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Glycemic Index app

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ky333

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Relationship to Diabetes
Parent of person with diabetes
Im looking more closely at what type of foods my daughter is eating and trying to understand the timings and GI of each one. We know the very basics of GI but are wondering if there are any apps that people recommend to work out the GI of any foods more quickly?

Also if you have a varied meal as a typical 8 year old would, how would we work out the GI for such? I.e if she ate white pasta with tuna and veg but then had a sugary dessert?

Many Thanks
 
I maybe wrong but I don't remember anyone mentioning a GI app.
 
There was one either on here or in the news recently.

Can I ask if your daughter is type one?
If so, and you are trying to work out insulins, it's probably best to put in a bit more information, as there are some very experienced posters on here for that sort of question.
 
travellor said:
There was one either on here or in the news recently.

Can I ask if your daughter is type one?
If so, and you are trying to work out insulins, it's probably best to put in a bit more information, as there are some very experienced posters on here for that sort of question.
Click to expand...
If you are thinking of mySugr that is not GI that is a Blood Sugar app.
 
Hi @ky333 Ive seen various GI apps but they’re often linked with weight loss rather than diabetes. Lots are US too so the carb info isn’t how we’d count it in the U.K.

If you google, you’ll find a few, so e of which give you a free trial.

Personally I just aim to eat med or low GI foods most of the time but don’t obsess about it unless they’re foods I eat on a regular basis eg breakfast cereal and bread. I also find it simpler to avoid high GI foods as much as possible rather than worry about individual GI differences. So, I know my cereals aren’t high GI and I know my bread isn’t, but I don’t know the GI of every food I have.

There’s also the added problem that we’re all individuals and so our response to a certain food might not fit the text book eg we could absorb a low GI food faster than many other people, so that food isn’t ‘low’ for us as an individual. (I did read a study about this year’s ago but can’t find it now)

To answer your question about the mixed meal, that would be the GL - glcaemic load of the whole meal you’d need to think about but It’s complicated and I don’t think there’s an app for that.

The best thing IMO is to keep a notebook with different meals in, along with the carb count for that meal, and how much in advance you needed to bolus. You can then add comments about the ‘speed’ of the meal, what amount of pasta worked best, average blood sugar two hours post-meal, etc etc.

To find out actually GI values, I use an old chart I got when I first had my insulin pump (because sometimes lower GI foods need an extended bolus) or just google. But, generally, I simply choose mainly low/med GI foods and don’t bother to think too much about GI or GL, just how individual meals affect me.
 
Ok thanks all. It is for my daughter who is 8. She has just been diagnosed type 1 a few weeks ago. She is having high BG spikes 2 hours after most meals and I thought if I could work out which foods are particularly causing these we could try and reduce them slightly.
 
Define your 'high spike' and also tell us how long her BG takes to return to her pre-meal level?
 
ky333 said:
Ok thanks all. It is for my daughter who is 8. She has just been diagnosed type 1 a few weeks ago. She is having high BG spikes 2 hours after most meals and I thought if I could work out which foods are particularly causing these we could try and reduce them slightly.
Click to expand...

If she’s very recently diagnosed, it will take a little time to get insulin doses sorted - which is ok because it’s better to err on the side of caution for anyone, and especially for a child. So don’t be disheartened or think you’re doing something wrong.

Are you counting carbs? Does she have separate insulin to carb ratios for each meal (ie breakfast, lunch, etc) or is she on fixed doses of insulin for her meals?

In general, to reduce post-meal spikes, you need to take the right amount of insulin at the right time. I’ve italicised that last bit because it’s important. Giving the mealtime injection the right amount ahead of the meal will really help control any spike. For some meals 15mins in advance might work, for others it might be 20 or 30 mins in advance, eg with Humalog I need to inject 30 mins before eating breakfast but only 10 or 15 mins in advance for lunch and evening meal. This ‘advance bolusing’ (Bolus = meal time injection) is what controls any spike.
 
Today for instance, woke on 5.5 - 2 hrs later was 13.2, 2 hrs after this i.e lunch time was 5.7. 2 hours after eating lunch was 10.7. Went down to 7.0 just before tea. ( she checks her BG every 2 hours)

So 5.5 0800
13.2 1000
5.7 1200
10.7 1400
7.0 1600
 
Today for breakfast she had weetabix and 1 white toast with butter - we waited 15 min from injection to eating - do you think we need to wait longer?
 
You could certainly try moving her injection earlier very carefully. So, try 20 mins in advance at first and keep with that (20 mins) for a few days to see how it’s working. Then, if necessary, you can move it a further 5 mins in advance (ie to 25 mins). You’re trying to find the ‘sweet spot’ where it’s enough in advance to have the insulin working when she eats but not so far in advance that she drops low before she eats.

Personally, I’d also look at trying a different bread too. Maybe one of those 50/50 white/brown breads or a sour dough one. Some white breads are pretty high GI and changing to a better bread can make a big difference.
 
That all presumes she’s got the right ratio (insulin to carbs amount) for breakfast, of course. You could try moving the injection more in advance and then if she’s still going slightly too high, it might be her ratio needs looking at.

As an example, I need more insulin to carbs at breakfast than I do at lunch or evening meal.
 
The old advice was to not worry too much as long as the BG was back to where it was by 4 hours after eating and hers is. The other thing to take into account is, whilst she's not at school and she hasn't been, she quite likely isn't taking the amount of exercise she normally will take in a school day so until she's back doing whatever she's usually going to be doing on normal days - frankly I wouldn't get too hung up about it right now. As you'll very soon find out, no sooner will you think you've sorted it, summat else will happen including growth hormones and the soon ever present female ones, which will have varying effects on control.

Have you been recommended to invest in the Ragnar Hanas book, Type 1 diabetes in children adolescents and young adults?
 
As @Inka says it can really help to leave a bit of a gap between administering the dose and eating the carbs?

It can take 15-20 minutes for the insulin to become available, and some foods don’t have the decency to wait for it!
 
I think you’ve identified one of the main challenges with standard GI tables. They are a slightly artificial measure of an average response from 100 people eating 50g in carbs of a food in isolation... but that’s not really the way we generally eat foods. You can get a weighted version called Glycaemic Load which takes into account likely portion size.

But it is still an average (so some people may have a far faster reaction than others) so won’t necessarily tell you with any clarity what will happen with your daughter.

I almost think you will be better off developing your own GI tables of regular meals and snacks by experimentation?
 
I swear by the fact that Novorapid does exactly what it says on the tin ie starts working in 10 minutes after 'jabbing' (because I've gone hypo before the carbs have started hitting) - but shedloads of other people find differently. So it's no good me jabbing 20 mins upfront or them not doing it until their plate's in front of them.
 
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