• Guest - w'd love to know what you think about the forum! Take the 2025 Survey »

If you were to walk into McDonalds...

Spencer67

Spencer67

Well-Known Member
Messages
882
Location
North West
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Dislikes
Carbs and Blue Meanies
Type 1s only could answer this question i think; If you were to walk into McDonalds...

(Please hang with me on this it's to help me understand carb counting)

This is a hypothetical question you may loath the place and not touch the stuff but if you did walk in, in a parallel universe...

and you ordered a Bacon, Egg & Cheese Bagel with Egg Whites that has 55g of carb how much of your Bolus or if your on Novorapid would you inject to cope with the carbs? and how do you work it out so you stay within a good bg range?

If you want to choose something else;
http://nutrition.mcdonalds.com/getnutrition/nutritionfacts.pdf
 
I have never been taught how to carb count, but the issue is not the carb but the corn syrup in the carb and how your body deals with the effect. Also is this breakfast? When did you last eat breakfast? Because if you miss breakfast a lot your body's reaction maybe to store it as fat rather than turn it into energy. Then with corn syrup does your body convert it to glucose and then burn it or does it pass and be broken down differently.
A lot of questions that need to be investigated
 
I would inject 11 for that (5g carbs is 1unit for me)

I have no problem at dirty ronnies (macdonalds) or Burger King.

The carbs and cals app has near everything listed.

At BK I order a triple whopper with cheese supersize meal with fries and a coke zero and inject 14 units of novorapid and I'm fine, **** near flat line :). Yes I know it's bad and all That but I do love a bit of dirty food every now and then ;)

Oh and I've never been tought how to count carbs and adjust I just did a ton of reading on here and downloaded the carbs and cals app

My DN hates me for it but my A1c is 6.5% down from 9% and I'm not having bad hypos
 
britincali said:
I would inject 11 for that (5g carbs is 1unit for me)

I have no problem at dirty ronnies (macdonalds) or Burger King.

The carbs and cals app has near everything listed.

At BK I order a triple whopper with cheese supersize meal with fries and a coke zero and inject 14 units of novorapid and I'm fine, **** near flat line :). Yes I know it's bad and all That but I do love a bit of dirty food every now and then ;)
Click to expand...

he he. dirty food oh yes. i know your fine i've seen your bgz. tx for that.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I use a ratio of 1to 10. 1 unit of novorapid to every 10g of carbs. I should be injecting 5 and half units, but as I don't have a pen that does half units, if I am on the low side, I will inject 5, if am a bit on the high side, I will inject 6.
 
@Spencer67, it all depends on what your insulin-to-carb ratio is, if someone's is 1:10 then they'd inject 5.5 units of insulin, if their ratio was 1:7 then they'd inject 8 units, also depending on what time of day you go to the restaurant can be a factor too as many of us have different insulin ratio's for each meal-time.
 
I'd never eat that, but hypothetically I'd jab 7 units if I stuck to my 1:8 ratio, but bread spikes me horrendously so I'd need more. However, if I took it all in one go, I'd hypo before all the carbs were released. So I expect i'd split the dose with maybe 5 units before the meal and another 3 or 4 at two hours depending on my levels. Carb counting is great and helpful, but don't fall into the trap of thinking it's an exact science.

Smidge
 
smidge said:
I'd never eat that, but hypothetically I'd jab 7 units if I stuck to my 1:8 ratio, but bread spikes me horrendously so I'd need more. However, if I took it all in one go, I'd hypo before all the carbs were released. So I expect i'd split the dose with maybe 5 units before the meal and another 3 or 4 at two hours depending on my levels. Carb counting is great and helpful, but don't fall into the trap of thinking it's an exact science.

