Below 7: Greek salad (success)
I’ve been studying the philosophy of ancient Greece lately, and have concluded that everything comes from the Greeks. Even salad. For my Greek salad, I have 100g of feta cheese, 10 small olives, lots of cucumber and lettuce, 50g of red onion, and a couple of cherry tomatoes (home-grown in my living room). Both onions and tomatoes are very sweet so you have to be careful with them not to spike blood sugar, especially when you’re picking them off the vine. A lot of sweetness gets lost on the way to the supermarket. The count is roughly 20g of carbs and 16g of protein.
I dose insulin at 1:8 for carbs, and 1:15 for protein. Note that your insulin doses would be different from mine. To avoid spikes in blood sugar, I always pre-bolus insulin.
Blood sugar and insulin – Day 1
| Before Eating | Blood Glucose and Insulin |
|---|---|
| 20 minutes | 5.1 mmol/l (92 mg/dl) Insulin: 2.5u of NovoRapid for the carbs pre-bolused by twenty minutes, and 1u of ActRapid for the protein taken straight after the meal. |
| After Eating | Blood Glucose |
|---|---|
| 1 hour | 4.9 mmol/l (88 mg/dl) |
| 2 hours |
3.8 mmol/l (68 mg/dl) I headed into hypo-territory because I went for a walk, and still dosed for the protein. The nice thing about low carb is low insulin doses, so 2-4g of glucose tablets normally fixes a hypo before it turns nasty. |
| 3 hours | 4.3 mmol/l (77 mg/dl) |
I tried this meal again for lunch the next day but skipped the walk. The carb count and insulin doses were the same.
Blood sugar and insulin – Day 2
| Before Eating | Blood Glucose and Insulin |
|---|---|
| 20 minutes | 4.9 mmol/l (88 mg/dl) Insulin: 2.5u of NovoRapid for the carbs pre-bolused by twenty minutes, and 1u of ActRapid for the protein taken straight after the meal. |
| After Eating | Blood Glucose |
|---|---|
| 1 hour | 5.0 mmol/l (90 mg/dl) |
| 2 hours | 4.6 mmol/l (83 mg/dl) |
| 3 hours | 4.7 mmol/l (85 mg/dl) |
I declared Greek salad a success and added it to my meal repertoire. Another win for the Greeks.