Bread, pasta and rice even in small quantities wreak havoc with my sugars so I often ommit them from my consumption pattern ,but salad and protein can only take me so far and to offset lows while I sleep I need some sort of options.
Does anybody have some suggestions?
Lowest carb fruit and maybe something like bread but half the carb value of 2 slices of whole wheat .
Trying to keep each meal around 20 carbs give or take.
Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
I substitute riced cauliflower for rice and pasta. I make macaroni and cheese using the riced cauliflower and my nondiabetic family like it. You can find bags of it in the frozen section of supermarket. I have found that Green Giant is less expensive and actually a little better than Bird’s Eye.
For breakfast I eat Chia pudding, which has no impact on my blood sugar.
My recipe for chia pudding: 1/4 cup chia seeds, 1/2 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk, cinnamon, 1 teaspoon Splenda brown sugar (not packed), 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract. Stir well and let sit for 10-15 minutes. I add some chopped walnuts. This breakfast has allowed me to decrease my morning insulin dose from 8 units to 6 units and two hour post prandial BG is usually anywhere from 80-100. There are other recipes for this, but I modified it to suit my tastes.
Low carb impact soft tortillas are what I have been substituting for bread, I tortilla has 6 grams of carbs, I usually fold them in fourths and put them in toaster.
I cannot eat any grains or potatoes, no matter how small the serving, as it drives my BG’s up, and I was never successful chasing high numbers with more insulin. If I think of anything else that might help, I’ll post it.
I know what you mean by chasing carbs with more insulin,it dosent work for me either.
I used to measure and take corresponding corrective bolus but in the long run it always elevated my bg
Even just a small amount of bran flakes would make a lasting impression
The only thing that seems to work for me is low carbs and some activities to offset the raise of the carb intake. EVEN just a walk after eating has a profound effect.
You should be Managing your carbs by using the 4:1 ration. 1 unit insulin for every 4 grams of Carbohydrate. A breakfast of branflakes, sweetener, a sliced banana and orange or grapefruit juice requires 16 units of novorapid, that’s what I take. Check the nutrition info on your food packing, total the carbs, some are given for 1/2 a pizza or 1/6 of a cake ad multiply. There are also pocket sized books that give you the net carb value of all foods, breads, rice, pasta, fruit etc. And they are very useful. I guess that you also take a long acting type of beta insulin. We need to remember that everything we eat has to be covered by the insulin we take, no exceptions to the rule, but once you’ve covered learning the basics of your diet you should be ok. I’m also assuming the nutrition info is given in grams, much easier to calculate than ounces. Good luck.
I find that most berries I’m still able to control fairly well (Strawberries, Raspberries, Blueberries). Often they’re good with some cream and nuts.
In regards to bread, it’s not quite a substitute for bread for making sandwiches, but I’ve taken recently to making what I refer to as a ‘Nutty/seedy loaf’. It turns out like more of a slice but it’s great for a snack with a tea or coffee and doesn’t seem to spike my Blood glucose at all. Essentially it’s a selection of different seeds and nuts, with a little bit of coconut flour, then eggs and yogurt. It tastes really nice as well, particularly with a bit of butter once it’s been toasted. I’m happy to share the recipe if you’re interested.
Further to the riced cauliflower substitute, which is great I might add, I’ve taken to spiralling zucchini. It not quite pasta, but it ends up making a delicious dish, particularly if you cook up some chicken, mushrooms, put in some ricotta cheese and a bit of Parmesan to garnish.
There are plenty of inventive things you can do with low-carbohydrate diets still. If you’re a pizza fan I’ve come across some great low-carbohydrate pizza bases as well, the one I’ve tried never seemd to really spike my blood sugar, which pleased me!
Hi there. I’ve been T1 for 16 months but here are my comments:
First off, someone posted that you should take 1u insulin for every 4 carbs. It is my understanding that this ratio is provided & tweaked by your doc or CDE. My ratio is 1:9 at breakfast & 1:10 the rest of the day. So please get input from a med professional &/or be careful before following anyone’s prescription.
i buy those little round sandwich thins for the most part as bread. The multigrain has 21g carb, 1g sugar & helps when i want a sandwich. I was eating one every day & just factored into my carbs/insulin. Now, i eat them less frequently. They freeze well BTW
I stayed away from fruit for like the first 10 mos after my dx because i was afraid to eat it! Lol then i started looking up the glycemic index & carb counts & found some good fruits with low #s. I enjoy an apple from time to time, or a peach. Cantaloupe & kiwi are also low. They key to me is to weigh the fruit (and i weigh any leftover like the apple core lol & subtract it from the total weight!) & not follow those “medium” fruit numbers. The CDE told me a sm apple has 15g & it’s the ones you get in a bag. Well, i weighed them & they were close to 21g!
i think the best thing you can do is try something & then keep track of how it affects you. You can experiment with timing of insulin too, depending on how your body reacts. I admit that i need to do this & just haven’t had the time to really study this with multiple bg readings & meticulous notes but i know it would help me expand my food choices. I had a slice of sourdough bread the other day. The first white bread in a loooong time! Used the right amount of insulin as per the carbs & weight & it wreaked havoc with my bg so i won’t try that again anytime soon lol i have also seen ppl post recipes with other flour…in case you’re culinarily inclined.
