Do I need to bosul for zero carb meal?

O_DP_T1

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Guys

Suppose I have a < 10 carb meal do I need to bolus for it?

Thinking about trying this in the evening at Lantus time. Worst case scenario If my levels raise out of range after a few hours I can always take a correction shot right?

Forgive my ignorance I'm quite new to this Basel/bolus stuff.
 

kaylz91

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It completely depends on a few factors, such as what ratio do you use, also some people find they need to bolus for protein if there are no carbs so say one person could sit and eat some cheese without the next person may have to bolus for said cheese, its all trial and error to begin with and unfortunately a no one size fits all x
 
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EllieM

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That depends... Have your medical team told you how to carb count and calculate insulin for carbs and for correction doses? For example, if your blood sugar was too high before the meal you'd probably want to do a correction dose anyway.

I'd be slightly wary about mucking around with my regime in the evening, just to avoid night time hypos. But as you say, you can always test and correct. Just be wary of a large dose of fast acting insulin at bed time, since you really really don't want to go low at night....
 
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O_DP_T1

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Sorry I mean to try this only if levels are in range, What I am trying to do is reduce the carbs at night if possible, i.e consume the majority during the day and then non to very little if possible at night.

On the 30/70 regime if I had a protein and good fats only meal my levels would never raise no matter what time of the day or night, they might drop but defo not rise.
 

Bertyboy

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I'll let you know in about an hour! :) I've just had a chicken curry whose only carbs will come from a small onion, garlic and the natural yoghurt, and I've not bolused for it.
 

O_DP_T1

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I'll let you know in about an hour! :) I've just had a chicken curry whose only carbs will come from a small onion, garlic and the natural yoghurt, and I've not bolused for it.

Cheers buddy will be interested to find out.
 

Kristin251

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I bolus for half my protein as if it were a carb. In the absence of carbs the body can turn protein into bg via gluconeogenisis
 

O_DP_T1

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Technically if your have 6-8g of carbs that's not zero is it so do we think the the above still applies? I'm gonna just try it and see.
 

TheBigNewt

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Like they said it depends. I can take 4 Novolog for a low carb dinner and be fine at bedtime. In the morning I'll have a 3 egg (cheddar) cheese omelet with a little salsa and need to take 8 units. Go figure.
 
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O_DP_T1

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7.1 that's nothing in the grand scheme of things.

Question is will the background insulin bring it back down? Also a point to note is that did the curry have a gravy to it, they do add quite abit of sugar to curry even if it's spicy.

I wonder would the results would be for something like grilled salmon fillets and some greens.
 
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himtoo

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why can't everyone get on........
this is a great topic for us T1's -- and as you can see from the response -- we are all a bit different in how we handle things

this will be partly down to the amount of carbs ( I know hardly any ) , possibly some luck, level of activity , and definitely experience .

we do learn as we go and repeating previous meals , and doses does help us to predict outcomes .

AS FOR SALMON FILLETS AND GREENS -- try it and see how you get on
we can only learn in real time !!!!!!!
 

mrman

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Try and see. For me definitely need to bolus for anything I eat. Even if doing activity after I need some bolus in me. Exercise does drop me a lot as long as I have qa insulin on board otherwise it just continually rises. Afterwards I have a setting on my pump to reduce my next bolus by 40%.
 

Bertyboy

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7.1 that's nothing in the grand scheme of things.

Question is will the background insulin bring it back down? Also a point to note is that did the curry have a gravy to it, they do add quite abit of sugar to curry even if it's spicy.

I wonder would the results would be for something like grilled salmon fillets and some greens.
The curry consisted of two smallish chicken breasts, lemon juice, ground coriander, cumin, turmeric, chilli powder, finger chillies, madras curry powder, garlic paste, ginger paste, natural yoghurt, fresh mint, fresh coriander, one onion and a couple of tomatoes. I added a small pinch of stevia to counteract the acidity.
 

Leeannea

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Try and see. For me definitely need to bolus for anything I eat. Even if doing activity after I need some bolus in me. Exercise does drop me a lot as long as I have qa insulin on board otherwise it just continually rises. Afterwards I have a setting on my pump to reduce my next bolus by 40%.

My blood glucose also rises if I don’t have quick acting insulin on board. Why is that, do you know?
Cheers Leeanne
 

chris001962

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For those that find mornings tricky to gauge look at The Morning Phenomena.. where your liver generates glycogen to give your body a kick start in the morning.. Also look at your Basal .. Levimere for example which I take lasts 11 hours then for all purposes fizzles out and has to be replaced.. Lantus supposed to be slightly longer but still not 24hours.. i dont have the benefit of a CGM like libre so i now check 18 times a day.. my finger tips are sore but my control which for 17 years has been frowned upon is now at a lv i could only dream of.. I switched to a low carb diet 20g appox a meal all from fresh fruit and veg and just check that saturated fat lv are not to high in food stuffs.. my testing regime now costs more than libre would be.. hoping pointing this out to my consultant plus my log book (Diabetes M app) will help them consider giving me the continual meter ..
 
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Kristin251

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For those that find mornings tricky to gauge look at The Morning Phenomena.. where your liver generates glycogen to give your body a kick start in the morning.. Also look at your Basal .. Levimere for example which I take lasts 11 hours then for all purposes fizzles out and has to be replaced.. Lantus supposed to be slightly longer but still not 24hours.. i dont have the benefit of a CGM like libre so i now check 18 times a day.. my finger tips are sore but my control which for 17 years has been frowned upon is now at a lv i could only dream of.. I switched to a low carb diet 20g appox a meal all from fresh fruit and veg and just check that saturated fat lv are not to high in food stuffs.. my testing regime now costs more than libre would be.. hoping pointing this out to my consultant plus my log book (Diabetes M app) will help them consider giving me the continual meter ..
I find saturated fat can be a bit of an issue as well. Seems I gomup slower but stay up much longer. If I have a burger I need to split my bolus.

I take lantus and it’s long gone by morning. Generally 2 units so I imagine it doesn’t last as long as larger doses

What do you notice with saturated fat?