I was just there the other day, and I am on the pump (since Feb 10), so I did a dual wave bolus 60/40, 1 hour later. I tested 2hr post and my bg was 7.7 so pretty good. Then 2 hrs later, (I didn’t eat anything), I tested it was 15.1 (way too high). I corrected. I don’t normally go out for icecream, but eat it at home often and never had this happen. Should I be square waving for BR icecream, is it more fatty, is that why? TIA
Fat should not raise your BG. Carbs and sugar will raise it. Ice cream is very high in sugar. Might want to not eat that. There are some “no sugar added” ice creams available, but they do have low amounts of sugar and sugar alcohols. Just be careful.
First, “don’t eat it” is not helpful advice. If OP can find a way to eat it without a major spike, there’s no reason to avoid it.
Second, fat definitely does slow the absorption of carbs, and may also raise BG on their own.
OP: I would multiply your bolus by 1.5 and try a 40/60 square wave.
*dual wave
Pizza is my #1 nemesis. Ice Cream is #2 
I use an omnipod, so my terms are different. Anyway, for now, I do 50% now and extend the other 50% over 2.5 hours. It’s not a perfect science yet, so I keep eating more to make sure I master it
How do you get the ice cream into the pump?
Ok. But seriously, ice cream can be all over the map. A true ice cream is high fat. When I make it at home I actually do better with my real ice cream than with other forms. When I look up the nutrition for Baskin Robbin (4oz 2 scoop Chocolate Escape Ice Cream), it has 38 g carb, 16 g fat and 5g protein. That is enough fat to delay the digestion and that is pretty high carb. You’ve gotten good advice on how to bolus, but getting proper information on how many carbs and fats is just as important. Often these ice creams have extra extra sugar to powerfully sweeten the ice cream so that you can taste it despite having your mouth nearly frozen off .
Now in comparison, let me give you my “homemade” recipe for comparison
BSC’s Real Ice Cream
4 eggs
2 c full cream
1/2 c splenda (not baking splenda)
2 tsp vanilla extract
On a stove, slowly heat cream until it just begins to simmer, remove from heat. Beat eggs and add slowly to cream whisking to mix it in. Put back on low heat and bring up temperature until it reaches about 165-180 deg F. This should thicken and make a rich custard. Don’t overheat or overcook. If it boils, it is hosed.
Remove from heat, add any flavorings and splenda.
Put custard in refrigerator until it is totally cooled down (sometimes I rush it in the freezer). Please the custard in your ice cream maker and let it crank.
Makes 4, 1/2c servings, 11g fat, 4 g carbs, 6.5 g protein
So you can see the difference in ice creams.
you are making me hungry…
“Fat should not raise your BG”. Funny. Fats and proteins definitely raise my bg 2 or 3 hours after a meal.
If I look at “no sugar added” ice creams they have MORE carbs than the “regular” ice cream. I’m guessing that the substitute sugar alcohols require more grams than an equivalent amount of sugar.
Not sure how much ice cream you did :-).
But good old regular (peak at 3 hours or so) is a pretty good match to ice cream and other high-fat or high-protein meals. If there’s a way you can mimic that activity with your pump, go for it
Thanks for your input. I like your reasoning. I’m a mom to two lo’s so once in while i like to treat myself.
i will def try this…can my bolus wizard do a square and dual wave together, or do i just enter it separately? I was preg last year when i got the pump, so still learning about all the features. thanks for your help.
I haven’t had ice cream since I have been on the pump, but if you check out Danny’s TAGgers group, you can get ideas how to bolus for the fat & protein. I use it for other stuff & it really helps.
I had reg - but seems store is way higher carbs than grocery store. I remember my dietician telling me that the fatty foods, like McD’s, pizza, ice cream take longer to digest and sometimes will spike bg hours later. I just thought 4 hrs was a bit too long for it to spike. thanks for your input. i will know for next time.
thanks for the recipe…might have to give it a try!
A dual wave is a regular bolus plus a square wave. So a “square and dual wave together” doesn’t make sense.
I haven’t eaten ice cream very much, but I would use a square wave for it. The fat definitely slows down the sugar uptake, and there is no initial burst of glucose to be dealt with, so the initial regular bolus shouldn’t be needed. But YMMV, as usual!
Isn’t there a rule that if you are talking about ice cream you have to tell us what flavor it is? I eat ice cream all the time but usually not a lot/ sitting. Breyer’s Chocolate Crackle is the current fave. I’ll ‘overbolus’ dinner by 15-20 carbs if I want a snort.
I have kids who love BR ice cream and to be honest I like to indulge myself every now and then with a treat. I am on a pump and found that if I bolus for the carbs in the ice cream then set an increased basal (~50%) for several hours then my number do not go astronomical. Accounting for the carbs up front takes care of the ice cream but for me it is the fat effect afterwards that causes me to rise. So by having a temp basal increase this helps the fat effect from your liver releasing sugar into your system to bind with the the fats to create tryglicerides. Usually this process takes a few hours but works well. I do this same approach for any high fat meal (pizza, mexican food, etc.) I have tried the extended bolus but this just does not work for me. It is funny though because the only food that I have problems with is cereal. The extended bolus or the temp basal just does not work… I go high no matter what.
Saying fat doesn’t raise BG is sort of, well…absolutely ridiculous. I recommend you read about TAG (Total Available Glucose).
Fat, protein, and carbs all raise BG. Fat and protein just take a longer time to do it and have a lesser impact. But that impact is still present.
I actually keep Regular for these ‘problem’ foods and inject instead of bolusing on my pump when I think Regular will be a better fit. And I can get another bottle for $20 w/out a RX whenever I need to. Convenient.
Saying fat doesn’t raise BG is sort of, well…absolutely ridiculous.
I agree, absolutely ridiculous, but nevertheless it’s the mantra of the militant low-carbers and everywhere in the popular press and the media and all over the web these days.
I think for a T2 on metformin (which does a good job suppressing gluconeogenesis) and a good amount of remaining insulin production, they might not notice it as much as a T1.