From the moment I was taught to carb count, my dietician and nurse (everywhere I've been) have told me to minus out my fiber out of my carb out.
I've talked to many other T1s and apparently this practice isn't used with everyone. Most of the items I eat either have little or alot of fiber in them.. so I'm wondering.. is this a good or bad thing?
ex. I eat these mini chocolate cupcakes and muffin tops that have 100 calories and 18g of carbs. They have 7g of fiber per serving. When i carb count, that would mean it's 11g.
If it's 1 or 2g of fiber it has never been an issue but I'm wondering when it's that large of an amount. Should I be minussing it out!? OR would it be better to not...
I'm on 1:15g ratio and usually give 1u for that cupcake anyway and it seems to work.. I'm always afraid of having a low because to me 1u for 11g is high but if it was 18g? not so much...
Just wondering if anyone has any advice about it. What has your dietician told you and why do you or don't you minus it out.
Also, how do you count carbs in general, what do you look at before deciding what to bolus?
My dietician hasn't said anything about that. I've heard it and on some products they have 'effective' carbs which minuses it out of the total carbs but everytime I do that I run high b/c I didn't have enough insulin. I don't know if others can do that but for me, I just go by the total carbs and I've been fine.
In terms of counting carbs in general I either look at the info label or I'll measure the food and base it off of a carb counting book. When I'm really not sure, I'll weigh it and there are scales with programed foods in it which will tell you the amount of carbs in whatever it is you are weighing. I actually use it more often now for fruit which helps if I'm away from home b/c you'll be able to eyeball it a bit better.
In the Hospital when I was taught to count carbs, I was also instructed to subtract dietary fiber from total carbs. I haven't ever thought to bring it up to my other doctors, however, so this is the only instruction I've had on the topic.
I was told to subtract the fiber from the total carbs only if it was 5g or more. Otherwise I guess it doesn't really matter if there is only 1 or 2g of fiber.
i was taught that too, but ive never heard of anyone using it before. i do subtract over 5 since ive had trouble with lows. so i guess try it and see if it works for you
I was also going to ask if anyone subtracted fiber from carbs, as a practical thing.
I was just in my "beyond basics" D care class on Wednesday, and this is what the dietitian said. The FDA guidelines changed recently, and now say if there are 6 grams of fiber or more, subtract 1/2 of the fiber grams from the total carbs. Also, she said the "net carb", "protected carb", "impact carbs" and "net effect carb" labels are BS (not blood sugar), so don't pay attention to them. And, for the fans of "sugar free" foods, "sugar alcohols" (xylitol, maltotol, manitol, erythirtol, etc.) should be treated the same as fiber in carb counting.
Of course, that's all just "book larnin'", and may be completely different in real life :)