Protein Savvy people lol

[cheryl]

Ok, I cannot believe how many things actually have protein in it, Ok here is my concern right now since this pump thing is all new to me, I am trying less fat less protein, in order to tell what true ratio's are, but I know that there is a limit before you see a rise in protein.....

Ok for instance dumb butt me was starving so i ate three yes I said three eggs for dinner two nights in a row, with that that is 18 grams of protein and then the bread the two pieces combined is is 8 so that is 26 grams of protein....wow....didn't realize that I mean I waited to bolus was level at 2 hr mark, but then a slow rise at four hour mark, took correction, went to sleep only to wake up two days in a row with horrible fasting numbers....mind you my numbers were just perfect for dinner, and a little elevated for bedtime...

So last night i decided to cut that to a minimum to see if I needed to be concerned about basal rates, well no, I was fine, i woke up at 105.....so all is good with that...and went to bed at 120 so awesome night, less much less protein but it was still 10 grams of protein and I did fine, no worrying about nothing.....

How do you all figure your limit before you have this peak from protein....just curious, seems like so far since I never really counted protein before 10 seems good and 26 is too much lol....I am just counting it now, now for lunch i just ate....lets see about 12 grams of protein upped it by two, to see if i can withstand 12 without a rise....

I mean once I know my limits then eventually I will work on like how to deal with high protein and what is best for me but I am trying to figure my limitations for now....since I don't really know


Cheryl

[RLK]

Sounds to me like you're tackling this in a logical manner. I'd keep increasing the amount of protein and checking at 2 hours and 4 hours until I found an amount that caused that slow BG rise. I still haven't figured out when protein pushes me over the edge....if it's "a little", I don't bolus for it. If it's "a lot", I bolus. Real technical, huh? :) I should probably follow my own advice and figure this out.
I have had some good results with using 50% of the protein as "equivalent carbs", and then bolusing for it over 3 hours. Everybody's different though- good luck!

[Cyborg]

I always bolus for protein after calculating the equivalent carbs. Since protein affects me 75% as much as carbs, that is the conversion I use. Thus, for 100g of protein, I would calculate 75g of equivalent carbs and bolus for it using a 30/70 combo bolus over 3 hours.

How protein affects you may be different. Here (http://www.insulin-pumpers.org/howto/pfandbs.html) is some good info on protein metabolism...

[cheryl]

Sounds to me like you're tackling this in a logical manner. I'd keep increasing the amount of protein and checking at 2 hours and 4 hours until I found an amount that caused that slow BG rise. I still haven't figured out when protein pushes me over the edge....if it's "a little", I don't bolus for it. If it's "a lot", I bolus. Real technical, huh? :) I should probably follow my own advice and figure this out.
I have had some good results with using 50% of the protein as "equivalent carbs", and then bolusing for it over 3 hours. Everybody's different though- good luck!


Hey that sounds like a good idea, if i am somewhere soon and am forced to eat high protein, so I can figure out, how to bolus for it, I can try that technique when it might be to hard to avoid the high protein.....which probably will be next week, when I am up in PA, for my cousin's wedding, oh I always eat a lot more when i go out of town......

Cheryl

[cheryl]

I always bolus for protein after calculating the equivalent carbs. Since protein affects me 75% as much as carbs, that is the conversion I use. Thus, for 100g of protein, I would calculate 75g of equivalent carbs and bolus for it using a 30/70 combo bolus over 3 hours.

How protein affects you may be different. Here (http://www.insulin-pumpers.org/howto/pfandbs.html) is some good info on protein metabolism...

I see what your saying but do you have a limit before you worry about protein or do you even worry about 10 grams see what I am saying, cause like all those calculations is really good if it is something that is worth doing all the math for, but really and I am just asking I am not trying to be smart in anyway, should we find the limit first, then worry about all that math or do it with everything even though 10 doesn't affect me.....i am just wondering,

Cheryl

[poodlebone]

I never worry about protein unless it's a lot in one meal. I'm not even sure what I'd consider "a lot" to be since I don't usually go protein crazy. My lunch that I'm eating right now has 27g of protein total and I don't consider it at all when bolusing. If I went to a barbecue and was eating lots of chicken, steak and other meat then I would definitely have to take it into account. Not just for the protein but the fat as well, which is what really screws me up.

