Ask any punter on the street the question, “what foods should people with diabetes avoid?” and you’ll get the predictable replies like “sweets”; “biscuits”; “fizzy drink”; “cake” etc. What you are unlikely to hear is the list of those really unpredictable things like pizza, Thai, fish and chips and Chinese.
I have to admit I was as clueless as all the rest until a couple of years ago when I really started to actually monitor my BGs. And now I have a new one to add to the list: laksa. My husband makes a mean laksa (after flatting with a Malaysian chap many years ago, he has the dish down to a fine art). We had it for dinner a couple of nights ago, and there was loads left, so we had it the following night. Both nights had very similar results: good post-prandial BGs then nightmarish highs overnight. Similar to the pizza phenomenon (as blogged in Pizza is Poison). You’d never expect this sort of thing to be a challenge for people with diabetes, and when I tell my friends (the ones who are actually amenable to more than a 20 second answer to the “how’s your diabetes” question) they are always quite surprised that these sorts of foods are actually the hardest to fit into our lifestyle. Personally I find these foods almost so tough to wedge into healthy diabetes living I am almost ready to give them up. I could sit down and eat a handful of sweets more manageably than a single slice of pizza. I know you can set your insulin pump to deliver a combo bolus over a few hours, but personally I’ve never managed to get this right without having a hypo either.
How do the rest of you get on?
Posted in Community, Food, Insulin Pumps, Monitoring
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Kathy wrote
This is a very interesting topic – and does explain the highs during the night – even when the bedtime bgs are in an acceptable range. I generally play what I call ‘catch-up’ once the bgs get up. Sometimes I seem to play catch-up all day. Of course that is one of the beauties of a pump – we can correct ourselves much more quickly. Though I’ve read recently somewhere that ’spiking’ bgs are not good long term either. WE can’t seem to win. Have a clinic appt. today ……….
Sophie wrote
Funny you should write about this today, Nic. I had laksa for dinner last night, a massive one from Ponsonby Food Court and I also had a Memphis Meltdown for dessert to top it off (not exactly nutritious, I know!). I had a (DAFNE) educated guess as to the carb count when I got home and was very pleased to wake up on 5.0 mmol this morning!
Alison wrote
The same has happened to me loads of times. When I go to bed my BG is perfect but I know I will probably need a combo bolus but too scared to set it and go to sleep, in case I have a massive hypo, so wake up high every time.
My biggest hassle is lentils, I have a dahl recipe I love and its so healthy but so low GI that I just about always have problems, unless I’m sensible and just have a small amount, which isn’t that often.
I don’t have pizza or fish and chips very often, occasionally love a take away curry which causes problems but doesn’t normally fit into our tight budget so that doesn’t cause much of a BG problem at the moment.
Chris wrote
Red wine is my morning spike. I can have as much as I like with dinner (and afterwards) and head to bed pretty normal but wake pretty high. Sigh.
Erena Tomoana wrote
I’ve never got the combo bolus thing right either and have similarly chosen to give these foods a miss as the 9 hours worth of high BGs and consequent ketones just arent worth it. I LOVE pizza so I make homemade ones now with all the good stuff and only a little mild grated cheese on top to hold it all together. I have found quiche to be an absolute nightmare – almost as bad as fish from the fish and chip shop! Homemade stuff is the easiest, if you’ve made it yourself you know what the carb count of everything is, whereas with fish and chips and pizza I’ve always found it has to be more of a guess-timate:)
Debs wrote
We are having huge problems with Weetbix to the point that we have now banned them!
He used to be able to eat them, but recently it has become a pain in the butt trying to figure them out. We even add 40 gr to the carb count and still have no luck.
And cocktail sausages or luncheon meat are another nightmare!
Sarah wrote
That’s one thing I seriously miss now that I’m back on MDIs, the square bolus. I am always having to set my timer to give myself injections one or two hours after the meal. I actually really hate having to manage low GI foods – legumes, whole grains – because of the delayed carb reaction. I have recently started making sourdough bread and I can’t give myself a bolus until at least half an hour after I’ve eaten it or else I will have a hypo. It’s all very confusing, particularly after that strong message a few years back that said diabetics should eat low GI. What they should have said was Type 2 diabetics and people at risk should eat low GI – we should eat white rice and marshmallows!