I’ve found that when I eat chili, I need to limit it to a one cup serving. Before diabetes, I was used to eating a full bowl. And I need to inject about as much insulin for that one cup of chili as I do for a small serving of pasta, a couple of units more than I do with lower carb meals. With both chili and pasta, I find that my BG stays high longer than with most other menu items.
Although I do eat chili or a bean soup occasionally, I’ve found the best way to get beans in my diet is to make a marinated bean salad. I mix in a lot of lower carb vegetables like celery, onions and bell peppers. Then I use only about one-fourth cup to toss over the top of a lettuce-based salad. It gives the variety of some beans in the diet but without such a large dose of carbs at one time.
Frustrating indeed, especially when other diabetics can easily eat certain foods without having their levels spike. I guess, it really does come down to one thing: everyone reacts to carbs differently. For example, my mother can eat 2 slices of whole wheat bread and 2 eggs, +/- avocado and a glass of milk( along with 3 units of humalog) and she is fine shortly after. Yet, I know a few diabetics who would not be able to have the same meal- even with humalog, their readings would spike!.
I gave her a correction dose last week of 2 units and that sent her to the ER, she had a hypo episode ( reading was 50) at 1 a.m! The doctor told me to not give her correction doses anymore because it would lead to stacking. My mother is on Lantus 13 units am/pm and 4-6 units of Humalog before meals. If you don’t mind, can you please clarify what you mean by correcting without stacking? The doctor also told me, to not give her humalog if her sugar is less than 120( and if it is, to give her a light snack and then to give her the Bolus and wait a few minutes). Initially I actually wanted to give her Humalog when her sugar was 90,100 etc but I stopped when the doctor told me not to.
Thank you , that’s exactly what I needed to hear haha! I’m trying to learn as much as I can and it’s getting to the point where I am just feeling overly overwhelmed…if that makes any sense lol. Patience Sylvia…patience…must take one day at a time. And I do admit that I am probably more nervous than I should be !
That overwhelmed feeling is pretty normal when this is new. Don’t try to absorb everything at once. In the first place, you can’t—at some point the brain gets saturated, shuts down, and just won’t absorb any more. In the second place, you don’t need to. Diabetes is going to be around for the long haul, and so are you. As someone with more wit than me said, “Diabetes is a marathon, not a sprint.” Try to learn one or two things at a time. You’ll be surprised how soon it starts to come into focus.
You will avoid “stacking” insulin doses if you subtract the IOB from the correction dose you calculated utilizing your mothers ISF (Insulin Sensitivity Factor) or ICF (Insulin Correction Factor), as some people call it. After more time with D, you’ll learn to disregard what your mother’s endo says to do or not to do whenever you know their advice or instructions are not pertinent to you mother’s D. As everyone says, YDMV (Your Diabetes May Vary).
RE not giving bolus insulin before eating when someone’s BG is not low… well that makes no sense whatsoever. If you give a bolus to cover carbs and someone consumes those carbs and then goes low, then something’s off: either your I:C is incorrect, you miscalculated the number of carbs, you didn’t account for active IOB, the basal insulin dose is incorrect, or some GI malabsorption due to gastroparesis or celiac disease or an impending GI virus (among other things) is occurring.
Addendum: Beans are on most PWD’s lists of EVIL foods (i.e. foods that cause BG spikes regardless of when or how one preboluses, including the “advanced” techniques of extended and/or super boluses), along with pizza and Chinese food.
Beans are tricky… For me I actually bolus less, and later, than for any grain based carb… I actually find beans far more forgiving if I follow those simple guidelines, due to their low GI and slow digestion. I probably bolus about .5-.66 the IC for beans (and lentils, and peas…) that I do for simple carbs, though honestly I just mostly eyeball it based on past experience…
@rgcainmd is completely right about evil Chinese food. I have no idea how they manage to pack that many carbs into absolutely everything— it’s flabbergasting… Pizza is doable in moderation for me and with frequent testing and followup/ regrets for about the next 6 hours.
I understand your frustrations with finding the right balance of dosages for certain types of foods. I second what others are commenting about beans being a complex carb with a slow release.
Although numbers are important part of management, they aren’t the only part. The nutritional value and quality of the food you are eating is just as important. When you look more big picture, beans are an amazingly healthy food with lots of nutritional benefits. Greens, beans, vegetables, and fruit are pretty much the basis of my diet. Just because something does or does not spike your blood sugar does not mean it’s bad or good for you. I feel it would be a mistake to eliminate something like beans from your diet just because you’re having trouble getting an insulin dosage figured out. You’d really be missing out where nutrition is concerned, and it’s worth the effort to figure out what works in order to keep eating beans.
which is why it’s important to figure out the kind of dosages you need when eating things like beans to keep the blood sugars where they need to be, rather than avoiding the food all together. Good nutrition is important for everyone! Poor nutrition will only bring on more problems.