You'll find that there is protein in so many things you wouldn't think of, like green veggies. Probably pure sugar/glucose is the only thing you'll find with no protein.

It's not unusual for me to eat more than 100g of protein but that's over the course of a full day, not one meal.

[xMenace]

My endo says do what works, but he wouldn't bolus for 'normal' protein.

I also find my overnight numbers can suffer bigtime from high protein suppers and snacks. It's not something I've tried to track down because, well, I like my sleep.

[Gary_W]

Over in the UK, they teach that you don't bolus for protein at all. At least they do at my hospital.

On my last visit, I told them that they were just plain wrong. The previous day I'd had a huge steak and a salad. The salad was just leaves, and the dressing was vinegar and oil only. The steak had pretty much had the horns taken off and was put on the plate. There were no sources of carbohydrate at the meal.

According to their theory, I needed no insulin. Fortunately I know better (I'd read Cyborg's posts) and the 75% of carbs worked for me too. Had I not injected I'd have been through the roof...

Gary

[grace girl]

I'm finding that it affects my b/s considerably since I'm finally getting my basals right. When I was taking too much lantus I could eat nuts and meat whenever and never saw a thing....now all it takes is a very small handful of nuts and my b/s won't BUDGE for hours and hours. It has even caused one or two corrections to be totally worthless. I'm rethinking the whole thing now.

[cheryl]

My endo says do what works, but he wouldn't bolus for 'normal' protein.

I also find my overnight numbers can suffer bigtime from high protein suppers and snacks. It's not something I've tried to track down because, well, I like my sleep.

LOL, I do too, that is why, ummm I only noticed at bedtime a small rise bolused went to sleep and woke up high LOL.....well atleast I know I can eat 10 grams with no affect LOL

Cheryl

[cheryl]

I'm finding that it affects my b/s considerably since I'm finally getting my basals right. When I was taking too much lantus I could eat nuts and meat whenever and never saw a thing....now all it takes is a very small handful of nuts and my b/s won't BUDGE for hours and hours. It has even caused one or two corrections to be totally worthless. I'm rethinking the whole thing now.



Amen to that, I am kind of missing the old days sometimes as crazy as that may sound...i remember being able to eat without actually worrying about everything, now everything i have to worry about LOL.....you caught me on a hungry day...

[RLK]

I just had a conversation about this with my educator tonight. She is pretty adament that it's the fat causing trouble, not the protein. She wants me to eat a meal with known amounts of carbs, fiber, and protein, but little or no fat. I'm supposed to bolus normally for the carbs, and check every hour for several hours to see if my BG rises. Personally, I think that she's full of ****, but I'm willing to try it if it helps me figure out fat and protein.
Has anyone ever done an experiment like this? If so, what were your results?

[Cyborg]

Before you were feeding the insulin with food, now you are taking insulin to utilize the food you eat. At least it's only pushing a couple buttons now...

With regards to protein, it's easy enough for me to do an immediate bolus for the carb content and a combo bolus for the protein portion. Many of my meals consist of salads with some form of protein, such as chicken, cheese, etc. If I bolus for both the protein and the carbs, I find my numbers much closer to target with the bg swings much milder.

[barbarac]

Someone very close to me asked me about what should be a ratio of carbs to proteins, etc. Thinks he is running low a lot. Anyway, told him I would check it out and also ask here. Any information would be appreciated. I am trying to attach his question to me here also, maybe you can understand him more--like what he means.

So here is what he asked me--(by the way he is not diabetic)

I think my sugar gets low every now and them (low to me is below 80! I would hate to feel what below 50 feels like.

We are just trying to eat healthier all together and balance proteins and carbs. If I could go a month and eat only carbs I would be in heaven so just trying to balance everything out. The main thing is that I read in some magazine that if you eat proteins throughout the day and then before you eat a bad carb meal your body isn't affected so negatively by all the sugar. Plus for working out, I have been drinking protein vitamin shakes.