Protein Spikes

[victoria84]

Hi all,
anyone got any ideas how to prevent or lower protein spikes?

Mine come on for longer than my novorapid covers so just wondering if there is anything i can do to shorten them. Im doing the LCHF and am struggling to maintain bg readings at the moment, though i thought they would be lower :crazy:

 

[mrman]

Don't low carb myself but if when you have eaten a high protein meal with low carbs and you have injected insulin to cover carbs, are you sure your ratio for carbs are correct. If your levels are good after 2 hours probably are, although qa can work upto 5 hours. Have you tried adjusting your qa to give yourself a bit more. Or
If your levels are rising after the 3 hour mark it could be your basal out at that time of day.
Or, your body is not yet used to the low carb diet and because your not eating alot of carbs your liver is releasing sugar to give you energy that it thinks it needs. I have heard from other low carbers it can take time for the body to get used to converting the protein into energy and the liver to stop releasing extra sugar.
hopefully other low carbers could give you advice. A low carb day for me is 250 carbs lol

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[victoria84]

Thanks for replying Brett.

My basal is fine and have had no issues since we found my correct dosage. I did count carbs correct for me which is why im a bit baffled.

I didnt realise the liver produced glucose even after you have eaten a meal so thats a great theory :thumbup:

I have chocen LCHF as i want to shift 10lb, after that i will definately enjoy my carbs again, they are so much more yummy

 

[mrman]

no problem, think the liver produces glycogen (sugar) from stores in the liver to break down the protein eaten to be absorbed. It will also do this quite randomly but more usual at times of stress/illness and intense excercise making things somewhat troublesome. Do you carb count for protein. I have read other low carbers do that to counter act the glycogen being released.

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[victoria84]

no i didnt because im not quite sure how much is needed

 

[mrman]

Lol, I suppose it would be trial and error, so many units of qa per so many grams of protein. Sorry couldn't even advise a starting point for this, wheres sam when u need him. Just for other people that might read also, a ratio for protein I think is only used when doing lchf diet.
Good luck with the weight loss also.

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[victoria84]

All your info has helped me greatly

tyvm brett

 

[mrman]

Yvw glad I could help

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[Ladybirdy75]

What Brett said ;-) lol


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[Avery123]

Carbohydrate food can be discovered in different quantities in much of the meals we eat, some creature centered meals such as dairy products, egg, seafood and beef do not but most other meals will.....

 

[noblehead]

Hi all,
anyone got any ideas how to prevent or lower protein spikes?

Mine come on for longer than my novorapid covers so just wondering if there is anything i can do to shorten them. Im doing the LCHF and am struggling to maintain bg readings at the moment, though i thought they would be lower :crazy:

Try a split dose of insulin, for example take a small amount with your meal then again 2-3 hours after, this should in theory work and I know some type 1 low-carbers use this method, yes it means more injections but can't see any other way unless you change your insulin.

If you do split dose just be careful that you don't hypo when you next eat, stacking insulin doses can have the tenancy to cause postprandial hypo's so do be careful.

 

[victoria84]

Thanks for that noblehead its good advice. No harm in trying it and i will be very careful now knowing what to look for.

Thanks again

 

[Patch13]

Brett is correct about bolousing for protein if you are eating low carb. I never used to when I ate carbs but now I do that I am low carb. This involves weighing my food (on a scale which tells me the nutritional value of food), calculating the protein and carbs in the food and then working out how much insulin to take.

High fat can also slow down the rate of digestion and means you may benefit from splitting your dose of insulin into two. As I have a pump I just give myself the insulin over a few hours instead of in one go otherwise I would go hypo.

Going low carb has meant I have had to adjust my bolus insulin and my basal (which has dropped again so I am yet again changing it!)

If you are just doing low carb to drop 10 pounds and then going back to eating carbs I am wondering if it will be worth the hassle or whether another diet maybe a more appropriate root? I'm simply saying this because low carbing has adjusted all my insulin levels and been a huge change in my life - for example finding things I could eat was initially difficult, now I finally (after a few months and lots of finding recipes ) am totally happy with what I can / can't eat.

If you really want to low carb then Dr Richard Bernsteins diabetes solution will tell you how to calculate your insulin and give you lots of other info and some recipes.

Patch13



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[Ladybirdy75]

Patch13, can i ask if you square wave that insulin or dual wave it? On a pump too and low carbing and interested which pattern you'd use?

Many thanks.


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[Patch13]

Patch13, can i ask if you square wave that insulin or dual wave it? On a pump too and low carbing and interested which pattern you'd use?

Many thanks.


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My functions aren't called that so I will explain what the function I use does and hopefully it will make sense.
I calculate how much insulin to take according to the calculation in Dr Bernsteins book. Then I use a dual function where I get given half the insulin for my map straightaway and the other half over 3 hours. This seems to stop me from hypoing.
Hope that helps!