Today we took our daughter to her ped endocrinologist and he suggested that we look into swapping over from counting carbs to using the glycemic index. I dont know what this would entail. I asked him about it and he just told us to go to the bookstore and buy a book on the subject. Has anybody tried this approach?
I have never tried this with my daugher, but 2yrs before she was dxd I started the 40-30-30 diet, which talked about the glycemic index and what foods are faster acting and which are slower. You can find books on half.com.
I try to keep to low index foods for myself, as long as you use low index food along with high index food, it balances out. I wouldn’t stop counting carbs, but if she spiks after meals, check and see what index food she’s getting, maybe it’s not the problem. There are some foods that react fastert then others, causing your #'s to rise faster. the lower the index the slower it goes into your sytem.
Ugghhh, swapping out counting carbs to using the glycemic index!!! That is ridiculous! Hoping you misunderstood the pedi endo. You would use the glycemic index IN ADDITION TO counting carbs and weighing/measuring food. I use more of a “mixed” glycemic approach to meals, i.e.,. you want some fast-acting carbs, some slower digesting carbs to try to match the food to the insulin action. For example, a slice of pizza or spagetti (low glycemic) with fruit (fruit eaten FIRST). This will avoid a low if the insulin hits before the pizza digests. There is a lot more to it, but just an example.
I know I was always overwhelmed with all of that at first, counting the carbs. and also considering the glycemic index. But I know it is important to have a balance. For so long we were adjusting my son’s morning carb ratios to appropriately cover his breakfast and we always fed him the same thing, Nutra grain waffle, milk , and fruit. Then for a couple days he wanted oatmeal and he went low before lunch both days, even though we were using the same number of carbs and carb ratio. So I assumed it must be that because the oatmeal is supposed to be lower glycemic his BG wasn’t rising as high as it usually did with the waffle. I went back to the waffle for a couple days and he went back to getting a higher spike after breakfast but was normal (or close to normal) by lunch. I don’t think I would ever just stop counting carbs but I can now see how glycemic index is an important addition to the whole process.