low carbs - beans and pulses?

[miss e j]

I'm after some low-carb advice from all you experts!

Having read lots of interesting stuff on here about the joys of low carbing, I've significantly reduced my carbs for the last week - with mostly promising results regarding my BGs and have reduced my total daily insulin dose from average 45 units to 35. However, I'm not sure about beans and pulses. I'm a vegan, so am not prepared to cut down on these foods, (I'm not going ultra-low-carb), as they are such a good source of protein. If anything, on a low-carb diet, I have increased my intake of pulses. I was taught on my DAFNE-style course to only count half the carbs when eating these foods, but have found my insulin doesn't quite cover this.

Is this because they are very slow (low gi) carbs? In which case, would a square wave bolus work better than a normal one (I use a pump but haven't got my head round advanced features yet!). Or should I just try a normal bolus for the full amount of carbs?

I am happy experimenting, but would appreciate any advice from anyone who's sussed out beans!

Thanks,

Miss EJ

 

[Katharine]

I haven't sussed beans and pulses but I have sussed meat.

Refined carbs are well covered with rapid acting insulins.

Slower digesting foods eg pizza, meat, lasagne are better with split boluses or longer acting insulins such as regular insulin.

I would expect that you would get better results with a square wave or dual wave bolus for beans and pulses. You would need to experiment to see how long the bolus needs to be.