Am I Banana's? Bolusing for food you don't how to bolus for

Do you pre-bolus for them?

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I’m so glad that at least the Moderna vaccination did NOT effect your BGs!! Hope you are back to your energetic self today!!

Bananas??!! Yes, they spike me! I love them so I DO eat them, too, just not usually a whole one! I also like the potassium they provide! I eat pieces in my yoghurt, and will sometimes eat 1/2 banana before a run! So for these purposes, I don’t usually need a correction but I don’t think this is the same thing you are experiencing. I’d probably need a correction, too, if I just ate a whole banana. I think that is fine, though, as long as you catch the spike! Enjoy your bananas, and potassium!

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I pre-bolus 15 minutes whenever I am in target range.

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Oh God, do I enjoy them! A ripe banana is like a yellow gift from God. Yummmm!

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DM, did you know that the sugar content of a banana varies with how ripe it is?

As a banana ripens, the starch in it turns to sugar. So the more ripe it is, the more carbs it will have, and the more insulin you will need!
:banana:

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Yes. I know that, but thank you, bc now everyone else who has read this thread will know it too!

I’m still trying to find a loophole to eliminate the spike. Maybe a long pre-bolus?

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Yeah, either that or more insulin.

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I think that today I will experiment with more insulin and see how that goes. Each time I spike after eating the banana, my BG goes up by almost the exact same amount; so, my corrections are usually the same. I think I will try to give myself the amount of insulin I usually need for my correction and see if that works. Ya never know until you try :wink: Thanks :crossed_fingers: :pray:

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I shoulda known that you already know about the banana ripeness thing. You are like a master in the D class. :grinning:

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what’s ur opinion about taking more insulin up front? I only have had to correct with about 1/2 a unit an hour later ?

And even though when the carbs count for a single banana says it has aproxamately 27/28gms I usually cover for 30gms instead. (which obviously has not been enough, despite the fact that my ICR is right on target.)

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Yeah, that is definitely what I would try.

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Bolused for 3gms of extra carbs and added .35 units. Will keep you posted :yum: You know how much I love these experiments!!!

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TOTALY OFF TOPIC: MY BANANA EXPERIMENT PART 2:

so I came close to target yesterday, but instead of spiking or remaining flat, I ended up dropping to 50 a bit later after lunch. Today I will try an new experiment with a riper banana. I will bolus for 35gms up front without adding any extra units. It is a large banana, so instead of blousing for the 27 recommended grams, I would have figured to bolus for about 30gms. But since it is more ripe, I am adding onto that, and since it is larger, I am adding onto that, and since I seem to need more insulin, I am adding onto that. Get it? We’ll see what happens.

Will keep you posted,

DM

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THE LASTEST RESULTS:

so I bolused for 36gms of carbs for my banana experiment. It was going very well. Now mind you, I am eating it with thick freshly ground peanut butter, so that may slow down the digestion and require a dual bolus in the future.

I bolused at 11am. My ICR is 1:8. It was a large, ripe banana. (it was delicious!). 2.5 hours after my bolus my BG went from 80 to 104. “OMG”, I think to myself, “this is wonderful.” But then I tested again at 4 hours post bolus and my BG had come up to 113. This is still not bad at all. I think I just might be on to something here. As Eric is always reminding me: “over bolus for foods you are uncertain about, because if you end up giving yourself too much insulin, you can always eat more; and it is far easier to correct a low BG than it is to correct a high one.”

I have run out of bananas, but hope to do a repeat of this test next week.

Now I know that we are all different, that our D can be very different, but IMHO, if you want to eat a large, very ripe banana with fresh peanut butter (no sugar added, etc), try over bolusing and see how it works for you. You might be pleasantly surprised!

ENJOY!

DM

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I’m just curious. Did you prebolus by a few minutes in addition to upping the bolus?
I enjoy good bananas as well, and have been using 20 grams of carbohydrate, entered
into a pump 15 to 20 minutes in advance, and gotten good results most of the time.

Dave

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So long as my BG is under 120, I always pre-bolus 15 minutes before eating. If my BG is higher, I will not eat after bolusing until my BG comes down into TR (which can be, sometimes, about 1/2 hour). If my BG is high, (above 150), I will take an IM injection and wait for 1.5 hours before even bolusing at all.

But to answer your question, Yes, I pre-bolus 15 minutes before eating the banana! I should be astounded that you only need to cover for 20gms of carbs for your bananas. But then again, nothing about D surprises me anymore!!! :rofl:

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I despise bananas. Just had to put it out there. I’ll check back in when we’re on to apples or grapes or something really amazing like champagne mangos! :laughing:

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I dont know if thats a compliment or an insult. Its kind of like being an “A” student in the “Slow Class.”

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Does the variety of banana matter do you think? I’m assuming that the bananas you had are Cavendish?
I grow my own bananas. And they’re a variety that is small but thick and deliciously creamy. Ducasse is the name. Because they ripen quickly when the bunch is cut (literally overnight) I spend a week with high numbers due to eating so many, even after freezing half of them and giving some away.
*side note, I live in the Australian state of Queensland and each state has nicknames for each of the others. Qld’ers are known as banana benders :joy:! Anyway here’s the bunch I picked last week! I aim for 6u per 2 bananas, but usually need to correct later (I’m MDI)

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Damn that is a massive banana bunch. How many times a year do you get a haul like that?

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