Carbs!

jodi932

Active Member
Messages
42
Why do we have to look into carbs? Why cant we eat what we want .say for example :pizza and chipa. Currys. Loads pasta? What will it do? I had a kebab last night first time in a long time and took 10 units of novomix before hand I went to bed and I was 7.1 its not affecting my sugar levels? Help. Thankss

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hale710

Well-Known Member
Messages
2,903
Type of diabetes
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Re: Carbs!

jodi932 said:
Why do we have to look into carbs? Why cant we eat what we want .say for example :pizza and chipa. Currys. Loads pasta? What will it do? I had a kebab last night first time in a long time and took 10 units of novomix before hand I went to bed and I was 7.1 its not affecting my sugar levels? Help. Thankss

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We count the carbs as it means we're able to select the correct dose of insulin. My diet varies from day to day, some meals are very high carb, some are very low. If you correctly measure the carb content you can then give yourself an appropriate insulin dose.

Make sense? I don't think I make myself very clear sometimes!
 

ilnar

Well-Known Member
Messages
70
Re: Carbs!

as a type 1 on insulin, there is nothing stopping you eating what you want, as long as you take enough insulin to cover it, but not so much that you end up hypo
most type ones adopt a low carb diet in order to help with loosing weight. or choose a diet with a very similar carb intake every day, so their medication remains constant
type 2s tend to adopt a low carb diet, to help lose weight, but also because they aren't usually on insulin, so its harder to achieve good control on a high carb diet!
 

Jenn1f3r

Member
Messages
21
Re: Carbs!

have you done dafne? it basically says just that - eat what you like (within reason obv) and adjust your insulin to the carbs you have consumed. having just had a large empire biscuit i rather like this way of thinking! :D
 

noblehead

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Re: Carbs!

jodi932 said:
Why do we have to look into carbs? Why cant we eat what we want .say for example :pizza and chipa. Currys. Loads pasta? What will it do? I had a kebab last night first time in a long time and took 10 units of novomix before hand I went to bed and I was 7.1 its not affecting my sugar levels? Help.


Diabetes aside everyone should eat a healthy well balanced diet, if you eat too much of the above then you may gain weight and develop other complications in the future.

All carbs turn to glucose so some restraint is advisable, food like pizza, kebabs and curry's contain a lot of fat that can slow down trhe absorption of the carbs, many of us type 1's find our postprandial bg is fine for a few hours after eating but will be elevated several hours after eating.

It's all about everything in moderation, nothing to say that the occasional take-away is out of the question as we do have to enjoy life and not be bogged down by diabetes, I myself enjoy a Chinese meal from time to time and probably eat Fish and Chips three times a year, see them as a treat rather than something you should be eating everyday or week.
 

phoenix

Expert
Messages
5,671
Type of diabetes
Type 1
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Re: Carbs!

2 points
1)The kebab itself probably had few carbs if any. The Pitta bread may not have been that high. (depends on size) As a meal probably lower in carbs than a whole pizza or a big plateful of rice. As Nigel says the fat content of some of these foods does cause the carbohydrates to take longer to absorb

2) I think that everybody who has replied saying that you can adjust your insulin is on 2 separate insulins, one for meals the other for background. They can adjust the separate rapid action insulin upwards or downwards for a meal.
You use a mixed insulin (novomix) and that's less easy to adjust to variable meals. With mixed insulin raising your insulin to 'cover' a large amount of carbohydrate also raises the background insulin .You may find that you have too much background insulin resulting in a hypo later in the day.
With mixed insulin it's definitely important to eat carbohydrate at each meal (otherwise you may go hypo) but for good results it's also important to be consistent about the timing of meals and the amount of carbs eaten.
 

elaine77

Well-Known Member
Messages
561
I'm fine with kebab meat too, hardly no carbs all fat :)


Diagnosed with GD in 2010, Completely disappeared postpartum. Re-diagnosed December 2012 with type 1.5 diabetes, age 26, BMI 23 currently controlled by only Metformin, 500mg twice a day.
 

jodi932

Active Member
Messages
42
Re: Carbs!

Thanks for all your posts guys they all made sense :) some days I do have hypos before dinner time. Today had 2 slices of toast for breakfast as usuall arpund 8am plua took 12 insulin. At 10.30 am I was 2.5 was shocked as I eat the same inject the same and do the same activities a day! Do anyone think that I may be procuding more insulin than they think?

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Hellbunny

Well-Known Member
Messages
240
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Re: Carbs!

12 units is alot for 2 slices of toast, was it nororapid/fast acting you took? Have you done the carb counting course?