Has anyone found a reliable strategy with beer?

[Zinadane]

It's such a shame the carb info is not more readily available. Some of the stronger lagers can be up to 20g per pint I'm sure.
So if you have 4 pints, that's 80g of sugar, which is a lot and needs go be dealt with.
Guinness is usually a safe option for me at 15g per pint and not to strong either.
I like to make sure my bg is in the lowish end of the scale before drinking. Then if its going to be 3or 4 I will inject after the second.
Nothing worse than letting you level go high and then hitting it with a large dose which will tend to be later in the evening when you've had few. Things start to get tricky.

 

[KennyA]

It's such a shame the carb info is not more readily available. Some of the stronger lagers can be up to 20g per pint I'm sure.
So if you have 4 pints, that's 80g of sugar, which is a lot and needs go be dealt with.
Guinness is usually a safe option for me at 15g per pint and not to strong either.

I think it's the other way round - the more alcohol produced (generally) the less sugar remains. Some of the 10 and 11% Flemish beers are lower carb than 4% session ales. I also think that Guinness (as a stout) comes in a bit higher in carb than lagers - I understand it's about 11g for a bottle, maybe 20-22g a pint.

I don't have the insulin issue but I'm interested in decent beers with low carb - I'm trying to stay around 20g carb/day. Marston's Resolution has (iirc) 3.5g/bottle and is OK: there are two Salute beers (one lager, one IPA) produced by https://www.sugarfreebeer.com/ both zero carb and both surprisingly good.

 

[plantae]

I drink beer and haven't really had a problem with high blood sugar from it. Sure it goes high initially but that's expected and I've worked out how much insulin to take. My problem isn't high BSL, it's going hypo. If I have more than two or three (yeah I'm naughty) everything will be cruising along nicely and then my BSL will drop like a rock. My solution, other than giving up beer which maybe I should based on my pancreas issues etc but I like beer, is to eat even more carbs (like chips/crisps). It's counterintuitive but it works for me. This is on the nights where I have more than two beers though. If I have just two beers with my meal then I just inject insulin to cover it and that works. It's the naughty nights where things tend to go haywire... which is probably to be expected haha

Edit: the beer I drink has the nutrition info (carbs is all I'm interested in) published so maybe that makes it easier... not all beers do

 

[Zinadane]

I stand corrected. Guinness is 18g per pint.
I think most pints will be in 15-20g range.
Not sure what beers/lagers you can get which are closer to 10g?

 

[RobertJ]

Why not inject more often?
Inject for the first beer, and then again for the food and more beer?

Hi @Antje77, I do that to some extent but if I do lots of little injections I lose track of how much I've given. I'm not on a pump yet, after all. I just think if I have to do, say, one injection per pint I might as well just not bother with it at all.

I've had some real successes but it's inconsistent. For example, last summer I went to the London Craft Beer Festival and stayed within 6-8 for the whole four hours. I think for that I gave three doses in total, and had food about halfway through it.

 

[RobertJ]

I stand corrected. Guinness is 18g per pint.
I think most pints will be in 15-20g range.
Not sure what beers/lagers you can get which are closer to 10g?

Maybe some of the American-style 'light' beers like Coors, but they're basically just water.

 

[Antje77]

if I do lots of little injections I lose track of how much I've given.

I've developed a habit of logging my doses in the Libre app and often look back on it to see when I took my last dose or to see what I did yesterday or the day before, for me it's a very useful tool.
But I can understand it's not for everyone if it's not information you regularly want to use.

 

[RobertJ]

I drink beer and haven't really had a problem with high blood sugar from it. Sure it goes high initially but that's expected and I've worked out how much insulin to take. My problem isn't high BSL, it's going hypo. If I have more than two or three (yeah I'm naughty) everything will be cruising along nicely and then my BSL will drop like a rock. My solution, other than giving up beer which maybe I should based on my pancreas issues etc but I like beer, is to eat even more carbs (like chips/crisps). It's counterintuitive but it works for me. This is on the nights where I have more than two beers though. If I have just two beers with my meal then I just inject insulin to cover it and that works. It's the naughty nights where things tend to go haywire... which is probably to be expected haha

Edit: the beer I drink has the nutrition info (carbs is all I'm interested in) published so maybe that makes it easier... not all beers do

This is quite interesting but I notice you have Type 3c. Does that mean your pancreas still produces some insulin? If so, it's sadly not a strategy I can replicate.

 

[plantae]

This is quite interesting but I notice you have Type 3c. Does that mean your pancreas still produces some insulin? If so, it's sadly not a strategy I can replicate.

