Counting Carbs At Our House

The first meal I cooked for Matthew after he was diagnosed with diabetes left me shaking in my Texas boots!

It was his favorite: tortellini.  (I know---clearly I had lost my mind!)  Our CDE suggested we stick with easy meals at first and I should have listened.

By the time I cooked the pasta, calculated the carbs, measured it out, checked his BG and gave the shot of insulin, I was a nervous wreck!  It was the most stressful meal I had ever made in my life!!

We're 2 years into Type 1 now and while we're definitely in a groove, I want to know how other families handle meals.  


Here's a sneak peak into what dinner looks like around here.  

Our 4-Step Process

1. About 15 minutes before dinner, I'll call Matthew to check his sugar. 
2. We'll discuss the menu.
3. He'll decide how much he wants to eat (we write that down) and he'll count the carbs.
4. He'll bolus the full amount. Sometimes he'll stay and help me dish everything up. He might measure out peas or fruit.  Sometimes I do all of it..

A Couple Notes

• After eating dinner, occasionally he'll want more food.  He just boluses again at that point, but most of the time it's done up front.
• If his sugar is high, I'll try to delay dinner.  
• If he's low, he might wait and bolus right as we sit down to eat.
• I'm a big believer in pre-bolusing, so we do that as much as possible. (This leads to my question below...)

At a Buffet Restaurant or Party

In these situations, I love for him to pre-bolus about 50 carbs.  Then he'll fix his plate and keep track as he eats more.  He'll keep bolusing as necessary.

Sometimes he'll just dish up his food, count the carbs and bolus per plate. (This is my big question: Do you handle all meals like this, instead of bolusing up front?)

One Last Note

When eating at home, we try to be as exact as possible with the carb count.  We weigh or measure every single bite that Matthew eats.

I find this gives us more freedom when we eat out.  We just SWAG and feel more relaxed about it.

Please share what dinner looks like at your house.  I'd love to see other perspectives and get some tips!  And if you decide to write your own post, let me know and I'll link to you.