Pizza problems

[annapanna93]

Hi everyone!

I'm going out for a family dinner tonight that we had to pre-order for. I've gone with a Margherita pizza, that's about 12 inches.

I'm just really struggling to work out when I should take my bolus. Based on averages (I can't know for sure the carb count of the pizza), it's looking like I'll need 8 - 10 units of insulin to cover it which terrifies me! I really don't want to take so much, and I have no idea when I need to take it? Before? After? Half & half?

Any help would be SO appreciated!

Anna xo

 

[azure]

If it's a chain restaurant, you might be able to find the carb info online. That would help.

On MDI, I split my bolus in a similar way to Mahola. I also tested regularly to make sure all was on track.

For pizzas that agents particularly fatty or carby, I sometimes just do a normal bolus and correct if necessary (which isn't often).

If you're not sure of the carbs, err on the side of caution. You don't want a hypo to spoil your night out.

 

[Odin004]

Hi @annapanna93 - I absolutely love pizza, though I haven't had one for ages - however, when I did, I split the dose. The cheese on the pizza very significantly slows down the absorption of the carbohydrate - so it can digest over a very long time (6 hours or more); so the dose should definitely be split, not taken all in one go!

It's not possible to perfectly match the insulin to the pizza - but for me, I found that taking half the dose about 20 mins after eating - and then the other half about 2 hours later, was a good approximation. That was usually for a take-away pizza from Dominos (with lots and lots of cheese) - I find that restaurants pizzas made in-house have less cheese, so perhaps allowing for an earlier dose (i.e. just before eating, then 2 hours later)

It can be quite scary taking high doses of insulin (I don't do it anymore as I stick to a low carb diet) - and pizza is of course very high in carb; so, if this is your first pizza since diagnosis, I would suggest that a slight underestimation of insulin might be better than an overestimation - even if it means your sugars are a little higher than they should be, for a short while. Far better to take a correction dose later on, than to risk a hypo, especially when experimenting with dosages to see how your sugars respond to certain foods; you can always learn the lessons and make the relevant adjustments for next time; also, erring on the side of caution might help you enjoy the pizza a little more!

One final thing - make sure to test frequently - and just bear in mind that the very nature of high carb food might mean that your sugars go quite high before coming down. That being said, enjoy!

 

[LittleGreyCat]

From a non-insulin user I would be wary of taking any insulin before the pizza arrived at the table.

This just based on the seemingly endless delays on delivery of food in restaurants when they are busy.

You probably don't want to hear "I'm sorry, there is a bit of a delay in the serving of food at the moment. Would you like a complimentary drink in the meanwhile?".

 

[Kristin251]

From a non-insulin user I would be wary of taking any insulin before the pizza arrived at the table.

This just based on the seemingly endless delays on delivery of food in restaurants when they are busy.

You probably don't want to hear "I'm sorry, there is a bit of a delay in the serving of food at the moment. Would you like a complimentary drink in the meanwhile?".

Completely agree!! That happened to me once. And now of course it'll never happen again.

If you want to cut down on some carbs just pile the toppings on to one or two pieces. I would have no problem just scraping the topping onto a plate without any crust. I've done that with flat breads pizzas.

 

[annapanna93]

Thank you all for taking the time to reply! Xxx

 

[Odin004]

Thank you all for taking the time to reply! Xxx

Pleasure! - how did it go with the pizza..?

 

[annapanna93]

Pleasure! - how did it go with the pizza..?

Not great! Went very high and took a loooot of time to come down. Had 4 family birthdays this week so with party food and irregular meal times it's been tough

 

[Odin004]

Not great! Went very high and took a loooot of time to come down. Had 4 family birthdays this week so with party food and irregular meal times it's been tough

Not to worry Anna - that can be quite demoralising I know, but it's very normal with pizza (unfortunately) - and party food four times in a week does sound like a challenge for even the most experienced diabetic! If you like pizza as much as I do, you might be interested in my post from a couple of weeks ago:

https://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/threads/missing-pizza.122788 - another member made a really good suggestion for a very low carb option, which does sound great (although I haven't got round to trying it yet).

Just look at the last week as a crash course in how your sugars react to this kind of food - it's impossible to have "perfect" control, but hopefully you'll have a better idea of what to expect in future, and will be able to make any necessary adjustments x

 

[Kristin251]

I still think you chose the best option. Not lots of saturated fats without sausage, pepperoni, bacon etc. Thin crust would be better but toppings only even better. Eventually I got so annoyed with eating out I do it very rarely now.
Never know what's in anything unless I make it.

Look at it as a learning curve and just a blip in a long life.

Diabetes never takes a holiday. It took awhile to realize it's the boss of me whether I like it or not. Devil on my shoulder.

If you enjoyed it just move on. Portions of course always matter.