# Bolusing, Foods and their effects on BG...and yes I am a chicken and may be over reacting to my lows **URL:** \ **Category:** Type 1 & LADA\ **Created:** [April 20, 2020, 6:28am UTC](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/bolusing-foods-and-their-effects-on-bg-and-yes-i-am-a-chicken-and-may-be-over-reacting-to-my-lows/9673 "2020-04-20T06:28:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![CatLady](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/forum.fudiabetes.org/catlady/32/36_2.png) [@CatLady](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/u/CatLady)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2020, 2:09pm UTC](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/bolusing-foods-and-their-effects-on-bg-and-yes-i-am-a-chicken-and-may-be-over-reacting-to-my-lows/9673/42 "2020-04-29T14:09:52Z")
> [@lh378](#): > > What is ETA? Abbreviation for _Edited to Add_. ---
**Author:** ![ClaudnDaye](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/forum.fudiabetes.org/claudndaye/32/5_2.png) [@ClaudnDaye](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/u/ClaudnDaye)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2020, 4:38pm UTC](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/bolusing-foods-and-their-effects-on-bg-and-yes-i-am-a-chicken-and-may-be-over-reacting-to-my-lows/9673/43 "2020-04-29T16:38:03Z")
Learn something new every day! It’s always meant “Estimated Time of Arrival” to me! When i was reading the original thread i scratched me head some. Lol. Thx for the clarification. ---
**Author:** ![bkh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/da6949/32.png) [@bkh](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/u/bkh)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2020, 4:40pm UTC](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/bolusing-foods-and-their-effects-on-bg-and-yes-i-am-a-chicken-and-may-be-over-reacting-to-my-lows/9673/44 "2020-04-29T16:40:41Z")
> [@lh378](#): > > if you were not trending down, would you correct in the 60’s, or 70’s? I would correct the 60s or lower 70s. I would just watch upper 70s. > [@lh378](#): > > Can you find cake or donut for 10 to 15 g? A piece of. I weigh it at guess it’s 40% carb, then watch the CGM and correct as needed. ---
**Author:** ![CatLady](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/forum.fudiabetes.org/catlady/32/36_2.png) [@CatLady](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/u/CatLady)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2020, 6:44pm UTC](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/bolusing-foods-and-their-effects-on-bg-and-yes-i-am-a-chicken-and-may-be-over-reacting-to-my-lows/9673/45 "2020-04-29T18:44:04Z")
> [@ClaudnDaye](#): > > reading the original thread i scratched me head some. LOL context is everything! ---
**Author:** ![CatLady](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/forum.fudiabetes.org/catlady/32/36_2.png) [@CatLady](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/u/CatLady)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2020, 6:46pm UTC](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/bolusing-foods-and-their-effects-on-bg-and-yes-i-am-a-chicken-and-may-be-over-reacting-to-my-lows/9673/46 "2020-04-29T18:46:44Z")
> [@bkh](#): > > I would correct the 60s or lower 70s. I would just watch upper 70s. Do you respond quickly when you do correct? Sometimes I feel it takes 30 minutes even for fast carbs to kick in so I tend to correct sooner. ---
**Author:** ![ClaudnDaye](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/forum.fudiabetes.org/claudndaye/32/5_2.png) [@ClaudnDaye](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/u/ClaudnDaye)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2020, 6:58pm UTC](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/bolusing-foods-and-their-effects-on-bg-and-yes-i-am-a-chicken-and-may-be-over-reacting-to-my-lows/9673/47 "2020-04-29T18:58:13Z")
Context…AND knowing that ETA means something other than what I had originally thought it (only) meant. lol ---
**Author:** ![bkh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/da6949/32.png) [@bkh](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/u/bkh)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2020, 7:39pm UTC](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/bolusing-foods-and-their-effects-on-bg-and-yes-i-am-a-chicken-and-may-be-over-reacting-to-my-lows/9673/48 "2020-04-29T19:39:18Z")
> [@CatLady](#): > > Do you respond quickly when you do correct? I think I can just barely start to see a response in the CGM graph to glucose tabs after 15 minutes, and they’ve mostly done their job in 30 minutes—on an empty stomach. ---
**Author:** ![lh378](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/forum.fudiabetes.org/lh378/32/601_2.png) [@lh378](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/u/lh378)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2020, 7:48pm UTC](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/bolusing-foods-and-their-effects-on-bg-and-yes-i-am-a-chicken-and-may-be-over-reacting-to-my-lows/9673/49 "2020-04-29T19:48:45Z")
The smarties and glucose tablets, Dex4 starts writing in about 15 minutes. ---
