Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Super_sally on December 4, 2011 at 11:12pm

I usually have eggs and coffee with cream (no sugar) for breakfast. Sometimes I add cheese. At most it's 2 or 3 g of carb. I have to bolus to cover the protein, but far less than I would have to for eating something starchy.

2 eggs and coffee needs about 2 units of humalog to cover - for me.

One slice of bread, if i am undisciplined enough to eat it, will require 4 units of humalog to cover.

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Permalink Reply by Jared on December 7, 2011 at 5:40pm

Use this to bolus for protein...

D-Cal

I use it to calculate everything. Works GREAT once you know your ratios.

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Permalink Reply by Mark Oldham on December 10, 2011 at 9:24pm

If all I am eating is Prot/Fat, I take the prot+fat number, multiply it by .3 and use that number as a carb number to calculate insulin, and I take it as an extended bonus over an hour or two.

But, it took a long time and a lot of testing to come up with that formula for me, and it is probably different for everyone.

What I have found is that if you are eating a low carb meal (15 g or less), the protein and fat will affect blood sugar, just not as fast or as much as carbs.

If I don't take some insulin with that low carb meal, my bGL will be high two or three hours later.

-M

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Permalink Reply by Emily B on December 4, 2011 at 11:15am

Breakfast is not easy for us either, up to 150 on school mornings, but one day last week he flatlined around 100 thru breakfast and lunch. We come at it this way, pre-bolus as much time as we can given his current BS and trend. His basal is set to do a pretty good job with DP, but not always. Nathan is on the Omnipod and Dex too. His ratio for breakfast is 1 to 8, (13 and 15 for lunch and dinner) then we bring the bolus suggestion up to make it 80% an extending 20%, 2 hours. So his gets all of his carbs covered up front and gets more for the peak. This is our go-to breakfast: 1/2 ww eng. muffin, canadian bacon, egg, and graded cheese on top, cut with fork and knife. Hood chocolate milk (5 grams of carbs for 8oz.) and melon, 1/2 banana or orange. 28grams Total. We usually don't have any issues with post-parandal highs on the weekend, and if he's on the high side to start with, there is more time to pre-bolus. This morning he woke up with average 170 (2 checks) and we pre-bolused nearly an hour! Even though he went to bed at 85, we had pizza last night and I was not suprised this morning. Though he Dex said 109, Arrgh. :)

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Permalink Reply by Chad R on December 4, 2011 at 11:15am

I agree with the above comments, cereal is terrible for spiking BG, unless it is relatively unprocessed like Harvest Crunch or oatmeal. If you take the shot earlier you will likely not completely eliminate the spike, but you will should drastically reduce the peak of the spike.

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Permalink Reply by Zoe on December 4, 2011 at 1:41pm

Breakfast is the hardest time for most of us, and our I:C ratio is often tighter then. A couple thoughts: You didn't say what you ate. I tried and tried but found that I couldn't eat any kind of cereal. Even using the correct I:C ratio, I would spike. So if you are eating cereal you might want to switch to eggs. The less carbs the better at breakfast. Second, do you know your I:C ratio is right? If you try eating lower carb and still spike, your ratio might need to be adjusted for breakfast. Finally, you say it happens if you take your insulin before the meal or after. I always take my insulin about 15-20 minutes before I eat (unless I'm low) so it has time to start working.

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Permalink Reply by Zoe on December 4, 2011 at 1:46pm

I'm not really replying to myself; I just took the time to read the other responses and had a couple more thoughts. I understand your not wanting to change things for Diabetes, and if you can find a way, great. But bagels, like cereal, are one food I just can't handle. And I'm from New York so bagels were a staple in my diet...sigh. But to me, it's not like I think of being "forbidden" to eat those things, cause then I'd feel deprived. But like I've chosen not to eat them because it's just not worth the hassle. I have no desire to take huge amounts of insulin to cover them, and also find that for me, certain foods are just not predictable. So I might take enough insulin to cover a breakfast of cereal and a bagel and do fine with my blood sugar one day. Then the next time I would take that same (large) dose and crash low. Just not worth the trouble or the instability in blood sugars to me.

Another option if you really miss certain foods is to try eating them for dinner, if, like many of us, your I:C ratio is more generous then.

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Permalink Reply by Judith on December 4, 2011 at 2:03pm

This breakfast struggle is also true for T2s. I have to eat super lo-carb in the AM. If I want to indulge, I do it at lunch when I have plenty of time to exercise those carbs away! It's worth it to me to keep my #s in line.....

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Permalink Reply by Donna Heun on December 4, 2011 at 2:45pm

I used to spike after every meal too. Especially breakfast even when it was mostly protien. Now I take Symlin with each meal and don't get those spikes. You may want to talk with your doctor about Symlin and how it may help you. There is a Symlin group here that you may want to visit and read more about this.

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Permalink Reply by acidrock23 on December 4, 2011 at 2:48pm

I have to ask, will Symlin take care of a bagel/ cereal combo?

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Permalink Reply by Gary on December 4, 2011 at 6:19pm

I notice in the morning I need to wait at least 45 min after injection (humalog) even if I am under 100 to start if I want to eat cereal or any carbs for that matter. If I don't wait I'll pay the price big time. Lately I've been using R in the morning as I get up real early. Using R I have to wait at least an hour and a half. If I am high in the morning I'll stay completely away from carbs all together but I will be miserable for hours. My guess is It's either due to our metabolism's or Insulin resistance. BTW I eat cereal all the time. MY I:C ratio is terrible. One unit covers only about 7 grams. As a grown man I eat way less carbs then the average man would but I am usually doing at least 60 to 70 grams per meal. Sometimes I go on sugar binges and just keep shooting up. I can't stand feeling deprived and really eat whatever I want. I just keep the portions on the small side. The whole thing is so overwhelming to deal with. Even after nearly 40 years I look at my bottle of insulin before I inject in complete anger and I wonder how much more of this punishment can I take?

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Permalink Reply by acidrock23 on December 4, 2011 at 6:38pm

Like I said somewhere else here, we don't actually need the amount of carbs that are in a "bowl" of cereal. If you weigh your cereal, a "serving" and a "bowl" may be two entirely different thing as well. I usually use these little kid bowls from IKEA and 28-31G (depending on which sort of cereal...) doesn't even remotely fill up a kid bowl, much less a "regular" bowl from a set of dishes, the standard serving size for millions of people eating cereal every day. It's not that eating less carbs than the "average man" should be considered a "problem", the "problem" is the number of carbs the "average man" is eating.

You've mentioned your feelings repeatedly Gary and you've tossed it out there a couple of times that "I eat cereal all the time". I can't help but think perhaps the cereal is more of the problem and that you might be able to enjoy a smoother ride if you'd ditch it?

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