I forgot lunch today so I went to the cafeteria at work.
I ordered a BLT on sourdough with a salad and asked the lady behind the counter to look at the bread bag to get the carb count just right. 
and of course carb count was wrong as my CGM started to climb.
I swear that some restaurants have a shaker of magic carb dust that they apply which throws out all the rules of carb counting.
Magic carb dust! Ha! I assume it tastes good. Sorry about your blood sugar.
You’re not far off with the carb count being wrong though. I always wondered how much variation can be found among the same type of food – is the banana that weighs 40g on Tuesday really the same amount of carbs as that same, sweeter, riper banana on Friday?
I recently read that food nutrition labels can be off by 20% – which makes a pretty big difference when you’re trying to carb count. And I came across another NIH study which stated there were inaccuracies in nutrition labels, but identified different amounts. (Even studies can’t get the numbers right!)
http://health.usnews.com/health-news/blogs/eat-run/2012/08/21/when-nutrition-labels-lie
In my experience some people will give me the calories rather than the carbohydrates. Or else they’ll give me the percent daily value for carbohydrates, which I don’t care about. I have to be really alert, and if it sounds wrong, I ask to see the label myself.
At our nearest Children’s Hospital (the one that hosts my son’s diabetes clinic), the carb count in the nutrition information for a very large cookie at the cafeteria is off by about 40%…
This is a huge problem for gluten free prepackaged foods, in particular, too. Not only do they so often contain so many simple carbs that I find it almost impossible to dose properly for with my usual ICR (and hadn’t thought that the carb counts might be off, but it’s probably that, too!), but I heard from another t1 that one of the prepared meal brands was way off, and oddly in the wrong direction - she dosed for probably half the carbs it said it was, because she couldn’t believe the carb count was that high, and she still went low! This is why I have one of those meals in my freezer that I’ve been afraid to touch… 
They only do it that way so that it lines up with the FDA requirement for BG meters. By having both food labels and BG meters off by the same amount, it balances out perfectly!
jk
2 posts were merged into an existing topic: Random D thoughts
@ClaudnDaye, this has given me my heartiest laugh of the week! Thank god we all keep our sense of humor 
Great point!!! I’m glad we are not alone with this gluten free=insane amounts of carbs problem. EH has noticed this as well – if he has the gluten-free “substitute” for some item of food, it always has tons more carbs than the original (specifically pizza is where we find ourselves eating “substitutes” - so we can split a pizza). We have found that gluten free versions of food are worth avoiding due to the BG spike. (Of course, YDMV.) I do wonder how the gluten-free craze will affect T2D rates, with the often increased carbs and calories in the packaged products that people have switched over to for health reasons (mind you, I’m GF, and have no diagnosis).
Very interesting to hear that somebody else has had the smarts to figure out that the packaging is mislabeled on gluten-free food as well. I would have hoped it was better, because celiacs have enough going on! That is one thing that EH’s travel along the diabetes road has taught me, you can’t always believe what you read, and food is made up of a lot of stuff that probably doesn’t need to be in there, but it makes it cheaper, or easier for the company selling it. And you can’t always predict how it’ll affect BG.
@Eric and @ClaudnDaye you guys crack me up! I agree with @Michel, the sense of humor helps so much.
Don’t forget @docslotnick, the wickedest of all
You’re right! I thought that comment about @docslotnick’s wife meeting another T1D if he expired was over on the other thread! That totally cracked me up when I saw it yesterday!!! I wondered how many of us spouses would give another T1D a run for his or her money. 
(Unrelated: I’m presently using Discourse to read and reply to messages from my iPhone and it’s a little kludgey. When you’re as long-winded as I am, it’s really difficult to see what was written above. Also, spelling corrections work sometimes but not if you tap-highlight-replace, quotes often don’t work properly, and moving around in between the windows of Reply and the active thread sometimes doesn’t work. I will happily admit user error is probably the cause.)
Yes, it was on a different thread, but the thread was split.
Our fearless leader 
Michel has turned into banana split!
OK, banana un-split, sorry!!
I LOVE banana splits, btw – I have not had one for many years, and this pic is making me want one badly.
Banana Split
2 x bananas ~ 50g
3 x ice cream scoops ~45g
Whip cream (probably sweetend) ~5g
2 x Maraschino cherries ~ 4g
Sauce (?) ~ 10g or 15g
I am going to go ahead and bolus for 120g. That would be 20 units for me 
oops - that is one banana split - not two bananas - here is the update 
Banana Split
2 x bananas ~ 25g
3 x ice cream scoops ~45g
Whip cream (probably sweetend) ~5g
2 x Maraschino cherries ~ 4g
Sauce (?) ~ 10g or 15g
I am going to go ahead and bolus for 100g. That would be 16.66666667 units for me
:syrin
Did you include the luscious rich chocolate or caramel syrup??? 25g for 2 tbsp…so you’ll need to do 100g just for that because…CHOCOLATE.
If that’s what you have as Sauce, then just add another 60 or so grams and you should be set for the bolus.
Enjoy!!!
PS - please check in with us before, during and after so that we a) know how it tasted and b) whether you’re pulling through OK or not.
Ooops - Sugar is about 5g per tsp so I was thinking 1 tsp per ball of ice cream. but you are right - that is probably tablespoons not teaspoons of sugary coating.
When I was a kid (before there was an internet) I had a book with all the “food choices” for various foods in it. There was a whole section on McDonalds. I recall a small strawberry milkshake was like 7 Fruit and Vegetable Choices. I really liked milkshakes but I did not have a meal in my meal plan that had 7 fruit and vegetable choices 
I have not had a milk shake since
EDIT: At the time a Fruit and Vegetable choice was 10g of carbs. For some reason sugary foods were lumped into the fruit and vegetable choices which made getting your fruits and vegetables really easy by eating sugary food
@Aaron, I feel so bad for the child you were!
But it is time to change that! Here we all strive to be UNLIMITED: so I think that includes experimenting to figure out what a milkshake will need to dose for. I think this should be another whole thread for all of us to discuss!
I always up the “official” carb count for bread by 10 or 20 percent!