Hello. I was wondering what everyone does when they are at a local pizza parlor where there are no nutrition facts whatsoever. How do you figure out the carb count! When I go out to dinner at a non-chain restaurant I usually order some sort of protein with vegetables so it’s easy to calculate. Sometimes I bring my own bread too. I’m craving pizza though. Often I will make homemade pizza at home, and it’s great, but I would also like to be able to eat pizza out when I’m with my friends. I don’t even know where to start with a slice though since they can vary so much.
For my son, if we’re eating out, we guesstimate the carb count based on portion size, and then keep tabs on what his BG reading does an hour and two hours after eating. If he’s lower than expected at one hour, we know we overestimated the carbs and give him something to make up for it. If he’s high at two hours, we correct. We try to base our guesstimate on either the known carb counts of similar foods he eats at home (muffins, for instance) or on the Calorie King average (for cheese pizza, that would be 1/8 of a 14" pizza = 34 carbs) and float that number higher or lower depending on whether volume of carbs in the portion he’s given seems larger or smaller than the portion size listed in the book/eaten at home. So, for instance, if I get Eric a cheese sandwich at a store, made with slightly larger bread than the stuff I use at home, I’d guess 20 carbs per slice where what we use is 17 and dose him accordingly. For pizza, you might go higher or lower than the Calorie King average if the pizza is particularly thick or thin crusted, and then check your BG an hour after eating and see where you’re trending so you can prevent a low if you overestimated.
I figure 50 carb grams for a 6" circumference slice, not letting myself get stuffed. I give myself an insulin dose based on my ratio of Insulin to grams.
Then 2.5 hours later I have my alarm set to follow up with a test and a dose this time based on my insulin sensitivity ratio.
If I’m above 200, I add a half-unit to a unit to cover some resistance that I seem to have when above 200. It’s sort of a partial amount to get the insulin acting.
(The insulin sensitivity ratio is that amount you get by dividing 1700 by the total units of insulin you use in a day. It tells you how much you need to take to correct when you’re high. And you will be high. The fat will have prolonged or deferred digestion a bit.)
Thank you…SO helpful!!!
idk this is tricky…when I eat pizza it always seem like I can’t count correctly. My BG is ALWAYS really high after pizza even with adjusting my insulin.
It’s hard for me to count for the local joints. My bf and I tried a new place, and I took what I thought was a normal amount of insulin for the pizza, but it was a thin crust, and I took less than usual, but still ended up overestimating, so an hour later, I had to do a correction. Now I just check after an hour, and then check at least once an hour until my blood sugar is where it should be.
This is a hard one, since everyone’s body is going to respond differently. I usually give a maximum dose of insulin with a dual wave setting on the pump, so something like 15-20U Novolog with 30%/70% dual wave over 3-4 hours. I usually STILL end up high even with this much insulin!
If you figure out the trick let me know! For now, I just try to avoid pizza as much as I can resist.
For me pizza is a science project in progress. I am a pump newbie and enjoy the newness of it all. While I am learning I limit the variables. I eat one slice of white pizza. 6 units was too little. Then I tried 5 + 5 over 3 hours. This was too much. I am sure that I will get it down to a science and that I will not be able to tell from my CGM readout that I ate pizza. I will be able to stay within 70-120. So many experiments, so much fun. Disclaimer: Eating pizza was no fun being on shots and without CGM.
To everyone: You are all so helpful. I love this website and the people on it!!!
since our son’s diagnosis, we have mostly either made our own pizza (like on pitas or a whole wheat premade crust with a label), cooked a frozen pizza (again with a label) or ordered from pizza hut (where the nutritional info is available on their website). we have been to birthday parties though where pizza has come from elsewhere and we have just had to guess. usually in these cases we are also guessing cake. there is usually a loot bag with candy which comes in handy if i overguess and he goes low. if i underguess and he goes high we just fix that later.
Personally I’d skip that restaurant or eat something else, if you can.
Most of my worst BGs (high/low) start with Pizza. I’ve found it just too hard to calculate,
and too variable from visit to visit. The doughs can be laden with sugar, as can the sauces.
Hi, I’m new here. I found this forum by searching carbs in home made pizza dough and found my way to this thread. We have been paying the price all day for home made pizza dough! Does anyone have a good recipe for pizza dough with a carb count? We made our own dough last night and I counted the carbs of the ingredients but didn’t realize that the yeast changed the glycemic index and therefore the carb count. The result? Our daughter was in the high 300’s for most of the morning with a crash to 56 at lunchtime from stacked insulin. I know it will be hard to have the perfect pizza bolus but I’m sure I can do better than I did last night.
theres a fast food book with restaurants and carb counts of certain foods at each restaurant its called fast food king or something to that effect, its small and inexpensive i suggest everyone get one and kind of compare your pizza to those in the book 
I have had great success with pita bread for dough. It is kind of like a thin crust dough. The topping is the same as a regular pizza. I found that the pizza sauce at Trader Joe’s is almost a free food.
Cool, I will have to try that!
Cool! Thanks for the replies. I will try that pizza dough omitting the evil yeast!
Is that book by The Calorie King? We have about 7 copies of that. Our D Bible! BTW they recently published an edition with larger print for those of us who are visually challenged! I’ll check out the fast food king!
I tend to overestimate my insulin needs for buffets, but never Mazzio’s pizza buffet! I use 2 to 3 units Novolog per slice, judging a slice to contain 30 to 50 grams worth of carbs. This is usually not enough for a plateful of pizza, and I take more Novolog later. Hey, once in a while I cannot resist the coupon! Chinese, Indian, and all-American buffets have too many healthy choices to require a lot of insulin. I fill up on meat and veggies, and 8 to 10 units Novolog is sufficient for two plates of food.
I’ve heard that a general rule of thumb for a slice of pizza at a parlour is about 45 grams per slice. I think that accounts for the way all the fat and carbs absorb though so please, please, please don’t quote me on that. I figure 45 grams and it seems to work for me…
My CalorieKing book says that Pizza Hut pizza range from 22-70 grams.
For example:
Thin’n’Crisp Meat Lover’s 1/8 pizza (1 slice) is 22 grams of carbs
but a Personal Pan Cheese pizza has 70 carbs per pizza.
Hand Tossed Style 12" pizza (per slice) Pepperoni has 27 grams.
Not sure if any of that helps, but again, I usually go for 45 because the slices in a pizza joint are basically 1 1/2.
This was how my mother made pizza crust, but an ex-boyfriend complained it was not pizza crust, so I haven’t made it since!
This is not in any way scientific, but for my daughter (type 1) I estimate an average pizza to be 15 gms for a slice that is roughly 1 inch wide at it’s widest. Sometimes it isn’t enough, sometimes it’s too much. But overall, seems to be a good estimate.
laura