Insulin to cover legumes, beans n pulses

[Bloden]

On a recent carb counting course, we were told not to inject insulin to cover chick peas, etc. This is new advice for me - I’ve been weighing this little group, counting their carb, and covering them with insulin for the last 13 years. Hubby n me are eating more and more vegetarian food at home these days, so what do the forum’s veggies n vegans do? Ignore the carb in this little lot, or weigh them out and include them in a meal’s carb count? Advice’ll be much appreciated!

 

[Lanny]

On a recent carb counting course, we were told not to inject insulin to cover chick peas, etc. This is new advice for me - I’ve been weighing this little group, counting their carb, and covering them with insulin for the last 13 years. Hubby n me are eating more and more vegetarian food at home these days, so what do the forum’s veggies n vegans do? Ignore the carb in this little lot, or weigh them out and include them in a meal’s carb count? Advice’ll be much appreciated!

I was given the same advice EVEN for baked beans in tomato sauce, Heinz or other brands, of course! But, baked beans are the only type I eat as I don’t like beans of any type really! But, I can only eat a half small can of Heinz about 100g before it starts affecting my BS & that’s not a lot so, I have the full 200g small can, just a little bit more if having half of a big can that’s over 400g, & add what was +2, & is +4 now in relation to bigger doses due to not being able to tolerate metaformin!

I was told that the fibre means that the beans either goes straight through you with no impact on BS or releases very slowly to hardly make an impact! I think it’s the sugar in the tomato sauce that affects me which I CAN negate, if I wish, by not eating much of it?

 

[Sunshine81]

I'm new to the whole diabetes thing and haven't been on any carb counting courses yet, but I've been vegan for nearly 4 years. I have been counting them, but reducing the amount of carb I add into the total for the meal, which seems to be working for me. So if it says the portion has 14g carbs, I generally know count half of them. Not sure that's right, but so far it's working for me (only diagnosed 6 weeks ago. Antibody negative, but awaiting my c peptide result. On basal bolus insulin plus metformin at the mo).

 

[rebrascora]

I usually have to double what the carb count says for pulses. My body seems to be rather efficient at breaking them down..... I am guessing that some of the fibre can be broken down by some people's microbiome but not others.

If you have been counting them up until now and that is working for you then you would be right to continue counting them. I think it is similar to the low GI principle. Most people's bodies are slow to break down low Gi foods but not everyone. Our digestive systems all respond differently and we have to find what works for us as individuals.

 

[nonethewiser]

On a recent carb counting course, we were told not to inject insulin to cover chick peas, etc. This is new advice for me - I’ve been weighing this little group, counting their carb, and covering them with insulin for the last 13 years. Hubby n me are eating more and more vegetarian food at home these days, so what do the forum’s veggies n vegans do? Ignore the carb in this little lot, or weigh them out and include them in a meal’s carb count? Advice’ll be much appreciated!

Carry on regardless Bloden, obviously it works for you otherwise you'd have more hypos than enough after eating them.

Like Lanny mainly eat baked beans, had half tin on Saturday with some toast & poached eggs, counted beans in carb count as always do or would end up with high bg.

 

[helli]

On my carb counting course, I was told chickpeas were one of those things that some people digets and others don't. So, some of us need to carb count and others don't.
I guess for the sake of safety, you should start by assuming you are a non-digester and then add insulin if you find out otherwise.

 

[Bloden]

Thanks ev1 for the great advice. We’re edging gradually towards becoming vegetarians, so I can see our bean input (and wind output 😱) being every day rather than a couple of times a week. I’d best start noting down the hypos and hypers cos I have no idea whether covering these little beauties with insulin for the past 13 years has been successful or not. My BG is so random in the evening, it’s hard to see patterns for most of my evening meals.

I hope your results arrive asap @Sunshine81.

 

[Lucyr]

I ignore the advice and count and bolus for them. If you didn’t need to you would have been going hypo every time you ate them.