**Author:** ![lh378](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/forum.fudiabetes.org/lh378/32/601_2.png) [@lh378](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/u/lh378)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2020, 7:52pm UTC](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/bolusing-foods-and-their-effects-on-bg-and-yes-i-am-a-chicken-and-may-be-over-reacting-to-my-lows/9673/50 "2020-04-29T19:52:16Z")
CGM - the Dexcom has about a 20 minute delay. It’s great for visualizing a trend. However, the delay is annoying. ---
**Author:** ![lh378](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/forum.fudiabetes.org/lh378/32/601_2.png) [@lh378](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/u/lh378)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2020, 8:01pm UTC](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/bolusing-foods-and-their-effects-on-bg-and-yes-i-am-a-chicken-and-may-be-over-reacting-to-my-lows/9673/51 "2020-04-29T20:01:26Z")
Today has been a " feel great" day of BG’s less than 140 🙂 Yay! It’s possible that I may have been trying to get my meal carbs from the wrong sources for me. It seems like quinoa is much better than rice/pasta/bread. I’m going to try to add more starchy vegetables such as sweet potato, carrots, peas etc; together with quinoa so that carb sources total about 30 -40g, which appears to be my limit. It all seems to be the type of carbs. If I were to eat bread, even 25+ g seemed to have caused weird BG 's that didn’t seem to make sense to me. For now sweet potato and carrots are quite appealing because they’re sweet. ---
**Author:** ![lh378](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/forum.fudiabetes.org/lh378/32/601_2.png) [@lh378](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/u/lh378)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2020, 2:30am UTC](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/bolusing-foods-and-their-effects-on-bg-and-yes-i-am-a-chicken-and-may-be-over-reacting-to-my-lows/9673/52 "2020-05-01T02:30:04Z")
Thursday update: Another feel great day of numbers below 140 😀 My observations from the recent experiments: I feel so much more satisfied and full when eating quinoa. And I can eat a comfortable amount, even up to about 35-40 g carbs. Most of the time, I am satiated around 30 g carbs. Sweet potatoes don’t seem to pose a BG problem either. Having sweet potatoes and quinoa as the main starch seem to work and I can bolus and don’t seem to require additional bolus for delayed rise. For these meals, I’ve bolused between 4-6 units of Novolog. I’ve also incorporated more carrots than previously - adding more natural sweetness, and carb. If I were to have similar amount of carbs, around 40 g of bread/pasta/rice, delayed rise occurs. The I:C ratio would appear to be different. Even though I would dose 6-7 units, follow ups would still be required. So odd; I’m still scratching my head, trying to figure this one out. I wonder if GMO/processed food may have something to do with the difficulty of my BG management? In other words, quinoa, sweet potato, carrots are closer to their original natural state. I purchased mass produced bread/pasta, organic basmati rice from Trader Joe. Perhaps these are more “processed” food and not as close to the foods “original” “natural” form? About 6 summers ago, I ate quite a lot of Arnolds regular white bread (maybe called brick oven white) and my stomach hurt, asked my doctor whether it may be celiac. He said he didn’t think so, but had me tested. The test was not positive for celiac. I stopped eating Arnold Bread, no more stomach pain. A mystery to me as to the cause of that stomach pain. A number of people have food sensitivities. Are the sensitivities caused by the “processing” of the food? Maybe GMO? Do these food sensitivities lead to difficulties in BG management? ---
**Author:** ![Chris](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/forum.fudiabetes.org/chris/32/382_2.png) [@Chris](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/u/Chris)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2020, 4:09am UTC](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/bolusing-foods-and-their-effects-on-bg-and-yes-i-am-a-chicken-and-may-be-over-reacting-to-my-lows/9673/53 "2020-05-01T04:09:16Z")
> [@lh378](#): > > GMO/processed food Just as an observation, if I eat lower carb like 100-120 a day, and then go back and eat a heavy carb meal it absolutely destroys my stomach, so I really try and eat in the same carb range every day just because I don’t like my stomach hurting. I think eating less processed food is always going to be better for nutrition, but I also think change can be difficult as well. ---
