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Trouble with soup!

S

smidge

Well-Known Member
Messages
1,761
Type of diabetes
LADA
Treatment type
Insulin
Hi everyone!

Since being diagnosed with diabetes two years ago, I haven't had any tinned soup as it is very high in sugar. However, yesterday I wasfeeling a bit down and found a tin of Tesco tomato soup in the cupboard. I ate half a tin of the soup (14g carb) and 1 slice of Burgen bread (11g carb) and took 2.5 units Apidra to cover it - this is slightly more than my usual ratio. My BG went:

Before food 5.8
1 hour (to see what was happening as I felt lousy) - 12.2 :shock:
2 hours 9.8 - :shock:
3 hours 7.8

I then went to bed. I took my usual 1 unit Insuman basal. Woke up this morning 4.1 :***:

Anyone shed any light on this? My usual fasting would be high 5s/high 6s.

I guess I just need to avoid tinned soup, but I'd like to understand what happened here! Also, if anyone does have any recommendations for any tinned soup that works that would be much appreciated. :lol:

Thanks

Smidge
 
Hi Smidge! I'm not type 1, but I like soup and some soups seem to have lots of flour for thickening which seem to spike me.
I find that the thin chicken noodle soups (despite the tiny amount of pasta) work better. The sainsburys chicken noodle is only 10 grams per half tin. If you make your own of course, with no flour to thicken, it's even better!
 
smidge said:
I guess I just need to avoid tinned soup, but I'd like to understand what happened here! Also, if anyone does have any recommendations for any tinned soup that works that would be much appreciated.
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The lesson here Smidge is don't have the soup again! :)


We all react differently to foods and obviously the soup on this occasion caused a major spike in your bg, I stopped eating tinned soup and prefer homemade soup as you can monitor what goes into it, my wife makes a big pan and I split it into individual containers and freeze.

Search the web for suggestions on homemade soup and adjust them according to your taste, my bet is they won't cause a spike like the tinned varieties!
 
I fancied getting some soup in for winter the other day and had a look around when doing my online shopping order.
I found Heinz Farmers Market Broccolli and Silton. It has just over 3g carbs per 100g and I ate the whole tin (approx 12.8g) along with 1 slice of Burgen bread and crossed my fingers. Went from 4.8 before to 7.8 after 2 hours which for me was very good, expected a bit higher than that. :D

Hope this helps
Angie
 
Thanks, Guys.

Noblehead - you are right of course! I have thrown the other half the tin away and will try to find time to make some soup and freeze it over the next few weeks. I guess tomato soup is never going to be low-carb even if I make myself, though is it?

Grazer and Angie - thanks for the suggestions. I'll look out for those soups and give them a go.

I have a feeling I'm going to struggle with any soup though, as liquid carb seems to be particularly bad for me. I can't even have a drop of milk in my tea :roll:

Thanks

Smidge
 
smidge said:
Thanks, Guys.

Noblehead - you are right of course! I have thrown the other half the tin away and will try to find time to make some soup and freeze it over the next few weeks. I guess tomato soup is never going to be low-carb even if I make myself, though is it?
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Don't see why it shouldn't be low-carb, in tinned soup they add sugar to counteract the acidity of the tomatoes, try replacing sugar for an alternative sweetener (sorry can't recommend any).

Much also depends on the quantity of soup you eat and what you call ''low-carb''........don't forget bread pushes up the carb content of the meal! :wink:
 
smidge check out the low carb recipe section I posted some yummy soups there.
If it is tomato soup you are after then malt butter in a pan add half a finely chopped onion fry till its softened not browned.
Add a tin of chopped tomatoes pinch of bouillon powder dash of vinegar salt and a little sweetener. Blend until smooth then heat through but don't let it boil, add some double cream and adjust seasoning.
There is your own cream of tomato soup that won't make you spike.
 
Guess we are all different. I can eat the tinned soup. I bolus on my pump 1/2 hour before I eat it and if I check one hour after I've only got up by 2.0mmol and I go back down to how I was before after 3/4 hours with no trouble.
 
candi-girl said:
Guess we are all different. I can eat the tinned soup. I bolus on my pump 1/2 hour before I eat it and if I check one hour after I've only got up by 2.0mmol and I go back down to how I was before after 3/4 hours with no trouble.
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Yeah likewise candi-girl although it is rare that I eat tinned soup now and prefer the wife's home-made soups, my difficulty is not eating too much of the crusty bread bought from Morrison's..... provided I am a good lad and restrict myself I don't see much of rise either! :D
 
Hi Smidge :D
If I remember correctly , Did you say you thought you were still in the Honeymoon stage, sorry if I got that wrong :crazy:
I was just wondering that the reason you had a much lower fasting glucose level the morning after your soup was due to you having the spike and this had caused your pancreas to kick out more insulin of its own accord during the night.
I make my own mushroom soup, very much like WJ's in the low carb section, and hardly have to Bolus at all for it as a snack, and not at all after exercise :shock:
Also I do a spinach and watercress one that needs no Bolus...I find tomatoes do spike me, like you say sugar I think.It is a fruit so it acts like one for me.

