How do you bolus for mixed drinks? Especially margaritas. I heard that alcohol actually lowers your blood sugar. Is that true?
I stay away from anything mixed with fruit juice. It sends my BG flying. I will drink wine or light beer. The Beer is easy because there is often a carb count on the bottle. Wine – I generally don’t bolus until after because a glass can drop my BG. But the drop that can come with alcohol is only for very moderate drinking. I have heard if you drink a lot it can raise your BG. One alternative to fruit juice is mixing with Crystal Lite. In fact, I’ve heard that they even have a Mojito flavor.
Steer clear of anything with a high sugar mixer, but yes, it is true that alcohol does lower blood glucose levels but people who do not know you are diabetic may just smell the alcohol and think that you are drunk.
You need to eat a carbohydrate snack before drinking and then pace yourself throughout the evening, alternating between an alcoholic drink and a soft drink and keep snacking. Your blood sugars may go up to start with, but they will go down. When you go home after a night out, drink plenty of water.
Personally, I have never had a Marguerita, nor do I drink any more, it caused me too many problems such as I have described above. But I would perfer to correct later rather than bolus too much before hand.
I usually count margaritas as around 30G of carbs b/c of the juice. @ home more like 15 b/c I put in mostly tequila, w/ just a splash of the mix but out they tend to reverse the proportion.
I find that if I have any type of alcohol without at least a significant snack my BG will tank within 30 minutes (like 120 to 70). I prefer to have a drink with or after a meal. The only non sugar sweetener I can handle is Stevia (some Splenda is okay from time to time). All the others literally make me sick. So I mix with, water, Zevia soda or home made ginger tea. I’m trying to figure out how best to deal with beer. It is a little different because of the carbs.
I used to drink doubles and could have 2 or 3 no problem, but now I find that one single is usually my limit. Just like anything else it depends on your BG, insulin and food intake etc., etc.
I tend to drink margaritas at just a few places and always with food. I find that carby mixed drinks make me go higher to start, then I go lower hours later. I usually bolus about half of what I normally would if the drink didn’t contain booze. For beer, I usually don’t bolus, as beer tends to send me lower after about 2-3 hours, even if I’m at 160-180 as I’m drinking the beer. If I’m eating too, I usually just add like .2 or .3 units to my food bolus for anything other than wine. Wine makes me go lower no matter what. Sometimes a little, sometimes a lot, depending on how much carbs I’ve consumed that day. I also check my BG about 3 hours after drinking, since that is usually when I start going down.
I bolus for all but I drink super carb heavy beers.