Type 1 Easter...

[Deleted member 391597]

Right,

This may sound like a really silly question, but I am absolutely brand new to all this and all I keep thinking is how much I miss eating even the tiniest bit of chocolate at the moment! Does anybody ever indulge at Easter? Is there a particular chocolate which doesn't spike your blood glucose as much? I would love to be able to think I could eat some chocolate from an Easter egg this year...is this possible as a Type 1?! :-(

P.S. I am trying so, so hard to manage my levels. For the last few days I've been between 5-6.5 before meals and yesterday my highest reading was 7.7 but that was after eating my evening meal. Getting good numbers spurs me on but I feel like I need a treat too! 2 weeks in and flagging slightly!

 

[db89]

Absolutely you can have some chocolate @Hollieo4! Are you carb counting yet or on fixed doses of your fast acting?

I had a few squares of Galaxy earlier with lunch

 

[Clivethedrive]

Hello Hollieo4, yes , chocolate is still ok .....but try the green and blacks 75% or lindt's 85% a couple of squares should be ok, also noted that theydo 75 and 85% easter eggsmay i reccomend a book for you.

hope this helps,clive

 

[catapillar]

There's no reason a type 1 diabetic can't eat chocolate, so long as you've got insulin to cover it, you can eat it. Obviously if you sit and eat chocolate all day it will be difficult to keep your blood sugar in range. But a moderate portion of chocolate, with a meal (cos other macro will slow the carb spike) with the right dose of insulin and a well timed bolus is fine. Also remember that non diabetics can and do spike up to 10 after a sweet treat (they won't be going up there every day, and they'll come back down pretty quick but if the aim is to keep non diabetic blood sugar it's worth realising that spike are also a part of a non diabetic blood sugar).

If you're newly diagnosed and not cab counting yet, have a look at the Bertie online carb counting course - https://www.bertieonline.org.uk

 

[katmcd]

I indulge and I'm only 7 weeks onto being type 1. I spent the first 4 days at home utterly miserable because I had no idea what I could and could not eat. And my boyfriend was miserable because he was trying to do it with me too. And we were starving. The worst diet ever.
I had my review with the dietician on day 4 who said I could, if I wanted, carry on as normal as long as I covered my carbs eaten with insulin. She wouldn't advocate takeaway every day but if that's what I wanted then that's what I could do (I don't though, she just used it as an example). Her advice was it's hard enough getting used to injections, finger pricks and carb counting without then trying to learn a whole new way of eating. Small steps at a time.
So I went home, and had pizza for tea and it was WONDERFUL! And the chocolates my boyfriend got me (the day before I was admitted) for valentines...I had some of those too. A treat is a treat. Easter is only once a year. If having a bit of chocolate is what you need for mental well being and normality, then go for it. I doubt anyone will judge you for it. If anything, I enjoy my chocolates more now as I really look forward to them and they aren't eaten mindlessly.

 

[Resurgam]

There are no sugar added chocolate bars - but they contain polyols, aka sugar alcohols and you can react to them so best tried out in small trials, and there are high cocoa bars, which can take a bit of getting used to but which can be made into various desserts if they are too much eaten alone.

 

[Deleted member 391597]

Absolutely you can have some chocolate @Hollieo4! Are you carb counting yet or on fixed doses of your fast acting?

I had a few squares of Galaxy earlier with lunch

Hello! I am only on 4 units of NovoRapid with meals at the moment and I'm yet to meet with a consultant so I'm a bit nervous about altering my insulin doses as I don't want to give too much/too little! With carb counting, can you give yourself insulin if you wanted to eat something carby and it wasn't a meal time? I wouldn't do this all the time obviously but I definitely used to have the occassional snack when it wasn't a meal time before Type 1 struck!

 

[Deleted member 391597]

Hello Hollieo4, yes , chocolate is still ok .....but try the green and blacks 75% or lindt's 85% a couple of squares should be ok, also noted that theydo 75 and 85% easter eggsmay i reccomend a book for you.

hope this helps,clive

Thank you for the recommendation!

