How much to bolus for vegetable broth?

[cz_dave]

So, I have this vegetable broth in front of me. It is home-made of a potato, carrot, onion...

I suppose it definitely has some carbs in it. I tested the broth with my glucose meter and it returned 23 mmol.

Now, how many grams of carbs will there be will per 100g (100 ml)?

 

[cz_dave]

I hoped to figure out based on the reading the broth returned on my glucose meter but my math skills are lacking...

 

[catapillar]

I think you might be expecting a bit much of your meter - remember, it thinks it's testing blood & working out your glucose, that's completely different to working out the carbohydrate content of soup/broth.

@mahola is right, if you are doing a home made recipe, you need to weigh your ingredients and work it out as you go. Or there's an app called cook & count which is supposed to be quite helpful for home cooking - http://www.drwf.org.uk/news_uk/new-...hydrate-content-home-cooked-food#.Vy9OsdR4WrU

 

[Kristin251]

Potato carrot and onion are very carby and even more so when cooked. Perhaps strain the broth part into a bowl, weight the veggies alone and then throw them back in the broth. At least you'll get a better guesstimate. I always weighed the food while making it but every ladle holds different amounts so it's hard to judge but you can at least get closer weighing the veg

 

[cz_dave]

I think you might be expecting a bit much of your meter - remember, it thinks it's testing blood & working out your glucose, that's completely different to working out the carbohydrate content of soup/broth.

Good point. Sometimes, when I eat out, and have a soup in front of me, I use my meter to test it. Have done it twice so far with some success. In fact both times the meter showed ca. 6 mmol and so I bolused relatively little. It surprised me that the meter showed 23 mmol for the broth. I suppose a high value can be interpreted as a warning but cannot be used as a basis for how much to bolus as you point out.

 

[becky.ford93]

I've been told that the meter can be used to, for example, check if a drink in a pub is full-sugar or not. However, I understand the guidance is that you can never use it as an exact figure. You could maybe use the carbs and cals app/book to get an estimated figure. I believe they have vegetable soup in there. It means you'd just have to weigh the whole meal which should make life easier. If I was doing this, I would weigh the potatoes I use before I add them in (raw potato = ~17g/100g) and then maybe add a few grams on for the lower carb veg like the carrots.