Unfortunately, the rate at which our bodies consume the glucose within food varies per person and per food.
The Glycaemic Index of foods can give you some ideas about how fast the glucose will reach your blood and affect your BG.
There are some general rules of thumb
- sweet, sugary foods take less time to break down (because they have less to break)
- fatty foods (or meals including fatty foods) will take less time to break down. This includes chocolate which is why chocolate is not a good hypo treatment.
Insulin works at a fixed rate for a type of insulin. This may vary a little per person but you can see the rate if you google "novorapid insulin profile".
Some people monitor what they eat, how quickly they get a spike and adjust their insulin accordingly (e.g. if eating pasta, take your insulin 15 minutes before your meal whereas if eating chocolate take it at the same time*). This is easier to do if you have CGM or Libre.
Then there is the option as
@slip mentions of split your dose. If you find you get an immediate spike and then another later. Pizza is the classic example where this is needed as the base is carby but the toppings are fatty.
This is one of the ways that a pump can help.
(*These are random examples and not suggestions.)
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