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Slow Release Carbs?

Danny Francis

Danny Francis

Member
Messages
18
Location
Oxford
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Hi

Does anyone else here eat slow release carbs only to get a huge blood sugar spike within hours after eating it, I usually eat around 75g of wholemeal pasta for lunch which is about 40g carbs and take around 4 units of Novorapid insulin. Everything seems fine until 2-3 hours later my blood sugar level can go from 5 to around 12 within a matter of minutes and usually takes place within the 3rd hour after eating it. Is there any other type of insulin that will counterbalance this problem? I always eat slow release carbs but pasta seems to be the worst food source to do this, Oats or anything else is usually fine.

Novorapid - 1 unit = 10g Carbs
Lantus - 23 units at night (One shot only)

Much appreciated for reply's
 
hi @Danny Francis
welcome to the forum :)

3 thoughts on this subject

1 -- we are all different so eat to your meter
2 - wholemeal pasta is the lowest GI of pasta so will release the slowest of the pasta family theoretically (See point 1 )
3- what sauce on the pasta ( tomato based low fat quicker absorption or cream based higher fat slower absorption )

i know I have not definitively answered but raised more questions but such is the nature of food / insulin and how we react I am not sure my expertise can give more or better info

1 final bit of the puzzle though -- perhaps a split dose of 3u with meal and 1u an hour later may help or even the 1u per 10 carb ratio is not quite correct

keep posting !!!:)
 
If eating slow release carbs, you need to adjust timing of insulin. I would inject 10 to 15mins AFTER that meal so deal with the later spike. Likewise, if you are something relatively high GI, inject before eating. Give it a try and keep testing. You'll soon get the timing right.
 
himtoo said:
hi @Danny Francis
welcome to the forum :)

3 thoughts on this subject

1 -- we are all different so eat to your meter
2 - wholemeal pasta is the lowest GI of pasta so will release the slowest of the pasta family theoretically (See point 1 )
3- what sauce on the pasta ( tomato based low fat quicker absorption or cream based higher fat slower absorption )

i know I have not definitively answered but raised more questions but such is the nature of food / insulin and how we react I am not sure my expertise can give more or better info

1 final bit of the puzzle though -- perhaps a split dose of 3u with meal and 1u an hour later may help or even the 1u per 10 carb ratio is not quite correct

keep posting !!!:)
Click to expand...

Yes thank you for your response and yeah maybe a split injection would be more beneficial for me, I might just keep a record of when the spikes occur and inject accordingly. I usually don't have any sauce on my pasta so i just inject for for the pasta itself which makes things a lot easier for me but not for my taste buds :).
 
Last edited by a moderator:
dannyw said:
If eating slow release carbs, you need to adjust timing of insulin. I would inject 10 to 15mins AFTER that meal so deal with the later spike. Likewise, if you are something relatively high GI, inject before eating. Give it a try and keep testing. You'll soon get the timing right.
Click to expand...

Yes your right i just need to sort my timing out tbh. Maybe a split injection would help a lot ,Thanks for your response :)
 
just looked at wholemeal pasta and i work out that 75gr uncooked is 49 grams carb
perhaps 5u might be closer to required dose ?
 
himtoo said:
just looked at wholemeal pasta and i work out that 75gr uncooked is 49 grams carb
perhaps 5u might be closer to required dose ?
Click to expand...

Oh **** Really? lol thats part of the problem solved then :) I thought it was like 38g or something, Thanks for finding that out for me,Good timing I'm literally about to eat
 
Oh dear......showing my age lol

I could never see what the facination was in eating pasta. I'd much rather eat standard carb which raises my bg levels within 1-2hrs and then insulin makes them drop again and I know what I was doing and didnt feel that I needed to inject 30mins after eating or do split injections. Most people never eat plain pasta anyway so dress it up with different sauces.
 
Danny Francis said:
Hi

Does anyone else here eat slow release carbs only to get a huge blood sugar spike within hours after eating it, I usually eat around 75g of wholemeal pasta for lunch which is about 40g carbs and take around 4 units of Novorapid insulin. Everything seems fine until 2-3 hours later my blood sugar level can go from 5 to around 12 within a matter of minutes and usually takes place within the 3rd hour after eating it. Is there any other type of insulin that will counterbalance this problem? I always eat slow release carbs but pasta seems to be the worst food source to do this, Oats or anything else is usually fine.

Novorapid - 1 unit = 10g Carbs
Lantus - 23 units at night (One shot only)

Much appreciated for reply's
Click to expand...

Also, if your eating a pasta dish (say a lasagne for example) where there's a high-fat content this will lead to a bg spike many hours after finishing the meal, to counteract this usually a split-dose works well for people on MDI.
 
Are your bs back in range by the next meal or bedtime??
 
Pasta is fine for some people. Just bolus accordingly and you will br back in range by next meal
 
I struggle with slow releasing carbs also. Things like sweet potato - I normally end up taking 2 units of novorapid when eating and another 2 an hour later. I used to wait for an hour then take 4 but I dislike sitting and waiting for my numbers to climb up for the sake of an extra shot. If I were to eat a sweet potato and take 4 units I would hypo around 40 mins after injecting. Very annoying.
 
Lunar_Lapin said:
I struggle with slow releasing carbs also. Things like sweet potato - I normally end up taking 2 units of novorapid when eating and another 2 an hour later. I used to wait for an hour then take 4 but I dislike sitting and waiting for my numbers to climb up for the sake of an extra shot. If I were to eat a sweet potato and take 4 units I would hypo around 40 mins after injecting. Very annoying.
Click to expand...

Yes i know, its very annoying i end up checking my blood glucose readings 3 or 4 times within the 2nd or 3rd hour after eating slow releasing carbs waiting for the my sugar levels to spike up then inject to bring them back down to a more suitable range. I like keeping my levels around 8 when i do eat pasta etc, Once i take my required dose it drops to around 6 then it elevates to around 12 within a few hours, but usually just a couple of units of Novorapid brings it back down to around 8 or 9. lol i don't think there's any real solution to this problem apart from split dosing. Just have to keep watching that meter! ;)
 
This is another thing that is a lot easier to control on a pump, because you can do "wave" or "extended" or "combo" bonuses (different manufacturer terms but the same thing). This delivers the dose over an extended time that you can set at the time of bolusing.
 
Spiker said:
This is another thing that is a lot easier to control on a pump, because you can do "wave" or "extended" or "combo" bonuses (different manufacturer terms but the same thing). This delivers the dose over an extended time that you can set at the time of bolusing.
Click to expand...

I am desperately trying to fight my corner to prove to the nhs that a pump would improve my health and quality of life, so frustrating.
 
Danny Francis said:
Yes thank you for your response and yeah maybe a split injection would be more beneficial for me, I might just keep a record of when the spikes occur and inject accordingly. I usually don't have any sauce on my pasta so i just inject for for the pasta itself which makes things a lot easier for me but not for my taste buds :).
Click to expand...
From a gastronomic point of view: Why no sauce?
 
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