Own meals

So I'm a bit muddled. I was making my own lunches and taking them to work and I find that making my own food was enjoyable however with carb counting I'm finding it really difficult. I started eating short grain brown rice and some mixed vegetables. However in trying to work out the exact carb ratio - it seems impossible. I got told first off to do it by weight, which seemed reasonable, but then I got told elsewhere to do it by half a cup measurements instead? I feel utterly confused by the whole thing.

I presume you haven't been diabetic long as most people struggle to start with. Working out food properties can sometimes be a bit of mare but it gets easier the more you do it. Most packed food will have a nutrition breakdown on the box or bag somewhere so look for the total carbs content not the sugar content. Portion sizes are very often based on 10 gms carbohydrate.so 2 Weetabx for breakfast which contain 31 gms carb would equate to 3 portions of carbs. Potatoe is approx 2 ozs per 10 gms carb. Most vegetables don't count as they contain so little carbohydrate you can usually ignore them, (one clever person worked out you would need to eat 32 lbs of cabbage to make one portion. Diabetes UK I think do a food carbs book which will give you carb values for most everyday items. How much you eat will be down to you and how hungry you are. Make an appointmet to see a dietician and together you can work out how much carbs you need and then you can work out how much you need for each meal. You can vary meals quite a bit once you know what you're doing. Personally I stick to weight as it's more accurate than guesswork. Don't despair it does get easier.

I’m afraid I have been diabetic since 1984. However I used to be on mixed insulin and had a perfect HB1C which is why this is proving so annoying. I am, as you say doing it based on total carb content, and started out on a 1:1 ration with the 10 gms carbs, but this isn’t working. It didn’t work on the DAFNE course either, and the teachers actually worked out the insulin levels for me and they didn’t go right at all throughout the course, so maybe it is just not for me. I am guessing DAFNE works for some folk, but maybe not all.

I have been to the dietician, and done a food and blood sugar diary and they even changed my ratios and that’s why this is so annoying and frustrating.

You should be weighing out your rice and thats what will give you the carb amount......that process is the easiest part.....

your ratio of 1:1 is a good place to start, but it might not be right.....

before you can correctly evaluate the meal time ratios you need to be sure your background/basal is as close to correct as possible......is it?

if it is then you need to evaluate each meal time ratio, separately and one at a time..........

if you are high before lunch your breakfast ratio needs to be adjusted to give more insulin, so going to 1.5units: 10g is the next step.....you then test that new ratio for a day or two and adjust further if required until its right.....then, move onto the lunch ratio,,,,

did you come away from DAFNE with any basic knowledge?

Don’t get me wrong, I understand the weighing part with the rice, that I got and also its in the little carbs/cal book. I am never at the percentage in the book weight wise, but I use it as a guesstimate. The trouble for me is that I rarely eat rice on its own. I have it with mixed vegetables. I know for some vegs you count (carrots for example) but others you don’t and the whole process is entirely confusing.

I’m not convinced my basal is right, but I have heard a lot of different things from my diabetes centre re the sugars spiking in the morning as part of the body reviving up. I am doing an amount of 22 units of Tujeo. I did ask one time about splitting (so doing 11 in the morning and 11 at night) but they weren’t in favour of it and actually advised against it. My morning sugars are always high, even though I can go to bed with them normal. I am doing my basal first thing in the morning on waking, and previously was doing it before bed, but nothing has changed sugar levels wise. I am waking with them at ranges of 18 to HIGH on the reader.

My ratios are usually pretty good prior to meals, so for example todaymy sugars were 6.5 before lunch and I had brown rice and mixed vegetables so the carbs and cals book says 100g is 3 CP. I had mixed vegetables (carrots, peas, sweetcorn) so only counted the carrots and had a handful of them so added an extra CP for good measure. My sugar at the moment is 7.8 (and I ate lunch at 12pm).

I came away with what I felt was like a hell of a lot of conflicting knowledge from DAFNE. A great deal of the course I did was all about buying prepackaged ready meals – which for me was completely useless as I rarely eat that stuff.

Going by your BG levels after lunch the ratio is perfect.....so there is no issues there at all....

Jist need to see how the evening meal ratio performs....

Unfortunately the dawn rise, the dawn phenomenon as it's also known can't be stopped. A split basal can help a bit but toujeo isn't the best for that. Levemir is best suited to that. You should ask about it.

I was having difficulty in working out carbs and insulin requirements and was constantly having to work out corrections by either exercise (for highs) or additional insulin (for lows).
Then I was introduced to the practise of reducing total carbs by the amount of fibre in food. If food has 20g carbs and 5g of fibre, I calculate insulin using 15g carbs. My control is amazing, averaging 98% in range over a three month period.
Reducing carbs by fibre is not the only part of the calculation and I still get highs and lows, but much less often and if I'm really clever, I can predict and anticipate them.
The most important part of my routine it is essential to know exactly what I am eating - If I can't weight it or find a nutritional value, I don't eat it. And, knowing what foods will trigger a high or low regardless of my routine - white bread and white potatoes are definitely out as they cause very rapid spikes for me.