I must disagree with this statement, if only on principle. If something spikes your blood sugar, it most definitely is not good for you. This being the case, should you avoid these foods at all costs? My answer is a resounding no. My daughter has Type 1 and I let her eat whatever she wants (within reason) partly because I don’t want her to feel like diabetes has complete control over whatever she puts into her mouth, and I don’t want her overly focused on food which could lead to an eating disorder, e.g. “diabulemia” or “diarexia”. However, I bolus as much insulin as indicated and utilize extended boluses, super boluses, and/or increased temporary basal rates in order to mitigate the resulting spikes. I also encourage her frequently to follow a lower-carb, more BG-friendly style of eating in order to avoid as many spikes as possible.
Avoiding beans does not equal poor nutrition. And no matter how “expertly” one doses insulin, some foods are going to result in BG spikes regardless of how long the pre-bolus period is, how much insulin is given, whether an extended bolus or super bolus is used and whether a temporary increased basal rate is used. This is the nature (and curse) of diabetes.
After 32 years of personal experience with T1, agree to disagree.
Nutrition is extremely important for everyone, especially for people with diabetes!!! So many of the health problems that face people in this country could be greatly improved with improved nutrition. Avoiding foods based soley on how much insulin you need is a poor guideline for nutritional decisions and very short sighted. Seeking foods with the best possible nutritional value should be at the forefront of food decisions as a means of maintaining good overall health, and preventing a whole host of future problems. The last thing people with diabetes need is to bring on more issues because the aren’t getting appropriate nutrition. Whether it’s beans or something else, needing an insulin adjustment is not necessarily a reason to avoid a food, especially if there is a health benefit to be derived from it. Those types of foods just need to be managed, not avoided.
As far as beans specifically are concerned, with the slow release of the carbohydrates and the protein they provide, if anything I find they help stabalize blood sugars to avoid crashes. There successful diets for diabetics that include a great deal of beans.
They may stabilize yours; they send mine ballistic. I would have used a stronger word but I can’t think of one.
It’s at best naïve to argue that it’s okay to eat anything as long as you cover it with enough insulin. In the first place, that’s a potential slippery slope to substantial weight gain. In the second place, industrial doses of insulin have their own deleterious effects, inflammation being one. In the third place, it’s an admission ticket to a potential rollercoaster ride. In the fourth place, insulin is expensive; my fast acting insulin costs me $250 a vial. Dunno about your circumstances, but for me that’s a pretty compelling incentive to use as little as is consistent with good, safe management.
“Improved nutrition” is a totally subjective term. One person’s good nutrition is another’s booby trap. But in the instant case, there is nothing useful in beans that can’t be acquired in other ways. To say you should never eat beans OR that you absolutely, positively should . . .are both wrong.
My mother to a T. She’s become incredibly irritated of the sight of needles…to the point where she says, she’d rather prefer her blood sugar to be in the 200’s rather than 100’s. I check her sugar at least 8 times a day ( she hates it…I use the fast clix lancet device…but hey, I’d rather know what’s going on in her body than not have an idea by not checking her sugar numerous times a day)!
How much insulin do you use for that one cup of chili? This Bolus business is so confusing when you decide to split the servings of particular foods( I get nervous that i’ll end up over- bolusing or under bolusing)!
Thank you ! I’m thinking of taking a diabetes vacation for say…ONE DAY!. I just need to nap…or maybe hire a Diabetic nurse for just one day…so she can watch my mom just for that one day. I need the break!
Thank you so very much for explaining. I actually changed my mothers Endo over the weekend and wrote a horrible review. After doing a huge amount of reading on Diabetes…it occurred to me that he didn’t know a lot. What a joke. Very upsetting, but oh well- I made an appointment with a new Endo! Since my mothers bean episode(s), beans have been away from her sight- completely, never again!
LOL[quote=“Sam19, post:27, topic:55174”]
regrets for about the next 6 hours.
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I’ve decided to completely remove beans from her diet. It was such a scary experience, I never want her to go through that again. And speaking of chinese food…man, my mother was asking if she can have chinese tonight…lol, I zoomed past the restaurant so quickly hahah and ended up making for her a a bowl of stir fry vegetables with fried rice…somewhat chinese right- with a tad bit of soy sauce!
I honestly wish I knew the correct amount of Bolus that would need to be given so my mother can eat her beans…but sadly, i don’t even want to experiment anymore because I am afraid, her sugar might spike all over again. I wholeheartedly agree with you that beans contain various nutritional benefits…however, what may work for a particular group of people doesn’t always work well with a lot of other people. My mother has an appointment with a new Endo this weekend so I will speak to her abt the whole bean situation and hopefully she would be able to shed some more light on how much Bolus etc…but if she gives me some bs answer, I’ll have to completely get rid of beans from her diet. Some foods just aren’t worth it.
hey have you tried speaking to the manufacturer of your insulin to possibly send you discounted vials? I had a friend who did this a few years back and she only had to pay $50 a vial. Please do try because $250 is a joke!