Confused with Carb Counts

[ElyDave]

Hello all,

I'm newly diagnosed (ten days ago) Type 1 and I'm struggling to understand some of the nuances of carb counting.

I'm looking to get a handle on managing my dosage more subtly than three big splats of novorapid a day plus the background levemir. In most cases it's fairly simple to count the carbs, for cereals, breads fruit etc, discount veggies, eggs and so on, but I'm struggling to get my head around how to account for the inbetweens. Specifically lentils, quinoa and that kind of thing that have high fibre and protein contents in addition to the carbs.

For reference I'm training for a 70-mile ultra marathon in August if I can manage to get my dose needs in relation to exercise and food intake sorted out.

Any advice welcomed

Thanks

Dave

 

[JoB90]

Hi Dave
Iv been type 1 diabetic for nearly 5 years now an iv had so many different carb to insulin ratios.
For instance i used to be on 15g of carbs = 1 unit of novorapid. Then it changed to 10g of carbs = 1 unit of novorapid. With my levemir in the morning and at tea time.
You need to see what works best for your body, id suggest askin your diabetic nurses or Dr.
Especially if your running you may want to leave your blood sugar a little bit higher that usual as your exercising it may make you hypo because your usibg the sugar to convert it to energy.
Usually for lentils, mushy peas & things like that for 1 tablespoon i count them at around 5g of carbs but it should say it on the packet or you can download a free barcode scanner & it tells you all the nutriances of the specific food you are going to eat.
As for eating inbetween meals i usually eat something with no carbs in as i detest my injection but say you ate carbs at 12ish for dinner your blood sugar will spike an should be coming back down at around 2 & 1/2 hours later but if you eat again at half 12 & do your blood it will most likely say that its high which is a false reading as youve only just eaten so only take novorapid for what the carb content of the food as if you give yourself more novorapid for correctibg the high blood sugar it will bring your blood sugars low.
I hope this helps you & you understand it, if you need me to explain it more just ask

Jo

 

[howfast]

Hi Dave I'm relatively recently diagnosed (2 years) T1 but just gone on a pump 3 weeks ago.
I've just run across the country (190 miles off road) in 4 days so understand where you are at with ultra running.
If you want to chat feel free to contact me.

But here are some random thoughts

- if newly diagnosed your pancreas most likely is still producing insulin which complicates things - my nurse likened it to a spluttering car!

- when doing exercise your insulin sensitivity rises, so over those 4 days I was only using 10-25% of the insulin I normally use.

- when finished a long trip I find I still only need 1/2 doses for 2 or 3 days

See howfast.org and check out the blogs. Any worries give us a shout.. whats the ultra?

James

 

[ElyDave]

Hi Dave I'm relatively recently diagnosed (2 years) T1 but just gone on a pump 3 weeks ago.
I've just run across the country (190 miles off road) in 4 days so understand where you are at with ultra running.
If you want to chat feel free to contact me.

But here are some random thoughts

- if newly diagnosed your pancreas most likely is still producing insulin which complicates things - my nurse likened it to a spluttering car!

- when doing exercise your insulin sensitivity rises, so over those 4 days I was only using 10-25% of the insulin I normally use.

- when finished a long trip I find I still only need 1/2 doses for 2 or 3 days

See howfast.org and check out the blogs. Any worries give us a shout.. whats the ultra?

James

Thanks James,
I'm told I'm a good candidate for fast tracking onto a pump, but even so it won't happen before my run in August, first week. I'm doing the Grim Reaper 70-miler in Grimsthorpe. Entered it last year as well but DNF'd at 40 miles in a quagmire with ITBs just imploding under the extra strain of lifting my feet 6" out of mud with every step.

When you say 10-25% of usual dose are you referring to basal or bolus? I know it's a bit more complicated with the pump.

I've started running again, and cycling, but not tried changing my dose yet. The first time I was planning to do that would be this weekend when I want to try and get a 2-hour long run in just to know that I can still do it. I've got a nice 10k loop I can run on the roads from my house so relatively safe in case anything goes **** up.

The thing I'm relearning is my nutritional needs to cover the exercise with the artificial insulin.

dave