Okay fine. What if I have my coffee now and then wait for another 30 or 45 minutes… ? Are you generally discouraging the use of coffee, or do you mean just not to use it directly preceding a workout? I’m listening and keeping an open mind.
Your hometown is Toronto, so it was already awesome, but that makes it even better. I didn’t know!
Oh, that’s really cool… I had no idea. And for $25 over here in the states… I’ll have to try this out. Now…And I’m not going to try anything… but could this be used in conjunction with Novolog? For instance, if I want something now AND later? Obviously really making sure to calculate everything carefully? Or is that not what real diabetics do?
I am not discouraging the use of coffee at all. I’m drinking some right now.
But I am discouraging the use of coffee as a pre-workout BG fix or carb source. Strongly discouraging that.
It’s not a carb source. It’s a liver glycogen catalyst for you and it’s just not as easy to predict or calculate or any of that.
Fair enough. I did just have a coffee before my jump because it happened before I got final word from you. But I won’t do it tomorrow. So then… when is a safe time to have it? Part of the reason I have it RIGHT before a workout is because then it’s covered without having to do additional insulin. Today, I had like 3 sips… planning on heading right up the stairs to start my jump. Then I get a call from my husband saying they’re almost home and need food. I had already climbed about 20 or 25 points… so I just didn’t drink any more, and then 40 minutes later finished it just before getting on the trampoline. By that time, I was up to a BG of a 170… do you remember I had told you I was at an even 100??? The ONLY thing I had between that time and the 170 was the coffee. So how can I have it without having to bolus???
Yeah, that’s nothing but liver glycogen. That is not what you want before a workout!
Not at ANY time before a workout? Workouts are more fun on coffee. This is my point. So I am willing to do as you are suggesting by stopping my “just prior” cup… but how are we looking like, say, an hour before??
But then that brings me back to the need for insulin…
Straight speed? Frowned upon?
Wait a minute… how come you didn’t stop me doing the coffee before a run?? Is this some kind of exercise bias thing? Because the trampoline is hardcore…don’t let the “bouncing” fool you…
That’s a jumble of questions! Not sure I can do it justice on my phone!
If you were running now I’d say the same thing. Coffee is a BG wildcard for you, it’s just not a good fuel source
You can have it whenever you want except close to a run time when it messes up your BG.
Ideally a run will be 4 hours since a meal, no IOB, flat BG, and good BG. That’s what we always would like to get for runs, okay?
Not sure what you are asking.
Just being inappropriate. Pay no attention.
But I can’t have it any time if I can’t have it right before BECAUSE of this👇
So If I can’t bolus for it inside that 4 hours because of IOB, can’t drink it without rising… and really seeing a significant rise, and can’t drink it right before…
I’ll be back. I have to go get my mind wrapped around this.
If you run in the afternoon, do you need coffee before that? I mean…do you drink coffee all day long?
Like drink it in the morning, before lunch, at lunch, whenever. But dry up for a few hours before your run. Is that possible?
All the stuff going on with the coffee - BG spiking, IOB, high BG - those elements make it much tougher.
Simplify.
Yep, I use it with Novolog every day. I have been pumping since 2006 like you, so everything I do comes from a pump mindset and I think of it as what I would do on the pump. If I would use a dual wave bolus on the pump, then I will take Novolog and Novolin R at the same time when on MDI. The amount of Novolin R might be slightly different based on trial and error, but the principle is the same.
But much better.
This is awesome. I had no idea. I’m getting some Novolin R this week. So then do you go back and forth between pumping and MDI?? I was trying to figure out if you were using the past tense for anything, but it’s unclear…
Not a strength of mine. Complicate would be easier.
Pretty much, yes, I drink coffee all day long. My cut off is probably around 5:00 pm. But you’d have to see my coffee. It looks like tea.
I spend a pretty good chunk of my time defending my coffee habits… can we talk to @Millz about hers?? She’s the one putting down 3-4 jumbo cups in the morning.
I am very dependent on my coffee. I would be lost. People have their other stuff. I have my coffee. 4ish times a day.
And I did cut down a bit. Until I added a little back in. So I proved I can cut back at will. Next question.
This is not looking like there’s going to be a solution I like in this…
Thomas stated it in very elegant and easy terms:
There is complication in that cup of coffee.
I have nothing against you doing whatever you want. Coffee, margaritas, beer, milkshakes. Do whatever you want.
But if you are trying to make your running BG easy to manage, coffee is going to make it difficult, unless you get an exact dosing system for it that makes it predictable.
If you could drink a cup and not spike 50-100 points from it, I’d have no problem with the coffee before a run.
Can you check your resting pulse before and after a cup please? At least do that for me.
Sitting for a while before the cup, test it. And then sitting for a while after the cup. Let’s just see if your heart is racing from it.
Of course I can do that for you… if you’d just be so kind as to tell me what we’re hoping to see?
What IF… just thinking out loud… what if I could quantify the morning rise on two cups of coffee? I’ll just test it by not doing insulin 3 mornings and averaging the rise? Then I could figure out what I could count it as?
I would like to see what coffee does to your resting pulse.
Make sure you are at rest for a while - like 10 minutes - before your cup. Take your pulse. After the coffee, same thing - rest for 10 minutes - and take it again.
That’s a great theory. And any data you get is useful.
The problem is - and will always be - that insulin will not absorb at the same rate the BG spike hits you and tails off.
So even if you know the exact amount of insulin to take for it, you will always be having it come in at a different rate as the coffee is working your BG up and then back down.
And that is the reason I say to run with no IOB, and 4 hours after a meal.
I am not just prejudice against coffee! It is any IOB and food in your system close to a run that I want you to avoid. You have heard me say that over and over, right?
If you had a cupcake addiction, I’d still tell you to cut it out before the run. But at least cupcakes would give you a very predictable fuel source for a run, so it would not be as bad.
So don’t think I am picking on the coffee. No IOB is one of the main rules for exercise.
Ask @daisymae, check out what she does to get rid of IOB. She sits on 2 hours of zero basal before every swim. We worked through it to find the right timing.