Protein meal

[Akash]

Im still new to this whole thing, im type 1. I was just wondering wether you take insulin if you have just a protein dinner and without any carbs? If not, would someone be able to explain why? Thanks a lot.


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[Alasdair]

Im still new to this whole thing, im type 1. I was just wondering wether you take insulin if you have just a protein dinner and without any carbs? If not, would someone be able to explain why? Thanks a lot.


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Did your Dr not explain anything like this for you?

Only take your short acting insulin (bolus - novorapid etc) to counteract any carbs you take. It's the carbs and the associated sugar that raise your bg levels. Your long acting insulin (basal - levemir or lantus) you will take regardless of carbs.

There are others on here far more educated than I am on this sort of matter but so far I haven't taken any notice of protein when considering how much insulin to take.

 

[Fearghal]

Insulin is still required to cover protein, although protein doesn't spike blood sugar to the same extent..you'll find you maybe need less to cover low carb high protein meals..

 

[Thundercat]

I must be doing something wrong that is playing out right. I never allow for protein when calculating so I must be miscalculating for carbs as results are lovely. I'm confused. Will leave things as they are for now as ot seems to be working. There is always something new to learn isn't there. Sigh

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[noblehead]

Im still new to this whole thing, im type 1. I was just wondering wether you take insulin if you have just a protein dinner and without any carbs? If not, would someone be able to explain why? Thanks a lot.


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I believe protein in the absence of carbohydrates converts to glucose by around 60%, it is broken down over a longer period so it may not hit effect your bg for 3-5 hours after eating, so yes insulin is needed in most cases although there will be some who may get away without insulin.

An example I often use is when I ate a breakfast of eggs when I briefly went low-carb on joining the forum, an omelette or eggs and bacon would initially need 2 units of insulin but 3-4 hours after eating my bg would start to climb to 8-10mmol so an additional 2 units would be needed to bring my levels back into normal range (this explains why type 1's who follow a Bernstein/Atkins style low-carb diet often take up to 8-10 injections of insulin a day).

As a rule I don't inject for protein as my meals always now contain carbs so I just inject to cover them unless they have hidden carbs which I am aware of.

 

[SamJB]

I'm a low carber and I bolus for protein. Might be because my body has adjusted to a lack of carbs. For example, I went to Nandos on the weekend and only had chicken, no sides, and I needed to take 5 units of Novorapid.

I never took Novorapid for protein before I low carbed though. I think Noblehead is correct when he says that in the absence of carbs your body will convert some of the protein so glucose. The only way to tell if you need insulin for protein is to test.

 

[smidge]

Hi Akash!

I agree with Noblehead and Sam. The human body prefers to get its fuel from carb, but in the absence of carb it simply converts some of the protein to glucose. I eat about 50g carb a day. I jab small amounts of Apidra (rapid-acting) for low-carb and no-carb meals. 1.5 units for bacon and egg for example. For a chicken salad lunch that has 5 - 8g carb in the salad, I will inject 1.5 units, but if I add 50g of orange to that raising the carb count to 12 - 15g carb, I still only need 1.5 units Apidra. Basically, less of the chicken will be converted to glucose because my body will use the glucose from the orange in preference. So in answer to your question, I would jab one or two units rapid-acting for a very low or no-carb meal, but I'd ignore the protein element in a higher carb meal. hope that makes sense.

Smidge

 

[Akash]

Thanks a lot everyone you've been very helpful.


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[andybrightman]

I will definitely suggest you take insulin regularly because, so far I was also struggling with this problem and I tried to gain more proteins. I had also consider to high protein foods like beans, Nuts or Nut butter, Veggie burgers and meat as well.