How do you bolus for salad and vegetables?
How do you bolus for fat and protein?
Also, WHEN do you bolus for these types of foods?
Thanks in advance for all of the wonderful advice! Have a blessed week!
-Jenn
If they have carbs in them.
Where are you? Are you down in the weeds again?
I break greens and veggies in into two basic categories. Free, and counted. Any veggie like “corn” or carrots has to be counted and you need to account the specific carb content of the veggie. All other veggies that I consider “Free,” but count 5g per cup. The majority of green veggies are between 2-5g/cup. They are not zero. But if you are having a 30-45g carb meal, they are nearly noise and can readily be ignored. However, if you are following a very low carb diet, then it matters and you will need to account for them.
As to protein, I some people suggest bolusing for 40% of protein. I use a different rule, suggesting that the first 25g of protein in a meal is utilized as protein and that roughly 60% of the protein over that amount needs to be covered. Fat in itself does not need to be covered, it does however delay digestion.
I’ve said it before, the vast majority of us just try to get the bolus matched to a best estimate of carbs. There are so many variables. Attempts to “perfectly” count and cover your meals by including protein, fat and each leaf of salad are unlikely to result in any improvement in your after meal blood sugars. Just being consistent, counting your carbs, taking your insulin at the right time and reliably, logging everything and the hardest thing for me, making sure you have your insulin with you when you eat.
Bolus for carbs in vegetables like any other carb before the meal. The same vegetable cooked has slightly more carbs than raw, if someone wants to be excruciatingly accurate:) Protein is a little tricky. Red meat takes a long time for me to digest due to the fat & I do better with fish or poultry. Still playing around with this to see what works regarding taking a bolus for some of the carbs & another about 1.5 hours later for the protein. No need to bolus for fat.
Since you’ve just started on insulin, I wouldn’t worry about the protein part. Calculate for the carbs & learn what works for you.
For more info on fat and protein boluses check out the TAGgers group here at TuD or google ‘Total Available Glucose’