We are having trouble with potato's. I have many references for counting carbs, including a Salter Scale. Every time we have potato's and bolus for the carbs (and subtract the fiber) my diabetic daughter goes low! We don't have trouble with fries (probably because of the fat) but we do with straight up baked or boiled potatoes.
What do you folks use for carb count of potatoes? Calorie King says 1 potato is 60g carbs, and I know if I bolused for that my daughter would be dead! We tried 10g for a small red potatoe, and ....an hour later....low! Just wondering if I need 1) a more correct carb count. 2) an extend bolus? or 3) maybe it's just one of those foods that is weird for us!
We really don't have trouble with anything else, and we've been doing the diabetes thing for a while.
Huh, I find the EXACT oppisite. Potatoes send my blood glucose skyrocketing if I even look at them.....
I would say give an extended bolus a try. You can also see if delaying the bolus works too. Do you have her pump site in a different area than usual? I notice the butt and legs I get WAY faster absorption than the abdomen. Could this be a part of it? Any extra exercise before or after the potatoes vs the normal?
It sounds like it may just be one of THOSE foods for her.
Yeah, every other diabetic I know says potatoes make them crazy high!
It's happened many many times with potatoes, so I know it's not a fluke thing.
What do you use for carb count? Even when I use the Salter scale it doesn't seem to work.
Oddly, mashed potatoes don't create any lows, and we say 34g in a cup. So what the heck? I wondered if boiling potatoes boiled off some starch, but that wouldn't explain the fact that mashed potatoes are ok for us, since they are boiled, too. It's gotta be the carb count that's wrong. Again, this is only for baked and boiled whole potatoes. And yes, fiber subtracted.
You do subtract fiber but maybe fiber really delays gastric emptying for her. It is the only explanation that makes sense. When whole potatos are used the skin is where all the fiber is. When you make mashed potatos do you remove the skin before mashing or keep it on?
I use a large potato at 60 grams. I KNOW what a 1/2 cup of mashed potatoes looks like so when I eat a baked potato I say "hmmm that looks like it would give me about 4, 1/2 cups"......but mainly I just do not eat them because they are hard to count and mess with my blood sugar.
Is she eating the potatoes cool/cold by any chance? There are a couple of studies that show that cold potatoes (and some other starches) have a significantly lower impact on blood sugar than hot. Here is one study, albeit with a small # of participants.
You have to test the effect of different foods. Spaghetti and potatoes make me go low too. If I bolused that much I would be in a coma. Foods do not react the same on everyone especially since we all have different factors going on.
It may be a good food to avoid. Some things like potato and pizza are difficult to bolus for. I cannot eat 50 grams of pasta anymore I will either go sky high or low.
I believe that the claim is that if you cook potatoes and then serve them cold that some of the starch is converted to resistant starch. I have my doubts about the whole resistant starch thing. I'm just relaying what I heard down on the corner.
I haven't had potatoes in ages, cold or hot, except for a handful of chips here and there. Maybe I'll give it a whirl on potato salad and see what happens.
I've never heard of resistant starch before. I assume the improved insulin sensitivity you mentioned is for T2 and not T1 diabetics? Do you have a pointer to any of those studies (I majored in Biology and enjoy reading the original papers)? Thanks!
3) maybe it's just one of those foods that is weird for us!
Accept that her reaction to potatoes is as it is. As you've seen, individual blood glucose reaction can vary enormously. Learn from her experience and use that experience for future calculations of her individual insulin needs.
The various guides on carb content, GI, GL etc are just that: guides for the first few times she eats that food. The true test comes from the results you see after your daughter eats.
It may be worth testing 30 minutes before and after her usual test time to see if the potato is causing an early or late spike that you are missing.
Cheers, Alan, T2, Australia. Everything in Moderation - Except Laughter.
Thanks for such a thorough report. Not confusing at all.
Decreased insulin sensitivity is not a typical symptom of T1 diabetes, except for those T1's who become overweight. Since overweight is becoming more common with the industrialized population as a whole, this is also becoming more of an issue for T1's. But the studies on non-diabetic populations suggest that the increased insulin sensitivity would apply to all, whether T1 or not. It would be interesting to see whether T1's required less bolus and basal insulin after eating resistant starch. If the effect is noticeable that could contribute to some of the day to day variability most (if not all) T1's see.
