Splitting does eating out

[MichelleF78]

Hi all,
i was diagnosed with type 1 a week before Christmas and it’s been a massive life changer for me. Can anyone please give me their advice on eating out and splitting their novo rapid injections.

I was advised anything over 100 carbs should be split and then given again 2 hours later. I have found sometimes that my insulin seems to get lost somewhere when eating out and I get so frustrated with this. Thank you Michelle

 

[SB2015]

Hi all,
i was diagnosed with type 1 a week before Christmas and it’s been a massive life changer for me. Can anyone please give me their advice on eating out and splitting their novo rapid injections.

I was advised anything over 100 carbs should be split and then given again 2 hours later. I have found sometimes that my insulin seems to get lost somewhere when eating out and I get so frustrated with this. Thank you Michelle

Hi Michelle I have replied to this in your post in the Newbies thread.

Keep the questions coming

 

[nonethewiser]

Hi all,
i was diagnosed with type 1 a week before Christmas and it’s been a massive life changer for me. Can anyone please give me their advice on eating out and splitting their novo rapid injections.

I was advised anything over 100 carbs should be split and then given again 2 hours later. I have found sometimes that my insulin seems to get lost somewhere when eating out and I get so frustrated with this. Thank you Michelle

There's no right answer, lot depends on what meal contains, it's case of experimenting & being mindful of hypos hypers & take appropriate action.

Tbh took me years to work it all out, devices like libre certainly makes things easier to fathom out.

 

[PhoebeC]

Hi all,
i was diagnosed with type 1 a week before Christmas and it’s been a massive life changer for me. Can anyone please give me their advice on eating out and splitting their novo rapid injections.

I was advised anything over 100 carbs should be split and then given again 2 hours later. I have found sometimes that my insulin seems to get lost somewhere when eating out and I get so frustrated with this. Thank you Michelle

How much time before you eat do you take the insulin?

Eating out even less carbs I always have my insulin in 2 parts, half before it arrives (this can be unpredictable time) and half once it is at the table.

It’s trail and error unfortunately though, you will get there. Only early days for you and us years in still get things like this wrong x

 

[Charl]

Had an issue regarding eating out and insulin, took my full insulin dose arond 15min before eating (carb count estimation) 4 hrs later took another reading before bed to see if my estimation was abot right, it was down to 5.5 which i thought was ok, WRONG, was awoken at 1.00am with hypo symptoms, took a reading I was down to 2.0, would i have been better off splitting the dose, think the estimated dose was 16 units of novorapid, i thought id underestimated.

 

[helli]

@Charl I don't think splitting your dose would have helped if your levels went too low hours later.
The advantage of spliiting our dose is when the food takes a long time to digest or is eaten over a long period - with a single dose, the insulin will be working before the food is digested so we would hypo early.
In your situation, you may have taken too much insulin for what you ate or maybe you did more exercise than usual?

 

[Merryterry]

I think it is very dangerous to inject before the meal arrives when eating out because:
A) you do not know how long that meal will take to arrive.
B) you do not know how many carbs you are getting and how fatty the meal is?

I was talking to a paramedic about this and he told me that he had been called to a restaurant the day before to a lady with a hypo where the meal arrived after a long time and she had injected some time before.

I suggest that you will just have to take and educated guess when the meal arrives but err on the safe side. It is better to be wrong on the high BG side than on the hypo side. you can always adjust on the next injection.

 

[PhoebeC]

Also you can always ask how long the wait is, no harm in that.
As others have said was it too much insulin / exercise etc?
Guessing carbs when eating out is tricky. Some places now have the carbohydrate info on the menu due to the calorie information some restaurants need to provide, but that doesn’t always match the plate

 

[MichelleF78]

How much time before you eat do you take the insulin?

Eating out even less carbs I always have my insulin in 2 parts, half before it arrives (this can be unpredictable time) and half once it is at the table.

It’s trail and error unfortunately though, you will get there. Only early days for you and us years in still get things like this wrong x

Hi I was told 15 mins. I’m all over the place with this and I am completely miserable. Food is everything to me and I am depriving myself x

 

[Finn]

I think it is very dangerous to inject before the meal arrives when eating out because:
A) you do not know how long that meal will take to arrive.
B) you do not know how many carbs you are getting and how fatty the meal is?

Never count your carbs before they hatch. 😉

I've had a few times where I'd planned on one thing and it hasn't gone as planned. Once there was a food truck we often get veggie burgers from, but they hadn't gotten their bun delivery that day so we had to change plans. Another was a 45 minute walk to a bakery we go to regularly for pastry and tea, but the bakery was closed for a family holiday. And an ice cream stand we planned to visit, but they'd just finished up for the season and they were closed for the winter.

If I did ever decide to pre-bolus when out, I'd only do so if I had enough carbs on me (granola bars, snack, glucose tabs, juice) to cover the insulin if the food didn't arrive or the carbs weren't as I expected, but still leaving enough to treat a low. Even then, I'd probably be a very short, partial bolus at most, and I'd bolus the rest after the food arrived.

 

[JJay]

15 mins is fine when you can control the arrival time of your meal, eg at home, but in a restaurant I wouldn’t risk it. There can be a delay in service, or the wrong meal could be delivered meaning I might have to wait another 10-15 mins for a replacement. Also it means I can eyeball the plate to establish whether it roughly matches the carb amount I’ve calculated from the menu description! Only then would I inject, erring on the side of caution. I correct later on if necessary, with either insulin or extra carbs as appropriate.