How does your body cope with carbs + insulin and how do you avoid spikes?

[joules]

Here is an example of how my sugars work as a type 1 diabetic:

08.00: test - 6.2mmol
08.00: 10u Novo Rapid
08.20: 40g Carbs (2x toast + a little jam)
10.00: test - 12.4mmol
11.30: test - 5.9mmol
13.00: test - 5.4mmol

I spoke with a dietician and she said this is normal to spike in between all meals. I personally don't like the idea of spiking.

How does your body react to insulin and meals?

 

[azure]

I dont know if it's normal to spike. I think spiking a little is ok, but I wouldnt want to have high spikes. I try to get my blood sugar down to 7.8 or below 2 hrs after a meal.

I find cereal works for me for breakfast. Here are my figures:

On rising - bs 5.4
Bolus approx 30 mins before breakfast.
Breakfast of granola mixed with All Bran, total weight 60g, with full fat milk and 100ml Orange juice.
2hrs after breakfast - bs 5.6

Have you tried a different bread? Or tried having more fat with your toast? Or maybe having your bolus earlier to try to control that spike?

 

[noblehead]

That's quite a spike Joules and its taken some time to come back down even though your insulin would have well and truly peaked by 10am.

Can I ask if you rotate your injection sites regularly and do you have any issues with your sites? The reason why I ask is over-using sites can lead to scar tissue building up underneath which in turn leads to poor insulin absorption, so in effect you can get a delay in the insulin working effectively to bring your bg levels down after eating food - then when it should be tailing off it suddenly kicks-in...... which looking at your bg readings could explain things.

However if this isn't the case then change your breakfast and see what results you get, I have porridge most morning and my bg rarely spikes beyond my bg target range of 8.5 and is usually under 7 by the 2 hour mark, but although porridge is a medium gi food I still add seeds and natural yogurt to the meal as the fats in these also help to slow down the digestion of the carbs (much like Azure has said above).

 

[joules]

Mmmmm.. ponder ponder...
This is all very interesting and I really appreciate your thoughts.

Re my injection sites, I tend to rotate though have just noticed a couple of bruises on my stomach. This could be the issue of course and I wasn't aware of this. i also inject into my thigh, which is fine. I shall certainly keep this in mind and try other areas. I am left with thighs, hips, buttocks and belly, as I work out a lot so don't have a huge amount of fat on my arms. The belly is hard to use and that is great as a type 1 - ha!

Over the months I have been moving onto cutting various carbs out of my diet as a solution, though not finding one. I miss porridge and other cereals in the mornings. Have tried granola with the same results, as it's mentioned a lot here - is that another super / low glycemic food? Can someone recommend a packet here that is not full of honey and sugar as that is all i can see in the supermarkets, then will give it another go.

The bread i eat is mainly brown with seeds (14.2g per slice), though the same issue has been occurring. I found that eating later works better for me so far..

I'll check the injecting sites first, then report back. Intriguing and many thank you's

 

[joules]

ps... regarding 'more fats'.. my cholesterol is 3.2 as i don't indulge too much in fats, which is good. I add a great deal of olive oil to meals and toast actually, so yeah... will add more to test that

 

[azure]

Well, your bread sounds ok as far as I know ( I only eat rye bread myself). The ones with seeds tend to have a lower GI.

So I'd add more fat (maybe cheese on toast, or butter, or peanut butter?) and gradually move your bolus earlier to see what affect that has. Looking at your injection sites is also a good idea as Noblehead says.

I don't know if you have similar spikes all day? If it's mainly the morning, you might want to think about the Dawn Phenomen and take a look at your basal insulin too.

Good luck with sorting it out. I'm sure you will as you're obviously monitoring your blood sugars and the affect food has well. It's annoying, but sometimes some meals or some foods take more work than others to sort. Diabetes is an ongoing process sadly. It'd be lovely if everything was perfect all the time! : D