I wish I'd been told it earlier...

Dr Bernstein points out that eating close to the point of being stuffed can cause the body to release sugar in the bloodstream.

I'm not saying this is necessarily applicable in the case you describe.

I have noticed this having a tendency to ring true with me though.

Hi alaska,

It's a wierd one really, my portion sizes are pretty much the same all the time and when I work it all out the total to bolus is 8 units, however if I do 8 units over say 30mins -1hr I will go hypo about 2 hours later, so I started reducing it sometimes doing 5.5, 6 even 7 and sometimes its right, most times I go high with sugars up to 18, once they were 23.
I'm beginning to wonder if I have a mixed ratio problem as I tend to halve my breakfast as a 10g carb = 0.5 units
My sugars pre meal would typically be about 6-9 (I know this may be high for some of you but I've had some bad hypos in the last 2 months so i'm deliberately running higher so I can sort myself out).
Do you mean that if you have a lot of protein with carbs it cancels it out so you just bolus for the mash?
I'll try and do the test 2 and 4 hours after like you say and see what happens.
Thanks, Jo

noblehead said:

alaska said:

I would imagine that if Nigel had more carbs in the meal, he would have injected more insulin to start with and the carbs would then offset any protein raise at the 3-4 hour mark.

However, Nigel may correct my supposition here.

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Not at all Alaska, I need as much insulin to cover a very low carb meal as I do for one that contains 30-40g of carbs, I did try low-carb (50-60g) a day but found my control unpredictable and bg was higher pre-meal time than it is eating a moderate carb diet, although using a fast acting insulin such as Novorapid may not be suitable for someone following a low-carb diet and a slower acting one would be more preferable.

Nigel

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Me too!, I don't eat many meals that don't have a carb element . If I eat a trad English breakfast ; normally on the ferry going to from the UK, it takes more insulin than my normal porridge and berries. As my meals normally incluse carbs, protein and fat and like most people I eat a fairly consistent pattern of meals I assume that my carb ratio has an element that 'covers' the protein.
It makes sense, some research has shown that in non diabetics some protein high foods produce a higher insulin release than carbs.

Do you mean that if you have a lot of protein with carbs it cancels it out so you just bolus for the mash?

Click to expand...

I think the idea is that if you eat a meal that has say 30g of carbs or more (don't take this number at face value, it's a guess based on my own testing), then the body may not need to break down protein into glucose.

I've not had numbers above the 10s since cutting out the breads, potatoes, pasta and rice from my daily diet.

The only time I will have numbers above 10 are a result of:

beer, lager, wine
when I'm having pub/restaurant food
if I decide to let myself a dessert
I manage to contract a virus

However, I do get more hypos than most people would like as I generally prefer to overdose rather than underdose.

Guess I better inject then seeing as I've just eaten 2 hard boiled eggs! I didn't know this and assumed no carbs = no insulin requirement.

I've only been diabetic for 26 years...

:shock:

Lucie75 said:

Guess I better inject then seeing as I've just eaten 2 hard boiled eggs! I didn't know this and assumed no carbs = no insulin requirement.

I've only been diabetic for 26 years...

:shock:

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Always go by your own findings Lucy, if you've not noticed a increase before when eating protein foods without insulin then continue as you are.

Nigel

I thought this was only the case if you were following a quite low carb diet?

My understanding is that the body will turn protein into glucose as a way to fueling itself when there were little or no carbs?

so if someone has breakfast and lunch which has a fair amount of carbs, then has a tea that is little or no carbs but quite high in protein the body would have had glucose from the previous meals so would not need to turn protein into glucose?

Please tell me if i'm wrong thats how i thought it worked but i may be wrong?

That's really interesting, thanks alaska. It certainly explains some of my odd highs, in particularly when protein is involved

alaska said:

Do you mean that if you have a lot of protein with carbs it cancels it out so you just bolus for the mash?

Click to expand...

I think the idea is that if you eat a meal that has say 30g of carbs or more (don't take this number at face value, it's a guess based on my own testing), then the body may not need to break down protein into glucose.

Click to expand...

So what happens to the protein you've eaten than?

I was under the impression that everything gets converted to glucose and the body stores the excess as fat, hence the reason why we put on weight.

I was also under the impression that if you don't eat enough (carbs, protein or whatever) the body breaks down the stored fat and turns it into glucose to use as energy, hence the reason why we lose weight.

I hope I didn't completely misunderstood what I was told and read about. :?