I assume those strips just tell you if there is sugar in the liquid, and do not quantify "how much?"
My thought was to see if it is possible to get my meter to give me consistent enough readings to be able to make a conversion to grams of sugar per ounce of liquid or something to that effect.
Plus, my strips are covered 100% by insurance so cost is irrelevant for me in this case.
Yes those strips just tell you if there is sugar or not, but at the same time not every one is as lucky to have their insurance company cover 100% of the cost so this just offers a cheap alternative for people who are concerned that they are not getting diet soda whe
n they order it.
Gerri, that's why I think it is so important that we spread the news (not 150% of the time) about diabetes. If you are watching the incidents of people being diagnosed, you know that more and more people are finding themselves in our line, than those who aren't. I feel a strong need to tell people that it's not the end of the world, that diabetics live full and active lives, that we have kids, we pay taxes, we can do just about what we feel is right for us....and still be happy. Yes it's a serious disease and not treating it correctly for you could cause dire circumstances, but being diligent and following your plan can give you a great life.
Agree & also not 150% of the time. Being a positive representative is critical. Being a bore on a soapbox isn't effective. Let's face it that people aren't terribly interested in hearing about disease & I don't blame them. The right approach gets the message across, especially as our ranks are sadly growing.
Don't know about other meter strips, but the One Touch strips will just give you an error message if you try to put anything other than blood on them. The old chemstrips will tell you if there's sugar in a beverage, though...and once you know that it's not sugar-free, do you really need to know how much sugar is in it?
I don't carry chemstrips any more, but then, I don't drink much soda anymore either. And when I do, I just make sure to test after the meal to make sure my bg is within the range it should be.
Ruth
As I haven't had sugar in 18 years, when I occasionally get a sugar drink by mistake, there is no doubt in my mind when I taste it which it is! If the regular tests strips worked I would use one to make sure. But the times I got sugar by mistake was in Guatemala when I forgot to say "sin azucar" - without sugar. Guatemalans LOVE their sugar!
I was wondering the same thing. I don't have time to work through the conversions, but I'm sure it could be figured out. I get the feeling its not real high, because I've tested coke before and it comes back as "hi". When I did diet coke, it said "low".
Coke works out to be something like 3 grams of sugar per ounce and the 449 would be 4490mg per liter, which is like 4.4 grams per liter. 1 liter is 33.8 ounces.
I get confused between weight and volume conversions, so what I just wrote could be totally wrong. Also, I don't know what all the meter algorithm is measuring and converting, so that may make no sense at all.
Jason
Google has a pretty good unit converter. Just search for [449 milligrams per deciliter in grams per ounce] (without brackets) and you get the answer of .13 g/oz. The meter is obviously not giving us a direct conversion, but that's not really needed anyway. As long as the meter gives consistent readings for drinks with specific amounts of sugar, you would just have to make your own conversion chart to know how many carbs you're consuming.
Unfortunately, my tests have had little success. I have tried my meter with milk and a couple other beverages and it just keeps spinning like it is waiting for a sample. I'm not getting any readings at all.
Google! What's that? I need to do the crazy conversions. At least I can see I was correct, lol.
Now I am interested in testing more liquids.
My One Touch strips work (Ultra and UltraMini)...if it's a diet drink it says "Lo", if it's not it says "Hi" or gives a reading.