**Author:** ![CatLady](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/forum.fudiabetes.org/catlady/32/36_2.png) [@CatLady](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/u/CatLady)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2020, 3:41pm UTC](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/bolusing-foods-and-their-effects-on-bg-and-yes-i-am-a-chicken-and-may-be-over-reacting-to-my-lows/9673/54 "2020-05-01T15:41:38Z")
> [@lh378](#): > > processed food may have something to do with the difficulty of my BG management I am reading **Fast Carbs, Slow Carbs** by Dr. David Kessler and this is the main thesis of the book: the more processed, the faster the absorption. Well-documented, very readable. ---
**Author:** ![lh378](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/forum.fudiabetes.org/lh378/32/601_2.png) [@lh378](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/u/lh378)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2020, 4:12pm UTC](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/bolusing-foods-and-their-effects-on-bg-and-yes-i-am-a-chicken-and-may-be-over-reacting-to-my-lows/9673/55 "2020-05-01T16:12:01Z")
> [@CatLady](#): > > **Fast Carbs, Slow Carbs** by Dr. David Kessler This is a brief overview, I guess, of his viewpoints [The Danger of Fast Carbs - The Atlantic](https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theatlantic.com/amp/article/609040/) Kessler mentioned in the article: “The first step is to reduce your consumption of fast carbs and add legumes, intact whole grains, and other slow carbs to your diet.” I think legumes include beans. Please correct me if I’m wrong. When I tried in the past to eat chickpeas with rice, my BG is quite high, also with delayed rise in BG Is rice too processed? Is it the combination of rice and chickpea? Would I be better off from BG management to have the chickpeas as the primary carbohydrate for that meal? I would appreciate your sharing what you’ve learned from the book 😊 ---
**Author:** ![Chris](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/forum.fudiabetes.org/chris/32/382_2.png) [@Chris](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/u/Chris)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2020, 4:40pm UTC](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/bolusing-foods-and-their-effects-on-bg-and-yes-i-am-a-chicken-and-may-be-over-reacting-to-my-lows/9673/56 "2020-05-01T16:40:49Z")
> [@lh378](#): > > hen I tried in the past to eat chickpeas with rice, my BG is quite high, Legumes are generally pretty low on the glycemic index, i.e. mid 20’s to mid 30’s. Rice (White or Brown) is pretty high on the glycemic index i.e. 75 to 80. For reference Glucose is 100 on the index. If you ate the legumes without the rice you would probably find a different result than legumes plus rice. If you need ideas Indian recipes contain a bunch of very tasty ways to eat legumes. ---
**Author:** ![lh378](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/forum.fudiabetes.org/lh378/32/601_2.png) [@lh378](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/u/lh378)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2020, 5:01pm UTC](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/bolusing-foods-and-their-effects-on-bg-and-yes-i-am-a-chicken-and-may-be-over-reacting-to-my-lows/9673/57 "2020-05-01T17:01:31Z")
> [@Chris](#): > > Legumes are generally pretty low on the glycemic index, i.e. mid 20’s to mid 30’s. > Rice (White or Brown) is pretty high on the glycemic index i.e. 75 to 80. > For reference Glucose is 100 on the index. Thanks! Where would I find reliable information about the GI? Lower GI tend to mean a slower rise in BG. So…that may mean that I don’t necessarily want to pre bolus. If I’m eating black eyed beans with ground meat and broccoli and some carrots and a piece of fruit, eat all except for the carrots and fruit. Save the carrots and fruit for last because these two will likely to have the higher GI - would this be a reasonable thinking process? Although, would the beans have the effect of slowing down the digestion/absorption of the fast carbs? ---
**Author:** ![Chris](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/forum.fudiabetes.org/chris/32/382_2.png) [@Chris](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/u/Chris)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2020, 5:21pm UTC](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/bolusing-foods-and-their-effects-on-bg-and-yes-i-am-a-chicken-and-may-be-over-reacting-to-my-lows/9673/58 "2020-05-01T17:21:15Z")
There are a good number of reputable online resources for Glycemic Index here are a few: [https://www.glycemicindex.com/](https://www.glycemicindex.com/) > **[Glycemic index for 60+ foods - Harvard Health](https://www.health.harvard.edu/diseases-and-conditions/glycemic-index-and-glycemic-load-for-100-foods)** > > The glycemic index is a value assigned to foods based on how slowly or how quickly those foods cause increases in blood glucose levels. Foods low on the glycemic index (GI) scale tend to release glucose slowly and steadily. Foods high on the... Google also does a passable job of reporting this when you search. I like your thinking on when to eat things during a meal, but in my experience there is no hard and fast rules here. It depends. It depends on your blood sugar prior to the meal, it depends on when you injected your insulin and you expect it to peak. It depends on how much you eat, (smaller meals digest faster in my experience) The hard part here is that you are trying to match your digestion to your insulin. So I think you are considering the right variables, now you have to experiment because I can’t tell how you will digest. ---
