Last night i went out for an enormous dinner at a steak house to celebrate my cousins 60th birthday. i was really anxious about going, being around all this food that i didn’t think i would be able to have, but just to be able to sit there and watch everyone else enjoy themselves. i was too afraid to bolus such a large amount of insulin, and i wasn’t certain how to dual bolus for the fatty and enormous steak which was the center stage of the entire meal. and it was going to be one of those 4 hour meals that just won’t end.
to make the situation even more complicated was that i’ve been home sick with some sort of bug, on antibiotics all week and using a 150% temp basal rate. this evening would be my first out of bed in 7 days. how on earth would i navigate this?
well, as you might suspect, i turned to the master of THE FORCE, our own beloved Eric, and drilled him with questions. all he could say to me was "do what i’ve been telling you all along: over bolus and if your BGs are too low, eat more "
now that sounds so simple. but i’ve been so afraid to take the chance and go plummeting down mid-meal or in the car on the way home, or at 4:30 in the morning…etc. so i never wanted to put his plan into use. but now seemed as good a time as ever, and i didn’t want to make a big deal about my D. so i began calculating my carb, fat, and protein numbers and then doubled them. i bolused for 75 grams and decided that if i needed more insulin mid meal, i would just take more. i was nervous, but i was excited, too. and what was even more fun was i let myself relax and enjoy rather than worrying about my BG numbers. i knew i could always correct a high, but wouldn’t a low be more fun to correct (especially when i looked over their desert menu).
the whole table ordered together and we would share everything: four large porterhouse steaks, 4 plates of their famous roasted potatoes, 4 bowls of creamed spinach, two lg plates of crispy onion rings, tomatoes and onions, blue cheese and slab bacon salad (OMG ; and i don’t even like bacon 
). and, obviously, bread and very creamy irresistible butter. the waiter served us, and then we dug in for seconds and thirds.
well, 1/2 way through the meal, i went into the ladies room and washed my hands and tested my BG. i was 93. so far, so good (but i knew that the slab bacon and steak were going to creep up on me later and i still wanted desert.) i bolused another 3 units. so now i already had over 10 units IOB. i think that this is the most i have ever bolused in my life. but that didn’t stop me from ordering a slice of key lime pie and helping my husband finish off his apple strudel (possibly the best i have ever had, including in Germany).
at the end of the meal,I tested again and my BG was 107. great. but i knew i would have to keep a close eye on things. there was so much food that probably didn’t hit my system yet, with all that fat slowing everything down. so i just kept on testing every hour or so. before bed my BG was 92. sounded reasonable, so i went to sleep.
now i mention this a lot, but i will just say it for the sake of consistency: i always wake up without an alarm several times a night and when i do, i make certain to test (you’ve probably figured it out by now that i don’t use a CGM ). at around 2am, my BG was 140, so i did a bolus correction and went back to sleep. at 4am my BG was 193 (quite high, but not out of the ball park, and it didn’t surprise me as i was anticipating it .) i corrected and went back to sleep.
when i woke up this morning, my BG was 118 (higher than a typical fasting BG, but considering my illness and the amount of food i consumed, it was a major success story.)
just wanted everyone to know, when you don’t think you can get away with eating it, just over bolus and eat and enjoy 
you won’t be sent to diabetic hell b/c it doesn’t exist. ( you may put on a few pounds, but unlike D, you can always lose that, if and when you want to.)
yours truly, DM reporting the best food experiment ever.
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thx.
