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Carb to Insulin Ratios

R

RichWatt

Member
Messages
18
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Hi All

I was trying to find some info on this forum and may have missed it somewhere. I've read topics before where T1's have discussed how they have different ratios for calculating how much insulin they need based on the amount of carbs depending on the time of day it is. I find my ratio can vary but have no basis of why other than assuming the varying GI in the different carbs I eat probably have an impact.

If anyone out there has worked out a reliable set of ratios for the different times of day or types of food can you give me some advice on what yours are and how you reached them?

Thanks
 
My carb ratio's would be no more relevant to you than the persons Rich, try joining this site which is an on-line carb counting course similar to DAFNE:

http://www.bdec-e-learning.com/
 
Everyones carb ratio will be different, and if two people share the same carb ratio at one time of day (e.g. lunchtime) they may not share the same carb ratio at other times of the day. There is no formula that will "fit all", the only way to work it all out is to test and then repeat testing until you find numbers that suit you. To avoid different GI food interfering with your calculations you could try eating the same food at different times of the day to see how it differs. There are a number of reasons your carb ratio may change at different times. I had assumed that it was injected basal insulin wearing off towards the end of it's life and the next basal injection not having quite kicked in yet, and that might be right. But since my daughter has gone onto the pump we've realised that her basal insulin needs fluctuate during a 24 hour period (stress, growth hormones, exercise, excitement etc causes this) but also her carb ratios still vary too. I think due to the stress, hormones etc this might also cause periods of more or less insulin resistance during a 24 hour period and perhaps that's why the carb ratio still varies. Again the types of food will affect everyone differently so to work that out it means more testing and evaluating the results. I'm afraid there never seems to be an easy answer with diabetes!
 
For me ime of day seems to have a bigger impact than GI. I need more insulin in the morning and less as the day goes on.

To get the ratios right my Dietian suggested starting with one meal, testing before eating and 2 hours after. 2 hour testing should show a small rise and should be back to the pre meal level by the next meal time. Once I got breakfast sorted (the easiest one for me as I tend to eat the same breakfast most days) I moved on to lunch and so on. I did find it easiest to stick to a few meals that I could accuratly carb count for a few days while I got things worked out.

I think my starting point was 1 unit to every 10g of carbs, then adjust up or down as needed
 
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