• Please Remember: Members are only permitted to share their own experiences. Members are not qualified to give medical advice. Additionally, everyone manages their health differently. Please be respectful of other people's opinions about their own diabetes management.
  • We seem to be having technical difficulties with new user accounts. If you are trying to register please check your Spam or Junk folder for your confirmation email. If you still haven't received a confirmation email, please reach out to our support inbox: support.forum@diabetes.org.uk

Snacks

Status
This thread is now closed. Please contact Anna DUK, Ieva DUK or everydayupsanddowns if you would like it re-opened.
A

andyboy

Active Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 2
Hi. I'm relatively new using basal bolus method and have a question regarding snacks. Do people using this inject before having a quick snack e.g a pack of crisps.


Thanks

Andy
 
andyboy said:
Hi. I'm relatively new using basal bolus method and have a question regarding snacks. Do people using this inject before having a quick snack e.g a pack of crisps.


Thanks

Andy
Click to expand...
Yes I would bolus for a snack as large as that unless there was a walk or other form of exercise involved.

Obviously as we are all different your best bet would be to see what happens if you don't bolus ie test your bloods crisps are very fatty though so expect higher bloods a few hours down the line.
 
Yes, i would. Plus everything that @Pumper_Sue said.
 
Anything with enough carbs in should be bloused for accordingly 🙂 x
 
andyboy said:
Thanks for replying. Would this also include fruit?
Click to expand...

Hi Andy,
basically you have to account for all carbs consumed.
If you look at it from a different angle....... Say for instance your carb ratio is 10 carbs for 1 unit of insulin then you are depriving your body of that amount of insulin. A packet of crisps for instance is more than 10 carbs so you are down 1 unit at least before you account for the rest of it depending on brand and pkt size.

Obviously trial and error plays a good part whilst finding out how exercise and snacking affect you 🙂
 
The only times I don't bolus for a snack are:
- hypos, obviously
- blood sugar is dropping and I need to top it up
- I am about to do some exercise which past experience tells me will lower my levels
- the snack is less than 5g carbs as I can't be bothered dosing less than half a unit. This includes carb free snacks
- I planned the snack in advance and covered it in a previous bolus.
 
Radders said:
The only times I don't bolus for a snack are:
- hypos, obviously
- blood sugar is dropping and I need to top it up
- I am about to do some exercise which past experience tells me will lower my levels
- the snack is less than 5g carbs as I can't be bothered dosing less than half a unit. This includes carb free snacks
- I planned the snack in advance and covered it in a previous bolus.
Click to expand...
Exactly the same as me 🙂 On the whole, unless one of the above situations has occurred, I wouldn't bother 'bolusing for a biscuit' - for me it's not worth the extra injection of a unit or two for the sake of a carby snack, as you also have the potential to 'stack' the insulin i.e. still have active insulin from a previous injection and then adding another injection - very easy to lose track of where you are with the 'insulin on board'. Usually, I do the last in @Radders' list and plan the snack with a previous bolus e.g. have an extra unit with my lunch bolus in the expectation of having a mid-afternoon snack.

There's also the problem that 'fast acting' insulin really isn't that fast, so injecting a couple of units so you can have a bag of unplanned crisps is likely to mean a 15-45 min wait if you don't want the snack to spike you then drop swiftly when the insulin starts peaking long after you've finished eating 😱
 
snack s
i have just got my no 5 pump acc-check spirit combo useing this type since 2007 now i was to hospital clinic to set upon pump but because of sickness the appointment got cancelled so i said i would set it on my own which i did only thing i forget how to set up MULTIWAVE so i phoned acc-chek helpline and in 4/5 all done simples
but on sending all details of set to my clinic Basel .rates Time blocks , acting times upend down percentage s on health
i put in 12 carbs in snack s
i got a reply to put it up to say 20 carbs looking into further accu -chek books say to not bolus for snack s correct or not please advise
ever since i have been on pumps never been discussed or trained with this point .
but have ALWAYS done a 1 unit bolus for say 1 digestive biscuit . or blue riband done it for years but if i have snack at 3.30 pm never bolus strange always taught to count and bolus even on 2 injections a day since 1957
regards vic
plus acting insulin 30 min s 6 hour life NOVORAPID OLD INSULIN 80 UNITS
 
Well I think you need to talk to them or at least email back, to ask why they are saying that to you? They'd certainly need to explain it to me if they said that!
 
When my daughter was first diagnosed we were told that any snack less than 10g carbs didn't need to be bolused for, presumably because the resulting dose is so tiny that it won’t make much difference, or because 10g carb won’t affect your blood sugar much (perhaps I should have asked why, it was very early days though and I was probably a bit overwhelmed by it all!). The average bag of crisps is about 13g though so we would always bolus for that.
 
trophywench said:
Well I think you need to talk to them or at least email back, to ask why they are saying that to you? They'd certainly need to explain it to me if they said that!
Click to expand...
many thanks for comments Trophy Wrench.
will as i always my old chap told many years back sometimes its best to row your own boat
i will still bolus for a snack unless i do take a blood sugar and tell me different .
trust you are well soon be the mad season for carbs .
but we do now how to bolus ,or just walk like the wind to get thing back to normal ....
enjoy yourself keep safe and a merry one VIC
 
Well because I can, with a pump, bolus a tiddly little bit for anything, I usually do unless it's under 5g carb.

20g carb increases my BG by 6.0 so there's No Way I could not bolus for that - I'd be inviting whoever suggested such a thing to take a running jump!
 
Trophywench
hallo again vic
article taken from ACCU-CHEK AVIVA COBO USER, S MANUAL on page 44
snack size is the amount of carbohydrates that is not to be counted as a regular meal with the expected meal rise .
any increase in your blood glucose result is not tolerated since the meal rise factor is not trigged for bolus advice calculations ..
well i have never really taken any notice of this till last weak when it was n mention last week on my new pump 5 one in 12years
so as you say i always will say if i have 12 carbs small riband or that type give a bolus 1 unit to 16 grms
any way my dear enjoy the festival and the SNOW THEY keep on forecasting
vic
 
Status
This thread is now closed. Please contact Anna DUK, Ieva DUK or everydayupsanddowns if you would like it re-opened.
Back
Top