**Author:** ![bkh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/da6949/32.png) [@bkh](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/u/bkh)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2020, 5:52pm UTC](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/bolusing-foods-and-their-effects-on-bg-and-yes-i-am-a-chicken-and-may-be-over-reacting-to-my-lows/9673/59 "2020-05-01T17:52:52Z")
> [@lh378](#): > > When I tried in the past to eat chickpeas with rice, my BG is quite high Maybe you just need more insulin. An insulin:carb ratio that worked in the past may no longer be right. Mine changes (gradually, sometimes up sometimes down) a few times per year. When I notice that typically after I eat a significant amount of carb my BG is too high, that’s my signal to try a bigger bolus, and if it doesn’t send me low, that’s my new insulin:carb ratio. ---
**Author:** ![lh378](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/forum.fudiabetes.org/lh378/32/601_2.png) [@lh378](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/u/lh378)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2020, 6:57pm UTC](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/bolusing-foods-and-their-effects-on-bg-and-yes-i-am-a-chicken-and-may-be-over-reacting-to-my-lows/9673/60 "2020-05-01T18:57:04Z")
> [@bkh](#): > > An insulin:carb ratio that worked in the past may no longer be right. I meant that within the past 2 months or so, I’ve tried to eat chickpeas together with rice. It’s possible that there were other things going on. So…today, I’ll eat some black beans with some sweet potato and the usual protein, vegetables and see how that goes. Theoretically, the only new variable is the black beans. I’ve noticed that both quinoa and sweet potato do not seem to pose bolusing problems. I’ve eaten quinoa and sweet potatoes quite a number of meals. Keeping meal carbs to “just right”, perhaps no more than 35-40 g carbs, may also work better. ---
**Author:** ![lh378](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/forum.fudiabetes.org/lh378/32/601_2.png) [@lh378](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/u/lh378)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2020, 5:39pm UTC](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/bolusing-foods-and-their-effects-on-bg-and-yes-i-am-a-chicken-and-may-be-over-reacting-to-my-lows/9673/61 "2020-05-03T17:39:15Z")
![IMG_20200502_193538](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/uploads/fudiabetes/original/2X/b/bd52e98f98e644daf24e4c54f87691e324201589.jpeg) For dinner last night, we had curry flavored stir fried ground turkey with carrots, scallions, garlic, ginger and assorted herbs with quinoa& chickpeas as the main starch/carbs and stir fried kale and carrots. Quinoa was 10 g carbs, chickpeas was 10 g carbs; kale and carrots eyeballed to be about 5 g. I used the I:C ratio of 1:6 and bolused 5 units. Need to mention: I also had some grapefruit that I estimated to be about 8 g that I had first before the main entree, only pre bolused by about 5 minutes. For this I bolused 1.5 units (using a pen, 1.0 may be inaccurate and underdeliver). The total meal was about 33 g, for which I bolused 6.5 units (1.5 and 5). The grapefruit was around 7:15 pm. The entree was around 7:30 pm At 9:30 pm the BG was 107 At 10:30 pm the BG was 87- I ate a piece of laughing cow cheese. At 12:30 am the BG was 80 At 2:30 am BG was 86 Next morning fasting : BG 68. I:C ratio of 1:6 may be more effective than when I tried 1:8. Perhaps I tend to underestimate my carb counting. It’s also possible that I need to keep my meals below a certain total carb quantity, and of what type of carb. All in all, it feels great. I’m truly happy that I can incorporate some beans into my meals because they help to make me feel full and satisfied and not feel hungry. The total carb amount, may still need to be limited. [Previous page](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/bolusing-foods-and-their-effects-on-bg-and-yes-i-am-a-chicken-and-may-be-over-reacting-to-my-lows/9673.md?page=2) [Next page](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/bolusing-foods-and-their-effects-on-bg-and-yes-i-am-a-chicken-and-may-be-over-reacting-to-my-lows/9673.md?page=4)