I normally adhere to a relatively LCHF diet, but I’m wanting to start introducing some things like Lentils into my diet.
I’m wondering how many people on Tu eat lentils regularly, and if so what approach do you normally take to bolusing for them?
I love lentils! I’ll do a batch with onions, garlic,celery, carrots, broth, sometimes ham or curry… done in 20 minutes in the instant pot 
I bolus for about 25 carbs a cup since it is high in fiber. Nobody else in my family seems to like lentils so I get to eat em all.
I have some occasional Channa Dal and sometimes some lentil soup. I consider them a complex carb and as I am on MDI I would either have a delayed mealtime bolus or split the bolus. Channa Dal has a really low GI so it isn’t as carby as other lentils (and I guess technically it is in the chickpea family).
I agree, lentils are yummy and good for you. I typically estimate them as having about half the carb count of the same volume (cooked) of rice or mashed potato. Low GI so I might extend the bolus on the pump
One needs to be careful with “low GI.” Low GI could mean that the carbs digest slowly, it could also mean that the food may contain less “bioavailable” carbs then indicated in “lab tests.”
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That’s absolutely correct. Many of the figures from “lab tests” are clearly inaccurate and are typically taken by the manufacturers on trust and used in contents information on packages. I have seen bread rolls weighing 80g (which carb factors would predict to contain ~ 40g carbs( marked as 24 g on the package.
I have been carb counting for so long now, that I tend to eyeball most of the time, so for lentils, a guesstimate of the carb count and an extended bolus of about 50% for 1.5 h seems to work for me. With the same volume of rice, I would bolus for twice the amount of carbs and give the bolus all upfront 5-10 mins before eating.
It is also true that the laboratory techniques used to measure carbs in food are not a measure of how these foods impact your blood sugar.
What I was trying to suggest was that even though the techniques used to measure carbohydrates might be sound, the laboratories that have actually carried out the analyses are not identified and there is no guarantee whatsoever that the tests were actually carried out accurately or with due care and attention. Once the numbers are published, I suspect they have a tendency to become embedded in the public domain and are quoted repeatedly.
I agree with your observation on differential effects on blood glucose levels, which is why I no longer try to carb count with to-the-nearest-gram accuracy, relying rather on eyeball guesswork and monitoring my CGM. As a T1, the difference between moderate GI and low GI is of limited relevance anyway as it impinges only on whether I used an extended bolus. I don’t eat low carb and will eat anything provided the glycemic load isn’t so high as to be able to outpace the bolus (e.g. bagels pineapple)
WE bolus for half of the package lentil estimated carbs in a 30-minute extended bolus, then wait a few hours for the rise and bolus for the remainder. Or we don’t bother with that second bolus at all and just let openAPS do the rest.
Thanks for all the interesting comments guys.
I made a batch of Tarka Dhal on Saturday, and have had a few servings of it so far. Generally I’ve had a serving a Tarka Dhal (which has about 20g of carbohydrates), some form of protein (either tofu or chicken), some broccoli and capsicum, about 10grams of carbohydrates here, or I also tried having a little bit of plain yoghurt on top mixed in with some spice and coriander, which was about 5 grams of carbohydrates.
All up it was about 30-35 grams of carbohydrates, and maybe about 40-50 grams of protein.
The two times I’ve had it so far I found I did have to give less insulin than I normally would with the meal. For instance, typically for 30 grams of carbohydrates I would give 4 unites of novorapid. Seems I can get away with about 3 or 3.5 units with this meal, then two hours after (I normally bolus for protein at this point anyway) I need to give about 2.5 unis of novorapid.
The meal is also delicious as well. I’m waiting to see if I can master the 2 hour + post BGL rise before I decide if I can incorporate it more regularly into my eating.
Well, my third night eating my Dhal for dinner. Started before dinner with a BGL of 4.4, gave 3 units of Novorapid, two hours post meal my BGL was 9.5!
I’m less confident now that lentils are something I can regularly incorporate into my diet, it’s not a spike I would want to be having on a weekly basis.