 

[Deleted member 391597]

There's no reason a type 1 diabetic can't eat chocolate, so long as you've got insulin to cover it, you can eat it. Obviously if you sit and eat chocolate all day it will be difficult to keep your blood sugar in range. But a moderate portion of chocolate, with a meal (cos other macro will slow the carb spike) with the right dose of insulin and a well timed bolus is fine. Also remember that non diabetics can and do spike up to 10 after a sweet treat (they won't be going up there every day, and they'll come back down pretty quick but if the aim is to keep non diabetic blood sugar it's worth realising that spike are also a part of a non diabetic blood sugar).

If you're newly diagnosed and not cab counting yet, have a look at the Bertie online carb counting course - https://www.bertieonline.org.uk

Thanks for the info! I think it's going to be tricky finding the right dose and timings etc...I feel like being Type 1 is a full time job. I'm grateful I'm still on maternity leave!

 

[Deleted member 391597]

I indulge and I'm only 7 weeks onto being type 1. I spent the first 4 days at home utterly miserable because I had no idea what I could and could not eat. And my boyfriend was miserable because he was trying to do it with me too. And we were starving. The worst diet ever.
I had my review with the dietician on day 4 who said I could, if I wanted, carry on as normal as long as I covered my carbs eaten with insulin. She wouldn't advocate takeaway every day but if that's what I wanted then that's what I could do (I don't though, she just used it as an example). Her advice was it's hard enough getting used to injections, finger pricks and carb counting without then trying to learn a whole new way of eating. Small steps at a time.
So I went home, and had pizza for tea and it was WONDERFUL! And the chocolates my boyfriend got me (the day before I was admitted) for valentines...I had some of those too. A treat is a treat. Easter is only once a year. If having a bit of chocolate is what you need for mental well being and normality, then go for it. I doubt anyone will judge you for it. If anything, I enjoy my chocolates more now as I really look forward to them and they aren't eaten mindlessly.

I'm sorry to learn you are recently diagnosed too! Can I ask how old you are, if you don't mind saying! I'm 28 and was told when I was pregnant and had gestational diabetes that I would never develop Type 1 because of my age but I was at higher risk of Type 2! It went away for 6 months and came back with a vengence and resulted in me going in to DKA and ending up in hospital.
Being able to have a treat would be amazing! I sound like I'm obsessed with food...which I kind of am now because I feel like I can't have the things I want! What ratio carb counting do you use and how did your team work it out for you? Have you ever miscalculated and gone high or low? That's what I'm worried about!

 

[Snufflemoo]

Since being diagnosed t2 in Feb I have had two sections of a toberlone I hunted out one evening when I was seriously low and almost crying. Other than that nothing more. I have spent many an hour thinking about chocolate since, but have told myself not to waste unnecessary carbs and sugar on it....I want to only have the odd treat.
I've been looking at an Easter egg. One that has the least carbs etc to have over at least a week. Im lucky (if that's what you can call it, some may say an absolute curse) to work in a store situated near a thorntons and a hotel chocolat. It has meant that I could spend time researching the eggs and chatting to staff. Between the two companies the hotel chocolat eggs contain a lot less carbs/sugar and they do eggs all the way to 100% cocoa. Yes they are more expensive, because they don't use cheaper sugar to make their chocolate, but by having just something small for Easter means I can still enjoy the obligatory egg hunt!

 

[db89]

Hello! I am only on 4 units of NovoRapid with meals at the moment and I'm yet to meet with a consultant so I'm a bit nervous about altering my insulin doses as I don't want to give too much/too little! With carb counting, can you give yourself insulin if you wanted to eat something carby and it wasn't a meal time? I wouldn't do this all the time obviously but I definitely used to have the occassional snack when it wasn't a meal time before Type 1 struck!

The short answer is yes. With MDI you take your fast acting insulin before a meal or snack (with carbs). Also skipping meals where you like can be done too.