Smidge
Click to expand...
Yah, its just i never really carb counted i did a rough guess in my head and injected some novomix for about 18 years at a.m and p.m, a kind of 'jab and go' regime, then sleepwalked into a hypo or never injected enough and i would be high, its helping me understand my balancing act with carbs, my last HbA1c was 9 averaging bg around the 13s so i have to do something about it as i have some eye probs and i have to go to the manchester royal eye hospital soon for some lazer and i don't want anything else to go wrong with me. I get that its not the be all and end all but it is certainly something ive neglected. Never thought of splitting it but that is feasible, i know how fast a maccyd melts into the blood stream. tx.

Note: i don't endorse maccyds at all, i thought it would be easy for people to relate to and i would get some fair clear replies. i'm happy with the comments so far they have really helped.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Hi. My ratio is 1.1 units to each 10 gm of carbs but as Smidge says it is not an exact science. As my DN said 'when you eyeball your food.....). To be honest carb-counting is a no-brainer and my DN explained it to me in 10 minutes as soon as I went onto Novorapid. As long as you can roughly work out the carbs then the first time go with a 1:10 ratio and find out what your own ratio needs to be using the meter.
 
Depends what I'm doing after, if I'm at maccy d's I'm probably on the high street with the mrs, so walking around, so would go for 3 units of novorapid.
 
It's roughly a 50 mile round trip to the nearest Mc D's from where I live so would have deduct a weeks supply of insulin to walk there.
But hang on I have coeliac so will give it a miss :p
 
Some great replies thanks, they have really helped me build a better picture of how i approach carb counting, i know its more complex than a simple maccyd burger with 55g of carb but hearing how other T1s go about their business is very helpful and ive been able to get my ratio together, something id have never done without you guys. High 5. ;)

If your new to the thread please continue to add your comments.
 
Like others my ratio is 1:10 so i would take 5.5 units, I have a half unit pen. Going to the likes of mcd's or burger king is easy for carb counting as all the info is on there web page. Or in mcd's it on the back of the paper on the trays. Granted for the chips the portion sizes can differ. Its when you go to places like fankie and bennys for example that it gets a bit harder as they do not publish the carb values any where so it can be guestimation. But that comes with practice to get it roughly right
 
Spencer67 said:
Type 1s only could answer this question i think; If you were to walk into McDonalds...

(Please hang with me on this it's to help me understand carb counting)

This is a hypothetical question you may loath the place and not touch the stuff but if you did walk in, in a parallel universe...

and you ordered a Bacon, Egg & Cheese Bagel with Egg Whites that has 55g of carb how much of your Bolus or if your on Novorapid would you inject to cope with the carbs? and how do you work it out so you stay within a good bg range?

If you want to choose something else;
http://nutrition.mcdonalds.com/getnutrition/nutritionfacts.pdf
Click to expand...
To be accurate on the carb counting, which I do, you need to know what ratios to use. For me I use 1 unit Apidra for 4.5 grams carbs generally. I sometimes vary this ratio from meal to meal depending on what I plan do do later on....activities.etc To find the ratio it's a bit of trial and error For me , a meal of 55 grams carbs I'd use 12 units Apidra..jusr devide 55 by 4.5. Why don't you try something like 1 unit quick acting insulin for 6 grams carbs. I then test 4 hours later as recommended by DAFNE programme. The DAFNE course should be a must for all type 1s as it teaches most of the HOWs and WHYs things happen and is done on a 1-1 basis in a small class of people.
 
Pilgrim22 said:
I use a ratio of 1to 10. 1 unit of novorapid to every 10g of carbs. I should be injecting 5 and half units, but as I don't have a pen that does half units, if I am on the low side, I will inject 5, if am a bit on the high side, I will inject 6.
Click to expand...


same for me but on Humalog, but if it were tea time it would be 11 units as I,m on 2 units per 10g at that time
 
Depends on time of day for me.
Morning would be around 8 UI (10g to 1.5UI)
Lunch would be 5.5UI
Dinner would be 11UI

The nice thing about the larger chains is that they often have a nutritional information sheet available, McD have it on the underside of the sheet they stick on the trays. Most Weatherspoons pubs do too though you may need to look around or ask.. failing that it is online.
 
Its really hard to figure out....how many units of apidra blah blah blah
 
Back
Top