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Type 1 diabetes polyols and carb counting

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

Wutanga1

Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Parent of person with diabetes
OK so I am not diabetic. My kid is, T1. We carb count for her.

I eat biscuits and things sweetened with polyols, sweeteners, for personal reasons. Usually maltitol and xylitol.

She likes these biscuits. She wants to eat them. But I have zero idea how to count them for her. Some info online seems to say count as a carb, i.e. 1 gram polyol = 1 gram carb for insulin calcs. Some say to only count the non-polyol carb amount from the label, as some (e.g. xylitol) have very low net carbs, and some (maltitol) do get at least partially broken down into glucose and this affects blood glucose. I don't want to overcalculate - as she's only a young'un, overcalculating may lead to a hypo situation. But I don't want to underestimate.

I have found so many different guidelines it's confusing. And the seeming standard 'don't eat these as they are wrongly marketed as diabetic foods' line from the doctors/nutritionist is not helpful as I DO eat these products, my daughter likes them, and in any case I haev NEVER seem the biscuits etc. I use advertised as 'suitable for diabetics.' Any advice - or even better trusted guidelines or experience?
 
The answer is to find a time when your daughter's levels are pretty stable and try one biscuit to see how she responds to it because we are all different and our digestive systems are all different and some people may be able to break down some of these polyols whilst others don't. The only way to find out how your daughter responds is to try it and see. One biscuit is hardly going to do her any harm or ruin her results. Once you see how much one biscuit raises her levels you will have a good idea how much insulin it will need and you can just work from there is she wats 2 biscuits for instance.

Carb counting is not an exact science, it is more muddling along with a bit or educated guessing and using past experience. My body (and I am not the only one who finds this) seems to be able to extract more carbs from lentil and beans than they are supposed to contain. I love lentils so I just give myself a bit of extra insulin for them. It is not necessarily that some carb contents are wrong and you should avoid them it is just about learning how much insulin you (or your daughter in this case) actually needs for them.
 
The way I see it is that we are all different.
I suggest trying one biscuit without bolus and see what the impact is.

Regarding whether it is suitable for diabetics - it is no longer legal to advertise food suitable for diabetics or not. Often this was (and still is in some places) targeted for people with type 2 diabetes rather than Type 1.
 
Status
This thread is now closed. Please contact Anna DUK, Ieva DUK or everydayupsanddowns if you would like it re-opened.
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