Hope you find a soup you can get on with ,because they are great for lower carb meals when it's cold outside. PM me if you want that recipe.
 
Fallenstar said:
Hi Smidge :D
If I remember correctly , Did you say you thought you were still in the Honeymoon stage, sorry if I got that wrong :crazy:
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Not sure honeymoon period works 2 years after being diagnosed.

I'm not sure what the issue is - you peak after you eat - everyone does. Ok, 12 is a bit high (was told 9 was what to aim for, ideally), but you went down ok, and I don't think this should cause you any problems. If it's only once a week or fortnight, I don't think it'll do too much damage. If you were eating that every day, then I'd agree there is a problem. :)

Tomatoes are surprisingly high in sugar, for a vegetable, and if they add sugar to the mix it'll increase the amount you are eating. Have you tried Campbells Condensed Tomato? It's not quite so sweet as Heinz, tastes nicer too :)
 
Hi Kate
No when I said honeymoon period in conjunction with Smidge...I meant just that she was still producing insulin, as I think she is LADA.
Sorry probably should not have used that word, but when I asked my DSN how long it could go on for ,she said some Type 1's do splutter on for years, and can produce some insulin years later. So who knows eh!
 
noblehead said:
candi-girl said:
Guess we are all different. I can eat the tinned soup. I bolus on my pump 1/2 hour before I eat it and if I check one hour after I've only got up by 2.0mmol and I go back down to how I was before after 3/4 hours with no trouble.
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Yeah likewise candi-girl although it is rare that I eat tinned soup now and prefer the wife's home-made soups, my difficulty is not eating too much of the crusty bread bought from Morrison's..... provided I am a good lad and restrict myself I don't see much of rise either! :D
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hmmm yeah, love crusty bread, the diabetes does not :crazy: but then I am not good at restricting that :thumbdown:
 
Hiya!

Fallenstar - yeh, LADA. Clearly my pancreas wasn't having a great day on the soup occasion :lol: Goodness knows why it made such a spectacular recovery overnight! Every day's a surprise with LADA :lol: I'll drop you a PM for the recipe ta!

KateH - I try to keep my BGs low, so 12 was a bit of a shock - especially as I'd bolused the correct amount for it. I guess tomatos are quite sweet, but I worked my bolus out on the total carb count, so it should have been OK.

Nigel - I'm doing my best to be good and avoid the bread but I do find it tough - bread is my favorite food and the thing I miss most :( I do make my own low-carb bread, but sometimes I just can't resist 'proper' bread - even if it is just a slice of Burgen! 1 unit Apidra copes with 1 slice Burgen, so it must have been the soup that caused the big spike. Mind you, sugar was listed as the 2nd biggest ingredient and I know sugary liquids hit me really hard, so that's probably the answer :oops: Ah well, lesson learned - read the ingredients rather than just the total carb content and avoid sugary liquids!

Smidge
 
smidge said:
Nigel - I'm doing my best to be good and avoid the bread but I do find it tough - bread is my favorite food and the thing I miss most :( I do make my own low-carb bread, but sometimes I just can't resist 'proper' bread - even if it is just a slice of Burgen! 1 unit Apidra copes with 1 slice Burgen, so it must have been the soup that caused the big spike. Mind you, sugar was listed as the 2nd biggest ingredient and I know sugary liquids hit me really hard, so that's probably the answer :oops: Ah well, lesson learned - read the ingredients rather than just the total carb content and avoid sugary liquids!
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It's all about portion control with bread Smidge! :)

I also eat Burgen soya & linseed as it is the lowest gi bread I could find in the supermarkets.... and like you has little effect on my bg. The crusty bread I weigh first and put mine on a side plate so that I am not tempted to reach to the middle of the table and pinch extra from everyone else's, usually it just 3-4 slices from a french stick but enought to satisfy my appetite! :D

The ingredients on all food packaging has to be listed according to the quantity that they are added, so the greatest is always added first and then the rest follow.....so sugar being the second biggest ingredient isn't a good sign, as I said earlier they do this to counteract the acidity of the tomato's.

Just google tomato soup and make your own, the BBC Good Food Guide has some cracking recipes for soup and all you need to do is add/substitute or leave out ingrdiants that you think will effect your diabetes control.
 
I've just bought lots of Tesco tinned soup for my lunches at work, its cheap and I like something warm when its horrible weather outside thats still relatively low in cals.

I tend to stay away from tinned tomato soup, having looked at the labels although the carbs seem similar to other flavours (approx 14g per half tin) the of which sugars are up at 9g per half tin, whereas the mushroom is only 0.1g, brocolli and stilton approx 2g and leek and potato approx 2g (based on the tescos label). Would I be correct in assuming that tomato soup would have a different effect on my BS because of this? My ratio at lunch is 1.5 units:10g carbs and when I test again before tea 6.30pm-ish my sugar is usually between 4-5mmol when I've had soup at around 14g carbs per half tin of which sugars are 2g per half tin.

I am pretty new to carb counting so still experimenting with certain foods etc, but I am really finding my diabetes so much easier to manage and control :D
 
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