I don't think my pancreas produces insulin My treatment for diabetes is exactly the same as for T1 (I'm in the system as T1 because no matter the cause -- autoimmune or otherwise -- I have no productive beta cells according to the c peptide and other tests). Edit: maybe it produces some insulin the doctors were not clear, but not much. In some ways I wish type 3 wasn't a thing because it causes confusion and the end result is the same as if I had type 1 it's just that my cells were killed in a different way

 

[plantae]

When I say that I wish type 3c wasn't a thing is because in hospital, for example, I'm treated as if I was type 2 by some nurses. It's very different to type 2 because I don't produce insulin (my pancreas is just about gone and the beta cells gone with it). The problem is that in my country type 3/3c is not widespread knowledge. Why does the cause matter? 5 years ago I'd have been called type 1. In the system (for prescriptions etc) I'm still called type 1 because type 3c doesn't exist in their computers

 

[Skylab]

Interesting thread as a type 1 since 1982 and I have drank beer alcohol my entire life.I have suffered no alcohol issues I have come to the conclusion Beer and ale is a Health drink and is good for you. and should be promoted as such....

 

[RobertJ]

I don't think my pancreas produces insulin My treatment for diabetes is exactly the same as for T1 (I'm in the system as T1 because no matter the cause -- autoimmune or otherwise -- I have no productive beta cells according to the c peptide and other tests). Edit: maybe it produces some insulin the doctors were not clear, but not much. In some ways I wish type 3 wasn't a thing because it causes confusion and the end result is the same as if I had type 1 it's just that my cells were killed in a different way

Thanks for clarifying. It sounds like you're basically the same as a Type 1 then.

This leads me to ask, what do you actually do with beer? Let's say you arrive at the pub and it's a perfect reading of 5.5 and you're going to have at least two pints, do you give a few units beforehand or do something else?

 

[Zinadane]

First time I've noticed carbs. On the side of my sanmiquel afternoon bevvy

 

[SamJB]

Not that it helps with having pints down the pub, but I’ve discovered DrinkWell Low Carb Ale packs, that have on average about 3g carbs per can/bottle. I love beer, but don’t want to sacrifice my sugar levels for a few pints. These beers are pretty decent (there’s a lager pack too) and are a regular purchase for me now

 

[Deleted member 527103]

. I love beer, but don’t want to sacrifice my sugar levels for a few pints.

I too enjoy beer and can drink “normal” beer without sacrificing my sugar levels by learning to dose my insulin.
I am also very aware of diabetes burnout so balance is very important for me.
I try to follow the TIR recommendation of 70% time in range with no more than 5% hypo.
I believe the latest studies have shown the advantages of pushing for more than this are negligible, especially when you consider the mental impact.

 

[KennyA]

Thanks - it seems

Not that it helps with having pints down the pub, but I’ve discovered DrinkWell Low Carb Ale packs, that have on average about 3g carbs per can/bottle. I love beer, but don’t want to sacrifice my sugar levels for a few pints. These beers are pretty decent (there’s a lager pack too) and are a regular purchase for me now

It seems to be Resolution, Skinny, and an IPA called Lean Brew that I haven't tried. Resolution is OK, but way overpriced here; I find Skinny undrinkable; how's the Lean Brew?

 

[SamJB]

I don’t mind Skinny, bog standard lager. Lean Brew IPA is great, a session IPA. Skinny also do an IPA which is good too

Home Bargains usually sell Skinny Lager and occasionally Resolution (89p a bottle!), so I usually go there to stock up. If I’m feeling flush I’ll go to DrinkWell!

 

[KennyA]

Home Bargains for Resolution is a winner, although not alweays available. I've tried the Skinny IPA and it's a no from me.

Will look out for the Lean Brew, particularly as the Salute people seem to be having supply difficulties. Not had a delivery since April.

 

[RobertJ]

First time I've noticed carbs. On the side of my sanmiquel afternoon bevvy

I think most beers are somewhere in the zone of 10g to 15g per pint. In my experience, though, you can't just treat every pint equally. If I had two pints and have two units, I would go high. I find I have to give more than a 1:1 ratio for the first one, about a 1:1 for the second and nothing for the third, depending on how much I have. Sometimes it works, sometimes it goes a bit wrong, hence me making this thread in the first place!

One thing for sure is you cannot treat the carbs in beer the way you'd treat that exact same amount if it was, say, bread.

 

[SamJB]

Home Bargains for Resolution is a winner, although not alweays available. I've tried the Skinny IPA and it's a no from me.

Will look out for the Lean Brew, particularly as the Salute people seem to be having supply difficulties. Not had a delivery since April.

Lean brew is very similar to Skinny IPA, so maybe it won’t be to your taste either