 45 mins, before the granola reading was 6.4
2 hours later tested it was 15.4
Looks like it's something else for breakfast.

 

[rebrascora]

I think that is a reasonable assumption although I would always do a couple of tests before discarding a food altogether. I am also extremely relieved you did not end up hypo!!

I would like to point out for yourself and anyone else reading this that it is important to increase your prebolus time cautious;y by a few minutes each day rather jumping straight to 45 mins.... which is the timing that currently works for my body with the insulin I use. I thought I had covered that in my final sentence in that post

These are the timings that work for me. You have to steadily increase your prebolus time by a few minutes each day until you find the right timing for you where the insulin and glucose hit your blood stream at more or less the same time.

but clearly I didn't emphasize it enough.
It could be very dangerous for someone just jumping straight to 45mins prebolus time as it creates a very real risk of hypo. My body actually needed 75 mins prebolus time with NovoRapid to prevent spikes after a lot of very careful experimenting and testing and is why I moved to Fiasp, which still needs 45 mins most days but some days less and some days more depending upon my waking reading, but I would certainly discourage anyone else from prebolusing that far in advance without cautiously experimenting and increasing it over a number of days/weeks.

Insulin is a very powerful tool in diabetes management and should be used with caution and respect, so that you safely learn what works for your body.

 

[Charl]

I did keep a close watch via my libre even though my low blood sugar alarm was set. Thanks

 

[Val1133]

I find that my BG levels don't start to rise until about 2 hours after eating and sometimes even later. My DN is not concerned about the rises in my BG levels after eating, she is only concerned in the readings before eating. I am in the early stages of being on insulin, so perhaps this is how they manage things initially. I take my basal insulin at night and bolus just before eating.

 

[rebrascora]

I did keep a close watch via my libre even though my low blood sugar alarm was set. Thanks

Pleased to hear it!
I know Libre makes it a lot safer but also important not to rely solely on the technology as it can let us down occasionally.
I started out doing finger prick tests every 5 mins beyond my previous prebolus time when I didn't have Libre. It was very intensive testing to get safe results.
I am also very conscious that my prebolus time may be quite excessive and many other people would hypo before 45 mins and certainly the 75 mins I needed with NovoRapid .... or whilst they were eating, if they left it that long.
It all depends on your starting BG, your digestive system and response to insulin, the type of insulin and your DP/FOTF surge ie liver output due to circadian triggers and perhaps if there was any alcohol involved the night before, so there is a lot to factor in when working out timing for breakfast insulin and easy to make a mistake when waiting such a long time like this, but keeping a close eye on Libre certainly reduces the risks.

 

[rebrascora]

I find that my BG levels don't start to rise until about 2 hours after eating and sometimes even later. My DN is not concerned about the rises in my BG levels after eating, she is only concerned in the readings before eating. I am in the early stages of being on insulin, so perhaps this is how they manage things initially. I take my basal insulin at night and bolus just before eating.

Hi. The spikes after eating are generally acceptable in the early days of diagnosis and your own pancreas is also probably contributing some insulin during the honeymoon period, especially as you are LADA, so that can help to reduce the height of the food spikes, but as things progress the spikes may become more pronounced and also with increased experience of using insulin you may want to fine tune your management a bit to reduce spikes and improve your time in range (if you have Libre or other CGM). So it isn't necessarily something to worry about, although I found spiking up to mid teens every morning and then coming back down to 5s made me feel ropey and once I was able to stabilize my levels and keep them below 10 most of the time, really helped me both physically and mentally. Sharp rollercoaster spikes and drops are not overly comfortable and not great for your body long term but it takes time, experience and technology to help you manage levels and prevent most of the roller coaster BG levels. I have highlighted most of the time, because we will never manage to control our levels all the time. The best we can do is manage them within our ability.