Carbohydrates and Protein

If you eat carbs and include some protein what happens BG wise? Same question for if there were just carbs and no protein?

Sometimes I have a sandwich with paste on or sometimes I have some type of protein such as sliced meat (chicken/ham etc), cheese, tuna etc

In "Think Like a Pancreas" by Gary Scheiner, he suggests the following:

1) If you eat carbs and protein together, take insulin only for the carb portion.

2) If you have just carbs, then take insulin for the carb portion.

3) If you have protein but no carbs, then take insulin for the protein, but at a half dose. E.g, if you take 60g protein, then take insulin for it as if you were taking 30g carbs (60g / 2 = 30).

The reason for this is that to keep the BGs stable, the body will convert some protein to blood sugar if it doesn't get its preferred fuel of carbs. However if there are carbs available to convert to blood sugar, then it won't bother converting protein as the process is not as efficient.

Warwick,

Does the book mention anything about how fast, in comparison to carbs, the protein is converted....?

I have spoke to few others who also consider protein, not me personally though.......

I am under the impression that any quick acting insulin, will ALWAYS work too fast for the protein conversion.....

I realize this may not be true for everyone.......is that a slower than normal insulin action, or a quicker than normal protein conversion....

I have also found mention of counting protein when calculating the overall content of a meal. This source comes from "Your diabetes science experiment" by Ginger Vieira and states that you should count the entire protein value over 20g which is then divided by two.

To take the 60g protein amount used earlier, with Ginger's formula it would be a case of (60 - 20)/2 = 20g of equivalent carbohydrate.

At a recent DAFNE group meeting I asked about this approach and was told not to bother counting protein on account of the time it takes to get converted. I haven't delved any further in to this but I am mindful of it if thinking of just eating chicken, for example, as part of a carb-free meal.

Not sure this actually helps but it perhaps adds additional perspective.

that's my understanding of protein also, and it makes sense................qa insulin are just too fast.............

but ppl do back up counting their protein......

I've knocked a lot of carbs off the menu for a couple of weeks - novo rapid intake has dropped significantly, still testing as normal, insulatard intake remains the same. Basically eating salads, veg, fruit, dried fruit, nuts, eggs, cheese and chicken or fish. I think the novo rapid is way too fast for this and that my BG insulatard is mopping up. If I have a lot of fruit then a unit or two of novo rapid sorts it.

novorapidboi26 said:
Warwick,

Does the book mention anything about how fast, in comparison to carbs, the protein is converted....?