11/1/12 – We are doing an impressive job (link no longer active) – at Diabetes Monitor
10/29/12 – After Thoughts: Hope Warshaw – at DSMA Live
10/29/12 – Diabetes, Road Runners, and Wile E. Coyote (link no longer active) – at Diabetes Care Club
10/26/12 – Diabetes Blog Weekly Update #8 (link no longer active) – at Diabetes Monitor
10/25/12 – Owning up to my bad habits (link no longer active) – at Diabetes Monitor
Please note: I reserve the right to delete comments that are offensive or off-topic.
Carbs are tough for me too. I don’t generally eat a lot of them. BUT… I read some advice once from Dr. Gary S. and I use it when faced with a high carb load meal – it happens much more this time of year. I try to make a rough estimate of what I’m going to eat – based on previous patterns. For example, my good friend makes this chocolate and peanut butter pie thing that I ALWAYS eat at least two serving of. I eye up what else is there – and make an estimate. Then I bolus right up front for part of it (I use 70%, but I know there are others who use 50%) so it it’s 60 carbs, I take the first number, multiply by 7 and voila – bolus for 42 of those), then I go to town (let’s face it, it’s inevitable sometimes) and ONLY when I’m DONE eating and I know I’m not putting another ounce in, I reassess. If I need more insulin, I give it – but I find – and I bet this would be the case for you too – that I often only need 70% of the total dose I would have given. This has given me some excellent post prands (I went to a X-mas party this weekend, started at 124, post prand of 128, tail at 5 hours later 125…) it works!!! And it’s not all that tough if you look at the “binge” (I don’t refer to it that way, I call it holiday or special) eating habits you have and try to be just a little bit ahead of the food.
Scott, re. Bad habits. I felt like I was looking in the mirror when I read that post. A lot of my carb binges start with a low that is often caused by over-bolusing. What I have to remind my self is that most of the time I do my best to take the “correct” bolus. It’s just practically impossible to do that. The difference between a high and low seems to be an infinitesimal amount of insulin. And once I eat more than a few carbs, I can’t take enough insulin to stop from going high.
This spring I had two+ months of successfully low carbing. It made life so much easier and I thought I could do it forever. But I fell off the wagon and got back into my peaks and valleys pattern. I just re-started it again this week and I have no idea how long it will go. I’m hoping for forever. LOL.
I dream of the chocolate frosted old-fashioned donuts at my nearby Holiday Stationstore.
Scott, re carbs counts I suffer from the same challenges. Carbs in general are bad news for me, I’m going to work with Ginger to see if she can help me some with this. I installed an app called Figwee portion estimator on my iPhone, they also have a website that looks interesting.
Best of luck brother.