I guess, in summary, YDMV is the #1 rule. Try, watch, note & revise. Hope this helped.
Check out Diabetes Daily. I just saw a recipe for dough-less pizza & another for these neat-looking cauliflower & cheese taco shells! I’m so not a cauli fan, but the cheese might make it palatable lol
I couldn’t find where they supply you with the chef to cook this stuff though
Please understand that this ratio varies in each person with diabetes. While a 1:4 ratio may work well for you, it likely does not work well for everybody. This is a ratio that each of us decides based on personal experience and consultation with our our doctor and/or other medical professional. Some of us even find that this ratio varies by time of day and other factors.
I find the rest of your recommendations are helpful. Realize that “your diabetes may vary” or YDMV is a truth widely accepted in this community.
I appreciate your effort to reach out and help someone else.
For bread, I make bread out of almond flour, sunflower flour (which I make myself by grinding up sunflower seeds), and flax seeds. It’s an easy recipe to make and most of the breads work well for sandwiches (the flax seed bread tastes great but breaks apart easily, so I only eat it at home).
I second the recommendation for riced cauliflower for rice and spiralized zucchini for pasta. I’ve also used spaghetti squash, which is also a good pasta substitute.
This is very specific guidance which is personal and will not apply to everyone. Everyone’s insulin to carb ratio is different and will/can vary throughout their lives. My son’s breakfast IC ratio is currently 9 and was 16 not too long ago and was in the 30s years ago.
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As @Terry4 also reminds us, everyone’s diabetes is different and although we can learn from each other’s strategy’s there is no blanket approach to diabetes and all treatment decisions should be reviewed with your professional medical advisor.
Very shortly after my diagnosis I learned of an approach called “eating to your meter.” I tested my BG against everything I ate and soon came up with a very personalized menu optimized to managing my levels the best. We’re all different. Like you, if I eat bread my levels go into the stratosphere; others don’t. I learned that strawberries are easy to manage, but half an apple will raise my glucose almost as fast as glucose tablets. I don’t call it a diet - that always conjures up associations of scarcity and denial of things one enjoys. Rather, I found those things I love to eat that had the least effect on my glucose levels and required the least amount of insulin to normalize. The end result was what one could call a “low-carb diet,” but I think of it more as my optimal way of eating.
Be wary of anyone who argues in terms of absolutes. There are very few absolutes in managing this disease. You highlight a need for a starchy replacement. Why, especially when you state what negative effects starch has on your levels? If it is to offset the risk of going low, why not rather reduce your insulin doses? And why the target of 20g of carbs for each meal? This seems a little arbitrary.
I would encourage you to take a fresh look at things from a perspective of what glucose targets you’d like to achieve, and how much variability you’re comfortable with. Then start testing foods that you enjoy that keep you in that zone. You’ll be pleasantly surprised how varied that personalized menu will be, and be wary of anyone that says you “must” do anything.
If the reason you’re searching for something is to stave off overnight lows, maybe that’s an indication you’ve got too much insulin overnight more than anything else? I mean, find alternatives to bread if you want them for your diet (low carb can get boring if you’re not creative), but for me, one of the nice things about going lower carb was realizing I could lower my insulin somewhat, since even my long-acting was accounting for carb-driven peaks.
One thing for sure, each person’s D is different, even from day to day it seems. You didn’t mention if you were on a pump or mdi. I have discovered the beauty of the other features on my pump with the dual wave and the square wave. These features have allowed me to add some foods back . We are all our own science experiment and what works today may not work tomorrow. So many things can effect bg. Log, track, and reflect. My new hobby.
On a different note, others have mentioned some options for substitutes for pasta and bread. There are lots of egg bread recipes which seem to work well for me, even some low carb muffins and pancakes . People are so kind to share them on this site as well as other sites. I have found one bread on the market that I can do in the afternoon, not so much AM. It is Sara Lee’s Delightful multi grain bread. I limit it to one slice for an open face sandwich. I have also become a big fan or using big lettuce leaves instead of bread. Great for chicken salad, tuna salad, lentils, the list goes on.
I tried low carbing, but it seems that moderate is the way I need to go. Most of my meals are around 20 carbs.
The advice was worked out over several months of checking sugars and matching them with dosages to give good readings. The ratio is one used by many specialists and is advice contained in many books about managing diabetes. I attend a clinic every three months and my last A1c was 6.1. My specialist was very pleased with theo result as was I. When first diagnosed the goal was to have it at 7.5, that was recommended by all,of the organizations like Diabetes UK and the American equivalent. Just goes to show how things have changed for us over the years.
That would KILL me.