Take away

[Rochelle1990]

Hi all, just wondering how take away affects your blood sugar levels. I've had chip shop chips twice now and failed miserably to stop my sugars spiking after! My sugars are between 4-7 90% of the time but after chips and curry sauce tonight I'm up to 14!

 

[noblehead]

Not surprising its high, take-away meals like the one you had are high in fat which can delay the absorption of the carbs resulting in a delayed postprandial spike, on MDI I would split-dose for such meals.

 

[himtoo]

Hi Rochelle1990
welcome to the forum
i see you were diagnosed about 7 months ago and are on multiple daily injections using levemir as your basal and novorapid as your bolus insulin.
have you been on a carb counting course yet ? ( if so you will have a ratio of units per 10 carbs ) a portion of real chip chop chips will have approx 110 - 120 grams of carb and for me that would mean a bolus of about 26 units( i take 2.4 units per 10 carbs), getting the bolus right for that sort of meal can be difficult but with some practise you can get there !! as noblehead suggested as well chips have a high fat content which can affect the absorption rate.

 

[pinewood]

My problem with high carb/high fat foods in the evening is that I'm able to take the right amount of insulin to keep my levels steady for the 3 or so hours afterwards but then I can't stop the gradual BS rise that occurs over night (presumably as the food continues to be digested, the delay being due to the high amount of fat?). I obviously don't want to take NovoRapid at bed time in case the BS drop is more than expected. End result is that I always wake up higher than usual the next morning. Guess that's where a pump would come in handy and where the extended bolus would be put to good use.

As previous posters said, one think that helps (for me) is splitting your dose: e.g. taking half right before the meal and then the other half an hour so later.

 

[LucySW]

Also, beware of hidden carbs, eg rusk or breadcrumbs in sausages, burgers, meatloaf.