Weird Problem Foods

[TheClockworkDodo]

Does anyone else have foods they really can't eat, which wouldn't normally be expected to effect diabetics?

Apart from my food intolerances (which aren't diabetes-related), I can eat pretty much what I want. All the things which non-diabetics think diabetics can't have are fine for me - pasta, rice, cereals, breads, cakes, puddings, biscuits, ice lollies - you name it, if it's high in carbs, I can eat it and it makes very little difference to my bgl - I might have to inject one or two more units of insulin, but that's it.

So, as far as my diabetes is concerned, I can eat anything ...

... except eggs. Yes, all the half a gram of carbs in an egg makes my bgl shoot up to ridiculous levels, every time I've been gradually increasing the insulin I use for them, but it doesn't seem to make any difference.

For instance, normally if I ate 2 pieces of toast, a helping of green veg, a yoghurt, and a biscuit - around 56g carbs - I'd need 3.5 units insulin. If I put something like cheese or marmite on that toast it wouldn't - as you'd expect - make any difference, I'd still need 3.5 units insulin. But last week I had that exact meal with the addition of 2 boiled eggs - so, around 57g carbs - and I had 8.5 units of insulin, a whole 5 extra just for the eggs! - and when I went to bed that evening my bgl was 14.7 😱

In fact, whatever I do, if I eat eggs I end up with a bgl of around 15, so I think I'm going to have to give them up for good. Weirdly I can eat them in other things - a chocolate brownie made with eggs makes no more difference to my bgl than a plain biscuit made without them.

Anyone else have any problems with eggs? Or with anything else which is really low in carbs? We were skirting round this topic on another thread, so I don't think I'm the only one - would be interesting to know what other people's problem foods are, and whether anyone has an explanation for this.

 

[KookyCat]

Oh yes eggs cause me issues, I can eat one but more than one I'm done for, peanuts are the same and weirdly hummus. The solution I found was to up my basal a bit, because I eat a lot of nuts, chickpeas and eggs and I wasn't prepared to give them up. My theory is this, they're high protein slow release so they're basically out of whack with the insulin timing wise, so if my basal is very tight to my requirements they make my blood sugar pop. If my basal is a snit higher then that bit extra accommodates the late breaking pop from an egg, or chickpeas etc. So I eat a lot of falafel and hummus, but don't bolus for them, they have a carb value but they release so slowly for me it's a fools errand to try and bolus for them. If I happened to eat a large amount of either I might split the bolus, but I tend to eat small amounts. Course if I then have a quicker release carb day I tend to under bolus for a bit for the food to offset my increased basal (it's only a unit on the basal but it makes all the difference).

This caused me a lot of consternation when I was first diagnosed and the dietician too, because by George they don't like to say "you can't eat like that", but he had to in the end. I'm a whole food fan but also a kind of 80/20 gal. 80% whole food, 20% not so whole food but generally quite erratically. I've had to learn to be more consistent with food and I find that very very annoying, but I suppose that's just the way it is 🙂

I don't struggle with any of the quicker foods or pasta either but I think it's because I have quick digestive powers and I'm insulin sensitive so the profile of the food and the insulin work well together. Now chicken in white wine sauce is a total mystery to me, makes me hypo every time 😱

 

[AlisonM]

I'm fine with barley, rice and pasta but spuds and bread are bad, bad, bad. I'm allergic to eggs so don't know what might happen there if I wasn't. I have no trouble with oatmeal or peanuts as many folk seem to but can't handle any other cereal. Most berries are fine, other fresh fruit is not. Fresh or tinned peas and beans are OK, dried are not, including chickpeas, lentils are OK though. Pretty classic really, I am.

 

[Annette]

I have to bolus for bacon. No other processed meats, just bacon. I assume its the level of fat in it ( I am quite sensitive to animal fats in that they upset my tummy) .

 

[trophywench]

But chicken in white wine sauce requires no bolus, so how can you hypo? Possibly because you've increased your basal to compensate for other stuff as you have told us but you don't actually need it at dinner time.

