How do know the amount of insulin to put into your body, depending on how low or high you are, and what food you are about to eat? Is there a way to work out how much insulin I need to take? Calorie counting didn’t work for me.

You might want to use the carbohydrate counting method instead. Calorie counting is a very “old school” way of doing diabetes and, as I understand it, predates “exchanges” and “carbohydrate counting.” Since carbohydrates are what influence the blood sugar most directly, I’d move towards carbohydrate counting. Calorie counting is sometimes still useful in persons with type 2 diabetes who need to lose weight. For type 1 diabetes as you indicated, carbohydrate counting is the preferred method. Ask your medical team to refer you to a registered dietitian (RD) who can help you. If you find an RD who is also a CDE (Certified Diabetes Educator), that is probably best since he/she should be very knowledgeable about carbohydrate counting and working with insulin doses. You will find a tremendous amount of flexibility with this method. To begin, see Food & Diet in Diabetes.

MS