To me, being “unlimited” means eating the occasional bagel. I LOVE bagels but have mostly tried to keep them an occasional treat. After being diagnosed several months ago I’ve totally avoided them.
I have the day off work tomorrow, no real plans, it’s supposed to be a nice day… and I want to get a bagel egg sandwich for breakfast, like the old days.
What tips fo you have? I’m planning on a run first, which should help my cause. But between all the carbs, egg and cheese, I just don’t know. I don’t want to spend the rest of my day off annoyed about blood sugar. Ideas? Tips?
Yes, just take the number of carbs, calculate your normal dose, multiply by 1.25, prebolus by whatever time is necessary to get a downward trend before you eat, monitor your CGM, and eat your way out of the drop in two hours.
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Any insulin I take immediately after a run is greatly amplified!
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Did you come up with that number through trial and error, or is it received wisdom?
For us bagels are easy. They’re so tough and chewy that they’re slower digesting. So we just bolus upfront, he eats it, and we give a follow-up about an hour or two later of about 0.5 units to keep it on a downward trend.
I would say that is a starting place, and then adjust. For use we would dose more, but we have arrived at that through trial and error. 1.25 is enough to have an impact and see how you do, but not so much that you will have to eat an entire dozen donuts to recover from an error.
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Update: a bagel success! I gave my usual dose for the quantity of carbs. I only waited 10 minutes because I was a smidge on the low side and was nervous to wait too long (plus there was a delicious everything bagel sammy with egg and cheese staring me down). About 45 minutes after I ate I added another unit, about .25 of the first dose, as I was headed up pretty quickly. Combine that with some walking around Target, and I never got any higher than the 130’s. My first bagel in MONTHS with good blood sugar (and a target trip!): I consider this a victory. Thanks for the tips. Everyone enjoy your weekend!
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That is fantastic! So glad for you.
Pay attention to portion size. An average bagel-shop size bagel is the carb equivalent of about four slices of bread, even though it looks to be the equivalent of two slices of bread. It took me a while to figure that out (and personally, I consider them mostly empty carbs and don’t like bagels enough to burn that many carbs on them - I prefer fruit, whole wheat bread, chocolate, etc. so I prioritize those above bagels in my own diet, but of course that is just me).
I totally hear ya on the empty carb thing. But I loooove bagels so trying to find a way to fit the occasional one into my diet is a fun experiment. Normally, I prioritize getting my carbs from whole grains, beans, fruits and veggies (and some ice cream? Lol) But that bagel sandwich was dang good and worth every refined white simple carb they could cram in there 
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Have you had New Jersey bagels? 74 grams of carbs and just weirdly delicious. I would never waste carbs on one of those loathsome supermarket bagels, but Bagels 4 U is worth it.
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Honestly, I used to bring South Jersey bagels into a number of my Philadelphia accounts, but when the NY rep brought NY bagels, they wouldn’t touch mine.
I’m not a fan of South Jersey bagels, but the bagels from the commuter train lines west of the city are great – I actually don’t like NYC bagels and think they’re overrated.
I’m betting my “Kansas bagels” from a chain wouldn’t cut it for you East Coasters 