January 30, 2005
Insulin, Meal Planning, Food and Diet
Question from Portales, New Mexico, USA:
I am concerned about timing of meals and when I should eat. I seem to be more flexible during certain meal times than others. Breakfast is my most flexible. Before breakfast, I inject 18 units of insulin Humalog Mix 75/25 and before dinner 12 units of the same type of insulin. Lunch seems to be the least flexible and, traditionally, I eat lunch two hours after breakfast when I am able. I believe my body has gotten used to this schedule in the past, but, of late, I have been more flexible in regards to when I can eat lunch. My blood sugar does not start going down until maybe three hours after breakfast. What is the best way to promote lunch flexibility time wise? Am I doing it right by making meals a time related thing versus just eating each of the three meals whenever I want or just waiting for low blood sugar to set in?
Answer:
My feeling is that you cannot train your body to a certain insulin regimen. Rather, your timing of meals fits with the pattern of the behavior of the insulins you are taking. As a general rule, there is more flexibility in using insulins you mix independently, rather than using premixed combinations. For instance, you could increase the rapid-acting component a little more to bring the sugars down faster, if you needed to. In addition, if you were mixing the individual insulins independently, you could take some Humalog with lunch and get around the variability for time of lunch. I would suggest you talk with your physician about this issue.
JTL
