Carb counting and Hypo

[slaterk]

Hi all,

I've been diagnosed type 1(.5) about 10 weeks, been on insulin about a month and have been carb counting for just over 3 weeks now. I generally find it does help but I had a bit of an issue last night. My misses cooked us a meal with rice. I asked if she could weigh the rice when she portioned it up and she said it was about 300grams. I looked on carbs and cals under white rice and it says 290g is 90g of carbs. I added a corrective unit as I was a little high so took 10 units in total. About an hour and a half later I started feeling very odd, vacant, nauseous, sweating profusely, so I tested my blood. Sure enough I was down at 4.0 so had a few jelly babies, then some fruit and started feeling better. Within half an hour I was back up to 6.6. My question is did I get this so very wrong? I weighed the rice, took what I thought was the right amount of insulin so what happened? Is it just that sometimes we get it wrong or did I do something particularly wrong? This was my first real hypo and I just want to try and understand why it happened better. Thanks in advance.

Keith.


Sent from the Diabetes Forum App

 

[Hooked]

Were you active or inactive after the meal (or at any stage that day)? This may have had an effect.

I find rice very hard to judge, even when I weigh it out like you. Usually I end up hypo too. Would be interested in what others have to say on this subject too.

 

[slaterk]

Hmm. I did about 20 minutes on my turbo trainer before dinner. I try and do my exercise either before taking my bolus or at least 3 hours afterwards as I've managed to drop my blood sugars by 4 mmol an hour after taking it. It's a real challenge this diabetes lark, still, I'm always up for a challenge and won't be beaten!!


Sent from the Diabetes Forum App

 

[billybadger]

Was it normal plain white rice? There is a type of rice that is called converted or sometimes parboiled rice, which due to the way it is prepared, has a much lower GI (about 40 compared to around 90 for normal white rice)

 

[slaterk]

It was normal basmati. We only ever eat that or brown rice.


Sent from the Diabetes Forum App

 

[noblehead]

Also depends upon what you had with the rice, if say it was a curry then the fat content of the curry will slow down the absorption of the meal and this will explain why you hypo'd so soon, I know when we have a Chinese Take-away I always do a split dose of insulin to allow for the delay.

If the meal wasn't high in fat then just reduce your insulin dose next time to 8 units instead of 10 for the same portion, carb counting isn't a precise science and by taking notes of these things will help you enjoy the meal again without incident

 

[slaterk]

Thanks everyone. I think the problem we've had is that the way my misses cooks the rice absorbs more water, so the cooked weight is more water and less carbs than normal. What I was doing was taking the cooked weight and looking on carbs and cals and working it out from there. What we are going to do is work it out from the dry weight / nutrition values on the packet (which is 78g of carbs / 100g which must be dry, cooked rice doesn't have that ratio). She's just worked it out and the amount she normally cooks works out at about 65g of carbs, so we'll see how that works out with 7 or 8 units of insulin.


Sent from the Diabetes Forum App

 

[Hooked]

Thanks everyone. I think the problem we've had is that the way my misses cooks the rice absorbs more water, so the cooked weight is more water and less carbs than normal. What I was doing was taking the cooked weight and looking on carbs and cals and working it out from there. What we are going to do is work it out from the dry weight / nutrition values on the packet (which is 78g of carbs / 100g which must be dry, cooked rice doesn't have that ratio). She's just worked it out and the amount she normally cooks works out at about 65g of carbs, so we'll see how that works out with 7 or 8 units of insulin.


Sent from the Diabetes Forum App

Glad to hear you figured it out.

 

[ElyDave]

Glad to see you've realised the issue Slaterk, I did the same with quinoa trying to work that one out was a real hedache as I had two packets from two different supermarkets. One of them gave the cooked data and the other one the raw data and I couldn't work out what the hell was going on with my readings every time I ate it.

 

[Shell1]

Exercise can make you insulin sensitive for a up to a day later . Also with rice we find it a good idea to have insulin half hour before eating


Sent from the Diabetes Forum App

 

[Shell1]

Also exercise can sometimes up your blood sugar as your body realises glucose for energy .my daughters go sky high at gymnastics and also bouncing on trampoline but everyone reacts differently


Sent from the Diabetes Forum App

 

[slaterk]

Thanks guys, all useful information