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Vegetable confusion

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Martin62

Martin62

Well-Known Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 1
Hi All, I have always counted the carbs for any vegetables I am having with my meal as part of my bolus , but I have just read on another site that I should only count starchy veg , potatoes, swede , parsnips etc including peas .
I'm a bit confused now.
Martin.
 
When I was first diagnosed and on MDI, I was taught to concentrate on carbs in starchy veg and round up to account for the small amount of carbs in the remaining veg. As I could only inject whole units, This approximation worked well for most and was easier than including all veg. In addition to the bolus round up, when on MDI, we also have "spare" basal as the one (or two) dose a day assumes a flat profile.
It did not work as well for meals where I had lots of veg such as a veggie stir fry which I often eat without starchy items.
When I transferred to a pump, I was advised to include everything. The logic is that there is no"spare" basal and I can dose down to 0.05 units.

So, should you include all veg?
I would ask how it works for you? Do you need to include much extra insulin for the veg? Does the additional calculation cause any problems? How is you BG following you approach?
 
It depends how much you eat as much as anything. The starchy carbs will be the most important and then it depends on your capacity to do extra maths plus how tight your control is generally and whether you’re on a pump or injections. A pump works *best* when it has the best data input. With injections you’re working to a half unit at best. If your control is basically fine then don’t make extra work for yourself. If you notice that some meals where you have a lot of veg you go higher then allow some insulin for that. It’s all about balance. (Paeds dietician said not to count non starchy veg because they don’t expect kids to eat lots of veg but my kid was a veg fiend so we added a little bit extra to some meals.)
 
Thank you for your replies, I have tried leaving the veg out of my calculations and found that my levels were going higher than usual , I do have a mountain of veg though, so I will go back to adding in the carb values for them into my bolus again.
Martin
 
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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