 

[Elenka_HM]

On my carb counting course, I was told chickpeas were one of those things that some people digets and others don't. So, some of us need to carb count and others don't.
I guess for the sake of safety, you should start by assuming you are a non-digester and then add insulin if you find out otherwise.

That's pretty much what they told us in the basic T1 course: they usually recommend not counting carbs in pulses, but they know some people will need to count them, it's the kind of stuff we discover testing before and after meals. They said the same for a few more foods, I think it was green peas and some processed meat products (the kind that sometimes has a lot of carby fillers such as potato starches).

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

I find allowing for ‘about half’ tends to work for me - though I confess I generally just add a bit rather than scrupulously calculating.

Do beans make you particularly farty? FWIW I think the theory is that it’s the undigested carbs that travel to the lower intestine where they are feasted on by bacteria giving off CO2 as a by-product, hence the reputation for gas.

 

[Bloden]

I ignore the advice and count and bolus for them. If you didn’t need to you would have been going hypo every time you ate them.

I can’t remember tbh. My BG in the evenings shows no clear patterns, so bean-eating just gets absorbed into the general mayhem of my evening meal aftermath LOL.
BUT, I tried eating lentils for lunch on Tuesday without insulin and my BG sky-rocketed...so, I think I’ve answered my own question - I need to bolus for them!
I also tried having insulin-free snacks of less than 10g carb - another idea from the carb count course. Er, no, that doesn’t work either.
You seem to have helped me come to an important realization - even tho I attended the carb count course with an open mind (and tried out all the new suggestions), after 13 1/2 years I know what my body does and doesn’t like.
Thanks @Lucyr. 🙂

 

[nonethewiser]

Do beans make you particularly farty? FWIW I think the theory is that it’s the undigested carbs that travel to the lower intestine where they are feasted on by bacteria giving off CO2 as a by-product, hence the reputation for gas.

Blazing Saddles, classic scene where they are sat around camp fire eating beans

 

[Bloden]

Do beans make you particularly farty? FWIW I think the theory is that it’s the undigested carbs that travel to the lower intestine where they are feasted on by bacteria giving off CO2 as a by-product, hence the reputation for gas.

Great question! Yer know what, and I’m sure everyone on the forum wants to know this, no...I have not been farting like a good ‘un. Which is a shame, cos I go into fits of giggles if I hear a fart. I’ve always thought farts are hilarious. Have you seen the film Blazing Saddles? There’s a scene where a bunch of cowboys are sitting around a fire eating beans (I’m laughing as I type this, it’s SO funny) and they all start farting. Hilarious!

 

[Bloden]

Blazing Saddles, classic scene where they are sat around camp fire eating beans

Beat me to it!

 

[nonethewiser]

Beat me to it!

So funny, no matter how many times you watch it it still makes you laugh.

 

[Bloden]

So funny, no matter how many times you watch it it still makes you laugh.

Yes, I’m not weird!

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

FWEEP! PRAPPP! BOIP! BLAAARP! GFRRRAAAAAARRRRPPP!

….

“Anyone want some more beans?”

”I’d say you’ve had enough!”

 

[Bloden]

Just realised FWIW isn’t a fart noise, it’s an acronym. PAAARP!

 

[rebrascora]

@Drummer has a theory I believe that those of us who get more carbs out of beans and lentils than they are supposed to contain (and hence need to carb count them) are less likely to fart when eating them because our body has broken down the harder to digest carbs that cause the flatulence in others.

 

[Elbram]

I eat beans and lentils, the dried mixed bag variety, every single day. I make a soup out of them with a decent stock and other veg for my breakfast instead of cereal, and I never seem to get bored of it. They make an amazing difference to my overall control. Back in the 80s, for me, veggies were not counted as part of the carb counting diet. As was explained to me back then, it encouraged us to eat more veg because they was "free". I was growing and constantly hungry so I took anything I could get. I think the easiest way to count beans is, to count the carbs on the packet first off, then work from there, if you feel a bit high after eating a whole meal of beans, double it, if low, half it - it is different for everyone. Also, try to soak the beans for much longer, apparently that deals with the bits in them that causes stomach issues in some people.