ratio for snacks

if your on 3-1 ratio should what ratio do you take for snacks or extra food in between

Welcome........

Depends I suppose.........

I am on a 3:1 for breakfast, and a 1.5 for lunch, so if it was in between it would be most likely a 2:1 ratio I would take, but again it all depends on how close to your previous/next meal you are..................

But say you were on 3:1 all day, then you would take your snacks at 3:1 also, you may need to consider active insulin on board though and possibly reduce the dose.............

ang31 said:
if your on 3-1 ratio should what ratio do you take for snacks or extra food in between

What do you mean it only relates to correction doses.....................?

would there still not be a 'stacking effect' if you continued to snack several times between meals purely with the QA for the carbs alone.........

I would consider what insulin is on board each time [with the help of my fancy meter... ], but if I were to snack 2, 3, 4 separate times then I would expect my BGs to drop lower than expected, hence the reason I dont actually do this, and I expect for most people this doesn't happen often...

Snacking can admittedly be a tricky concept to grasp sometimes. But your QA:CP ratio should just 'cover' CPs eaten (or drunk) so that your BG doesn't end up high.

Clearly ratios can differ from person to person and/or at different times of the day, but if you get your ratio(s) right it means that by the time both your food and the corresponding dose of QA have cleared your system your BG should be back to where it started before you had the CPs.

If you were to test your BG within a couple of hrs of having CPs/QA it's likely to be high as the QA hasn't finished working on the carbohydrate, so if you choose to have more CPs you should only have the QA to cover what you're having, no extra to correct the BG. That's what these fancy new bolus adviser meters take into consideration with this 'insulin on board' thing.

If you find that you get low BGs when you snack and inject QA, then (unless you're exercising) it could be either you're overestimating the CPs in the snack, or using the wrong ratio, or that your BI is a little too high (which as you know you can test out by doing carb-free meal(s))

Hope this clarifies it?

Carolin

OK, so in theory you could snack numerous times and as long as you have delivered the right QA, all should be well.........?

I kinda thought that the peaks of the QA could clash etc and thus cause a low.............

As I say, this is only a pretend situation and its unlikely folk are going to have several consecutive snacks to which they will match with QA.......

I just assumed the OP was aware that you dont correct between meals/insulin doses [4-5hours], as it is one of the rules were taught as DAFNE graduates....

novorapidboi26 said:
OK, so in theory you could snack numerous times and as long as you have delivered the right QA, all should be well.........?

Well, unless you waited till all QA and CPs had diminished................

For clarification Carolin, when snacking for unplanned exercise, is it best to go on what you expect your BGs to be after the insulin has run out, which is determined by what you did at your last meal, rather than what you are at the time of expecting to do the exercise?

I ask because this is what I currently do on the odd ocassion that I do have to look at this sort of thing (I'm usually not a snacker so it's not often). It seems to be a logical way to think about it but confirmation would be great.

Is it safe to also assume that the same applies even if you take on the extra CPs after the exercise?
Does the type of carbohydrate matter in the late CPs?
Should I consider taking fast CPs mainly in those situations if so?

Thanks in advance!

JWo said:
For clarification Carolin, when snacking for unplanned exercise, is it best to go on what you expect your BGs to be after the insulin has run out, which is determined by what you did at your last meal, rather than what you are at the time of expecting to do the exercise?

I ask because this is what I currently do on the odd ocassion that I do have to look at this sort of thing (I'm usually not a snacker so it's not often). It seems to be a logical way to think about it but confirmation would be great.

Is it safe to also assume that the same applies even if you take on the extra CPs after the exercise?
Does the type of carbohydrate matter in the late CPs?
Should I consider taking fast CPs mainly in those situations if so?

Thanks in advance!