If you're on fixed doses you won't really have this flexibility just yet. Hopefully your DSN will start you off with an insulin to carbs ratio soon - typically starts at 1:10 (1 unit of insulin per 10g carbs) and will adjust from there. One step at a time though - as I say you should be shown this soon and I know you are waiting for other test results right now from your other thread. It could be they are trying to work out what doses work best for you with your basal insulin first for example and making adjustments there. If you don't get offered this info soon ask to be shown if you feel ready to push on! I was given a book called Carbs & Cals with loads of different foods in to get started calculating things.

I know it is all a huge change at first after being diagnosed at the back end of last year so your thoughts and questions are only natural and hopefully once you get going with everything your diabetes will start to take a back seat in life which is the way it should be. The fun and games started for me when the honeymoon period began!

 

[catapillar]

Hello! I am only on 4 units of NovoRapid with meals at the moment and I'm yet to meet with a consultant so I'm a bit nervous about altering my insulin doses as I don't want to give too much/too little! With carb counting, can you give yourself insulin if you wanted to eat something carby and it wasn't a meal time? I wouldn't do this all the time obviously but I definitely used to have the occassional snack when it wasn't a meal time before Type 1 struck!

If you're not carb counting and on fixed doses you need to take the initiative learn about carb counting. Do the Bertie online course. Read think like a pancreas. Have some discussions with your DSN about adjusting your doses. This isn't something your consultant will teach you, the DSN should cover it and the information is out there for you to figure out how to make it work for you. Ask your DSN about it.

Your fixed doses with meals will be covering a certain amount of carbs in those meals. If you suddenly add a chocolate bar but stay with the fixed dose obviously you'll go sky high from the uncovered carbs of the chocolate. I'd start with having a careful look at what your eating now with the fixed doses so you can work out how many grams of carbs those doses are covering for you and resulting in your good post prandial levels. That should help you work out your ratio while you learn a bit about carb counting and get to grips with it.

 

[Scott-C]

@Hollieo4 , I've had quite a few well meaning relatives and friends saying to me, ooh, there's sugar in that, can you eat it?

You're not allergic to sugar. You're not going to have a fit if you eat some sugar.

T1 isn't a case of avoiding sugar all together. It involves managing the rate at which sugar is absorbed into your bloodstream.

Mixing quick sugars up with longer lasting carbs and fat and protein slows down overall absorption, so a pud at the end of a meal is fine, provided you've bolused for the carbs in the pud. You'll need more insulin for it, and that's often where mistakes happen: the more insulin, the bigger the chance of a hypo if you've misjudged the carb content.

Most chocolate has a fair amount of fat in it anyway, so you're halfway there: the fat will slow down absorption.

I wouldn't go scoffing down a whole easter egg or mars bar anytime soon on an empty stomach, but provided you bolus for it, and, preferably take it at the end of a meal, it'll barely shift you.

I didn't have a sweet tooth before dx, preferred dry roast peanuts, ritz crackers and twiglets. The irony now is that I probably eat more sweets now to fend off hypos than I did before!

Be imaginative with hypo treatments if you're missing sweets. Sure, if you're having a full on drop, get some lucozade in your face pronto, but if you've got cgm and see a slow slide that's trending towards a hypo, that's a perfect excuse for a half a dark Kinder Bueno, or half a dark Kit-Kat for a wee nudge up. Sorry, that's my choice, hate milk chocolate. Jelly Belly beans are good too for micro-management - a gram each, 90% carb. . Prefer the coconut flavour. Who says hypos can't be fun?

That's the great thing about cgm - you can see these things coming.

@katmcd, thought I'd tag you in, I see you're on this thread and have just got a G5, have fun with it, any type of cgm makes this game a sh*t load easier!