Of course if you need to bolus for whatever you eat with it, then just jab less - because in any case the alcohol will reduce your BG. I know it's cooked, but unless you boil all the alcohol off (which seems unlikely, probably a sauce thickened either by reduction or by cream) it's the same effect as drinking it!

 

[AlisonM]

Umm, well no Trophy. As I understand it (Home Ec was a long, long time ago I admit), it takes all of thirty seconds in a simmering sauce for all the alcohol to evaporate leaving only the flavour behind so, in theory, it shouldn't affect the amount of insulin required. Unless of course one adds the booze last and I normally put mine in first.

 

[KookyCat]

But chicken in white wine sauce requires no bolus, so how can you hypo? Possibly because you've increased your basal to compensate for other stuff as you have told us but you don't actually need it at dinner time.

Of course if you need to bolus for whatever you eat with it, then just jab less - because in any case the alcohol will reduce your BG. I know it's cooked, but unless you boil all the alcohol off (which seems unlikely, probably a sauce thickened either by reduction or by cream) it's the same effect as drinking it!

And there lies the deep and enduring mystery, I don't bolus for it because there's no need to, I regularly eat no carb in the evening and go to bed without a problem with hypos so it's not the basal. I simmer the wine for 15 minutes with stock so It should be close to 0% alcohol, and yet every time I have a night time hypo. I do react strongly to alcohol which is why I don't drink, so I suppose it could be that. I've just consigned it to the weirdness that is me pile 🙄

 

[TheClockworkDodo]

I am glad I'm not the only one who doesn't fit into the mould the diabetes consultants try to stuff us into!

I don't struggle with any of the quicker foods or pasta either but I think it's because I have quick digestive powers and I'm insulin sensitive so the profile of the food and the insulin work well together.

Snap!

I don't think the extra basal would work for me with the eggs though - I already tend to have a bit too much Lantus just because they don't do a half unit pen of that and I prefer my readings slightly lower than they should be to slightly higher.

The bacon one is weird, Annette. I wonder whether the egg one for me is because they tend to upset my stomach a bit too - perhaps foods to which we have a slight intolerance raise bgls? Though that wouldn't work with Kookycat and the alcohol

I can't tolerate alcohol at all so no idea what that would do to my bgl.

 

[KookyCat]

Oh I'm so far away from the norm I'm practically squashed at the end of the bell curve 😱 I couldn't have done the extra basal with Lantus, we did not get on, so I avoided eggs, chickpeas, beans, pulses etc which made me very sad really because that's my normal diet. I'm not veggie any more but I rarely eat meat or fish so I was left with very little I liked. Aside from the fact that Lantus gave me constant night time hypos, it was the food angle that pushed me over the edge into foot stamping territory and I was moved on to Tresiba. It's steady as a rock, and copes better full stop, but the delightful aside is that I can flex it a bit without ending up on the floor because shock delight it actually follows some kind of rules

I should have mentioned my other weirdness with eggs, can't eat them for breakfast, body doesn't like it, it likes toast and wholemeal rice crispies, seems to over react to protein. In fact it ain't keen on protein full stop, not sure why though perhaps I should do some research 🙄

 

[AlisonM]

.../I wonder whether the egg one for me is because they tend to upset my stomach a bit too - perhaps foods to which we have a slight intolerance raise bgls? Though that wouldn't work with Kookycat and the alcohol

Oh yes, it happens to me whenever I come across something I'm allergic to, my list is endless so that it's virtually impossible to avoid everything - all someone has to do is mow a lawn for instance. I had a strawberry during the summer, not only did it nearly knock me out, my BGs were into the 20s! 😱

 

[KookyCat]

I had an allergic reaction to the pneumonia jab last year and was rocking figures in the high 20's so I'd say allergic reaction does indeed raise blood sugar 🙄

 

[TheClockworkDodo]

Interesting - yes, my BGL always goes way up if I'm exposed to chemicals (I have multiple chemical sensitivity so my list is endless too, Alison), but I hadn't thought of it in connection with foods. That could well explain the hypers I get with eggs then.

I don't get on well with Lantus either, Kookycat, but given that I don't actually have an allergic reaction to it (as I do to many meds) I'm a bit reluctant to try something else!