 

[CathP]

We love Chocologic (no added sugar chocolate from Tesco) in our house, still need to bolus for it but doesn't spike the blood sugars.
https://www.tesco.com/groceries/pro...archBox=Chocologic&newSort=true&search=Search

 

[katmcd]

I'm sorry to learn you are recently diagnosed too! Can I ask how old you are, if you don't mind saying! I'm 28 and was told when I was pregnant and had gestational diabetes that I would never develop Type 1 because of my age but I was at higher risk of Type 2! It went away for 6 months and came back with a vengence and resulted in me going in to DKA and ending up in hospital.
Being able to have a treat would be amazing! I sound like I'm obsessed with food...which I kind of am now because I feel like I can't have the things I want! What ratio carb counting do you use and how did your team work it out for you? Have you ever miscalculated and gone high or low? That's what I'm worried about!

Hi @Hollieo4 I'm 30, my type 1 just came out the blue. Not hereditary, not related to pregnancy, just a shock.
I too was obsessed by food and starving for the first 3 weeks. Its normal but part of your body healing apparently.
My dietician decided the carb ratio, it's their most basic formula of 1unit for 10g carbs but they were happy I could handle it when I was discharged. And safer to round it down than up (so if it was 25g carb, take 2units not 3). Maybe give your dsn a call on Monday to see if it's something you could try before you see them? I went to that first appointment with a long list of foods and what to do with them. I like the odd latte when I shop. I was told my background will cover it so no need to finger prick and give insulin which just makes my day feel so normal.
There are certain foods you don't need to cover for (nuts, cherries,graoefruit, pulses and beans-not baked beans, too sugary). And fat slows absorprion down so I knock a unit off if it's curry or fish and chips. And I have gone a bit wrong but not terribly. Maybe just a unit more or less than needed. All part of learning.
If you haven't downloaded carbs and cals app it's brilliant and only a few pounds but super useful if you are eating out.
You will enjoy your treat of chocolate so much when you get it. There is a lovely 100g bar in hotel chocolat called supermilk 65. It's milk chocolate but with high cocoa content so darker than some dark chocolates out there. It's gorgeous!

 

[Deleted member 391597]

@katmcd Thank you so much! It's a heck of a thing to get your head around isn't it? I downloaded that app last week - thanks! Although haven't put it to use yet...just spent time drooling over the food I thought I couldn't have! I will look in to Hotel Chocolat - sounds great! Thanks again.

 

[Deleted member 391597]

One more question - sorry! Typically, what are your post meal levels? And if you were to bolus for a snack, what level would you typically go up to then...would it be the same as a post meal level? Sorry for all the questions...I want to educate myself quickly! @katmcd @CathP @Scott-C @catapillar @db89 @Snufflemoo @Clivethedrive @Resurgam

 

[db89]

If you get calculations right you can generally end up close to where you started post prandial (taking any other factors that can affect blood glucose from time to time out of the equation).

So as a quick example because I've just done my 2 hour test after my evening meal:

Finger prick test before my meal was 5.9mmol/L, had 35g carbs for my meal. My meter advised 2.3u for this amount so I took 2u (I usually round down) 20 minutes in advance of eating. Ended up at 6.7mmol/L at the 2 hour mark which I'm happy enough with. There'll still be a bit of that fast acting dose working so I imagine it will go down a little bit further before bedtime.

 

[katmcd]

One more question - sorry! Typically, what are your post meal levels? And if you were to bolus for a snack, what level would you typically go up to then...would it be the same as a post meal level? Sorry for all the questions...I want to educate myself quickly! @katmcd @CathP @Scott-C @catapillar @db89 @Snufflemoo @Clivethedrive @Resurgam

I typically don't test after meals but I believe as long as it's under 10mmol after a couple of hours that's meant to be OK. Depends what you snack on. I'm enjoying babybel and various nuts. No carbs but fatty so be careful because there are still calories. But if I snacked on toast or pastry or cereal then bg can go up as much as having a meal. My snacks are now more meaningful. But my dietician said, again, if less than 10g carbs and a one off (ie. Not grazing over and over)then not to even worry. My lantus would mop it up. Again, just a lovely bit of normality!