Pizza Time

[Barry]

A little help please from you more experienced carb counters.

My recently dx type 1 teenager lived a previous life that was substained by Pizza and an occasional vegetable. Since diabetes (8weeks) I'm thinking he hasn't had a slice. A very close friend owns a New York stlye pizza place and has put out the offer to experiment with us and our new found D friends to come up with the lowest carb pizza possible while trying to maintain the taste. Someone break it down for me and anyone w/ ideas pls share.


thanks

PS...with this type 2 D epidemic I keep reading about, I would have thought that someone would be marketing a low carb pie

[Hollyb]

Hi Barry,

I don' t even think low-carb is the issue here, if he's Type 1. Teenage boys need, and eat, lots of carbs! Aaron has continued to eat pizza since his dx a year ago, and our team just suggested that we watch how it affects him and experiment with the best way to manage it. It hasn't been a big problem (Well, except maybe the time he at FIVE slices!), though it's definitely easier to manage since he has his pump.

It's the amount of fat in the pizza that delays the digestion of carbs, possibly leading to the tricky situation where you actually go low a couple of hours after eating pizza (because your insulin has peaked, but the pizza hasn't) and then high 2-4 hours after that (because the insulin is gone, and NOW the pizza is hitting you). SO. If your son has pizza with low-fat cheese and, say chicken or ham instead of pepperoni, sausage and bacon, there's a good chance his BGs will stay reasonable, especially if he doesn't totally pig out on it.

For fatter types of pizza, or if you still see the too low/too high phenomenon, your son could actually split his injection into two (that's basically what you do on a pump). So take somewhere between half and 3/4 of what you would normally take when he eats the pizza, and then give the remainder after 2-3 hours. (Test before, of course, to make sure he's not already nearly low). It's an extra injection, which is a drag, and I certainly wouldn't both for one piece, but if he wants to eat a lot it might be worth it.

So get your friend to make a low-fat pizza, rather than low-carb! Hope that helps.

[lulu]

My daughter loves pizza too and is happy with a pizza made out of a tortilla shell. I have pizza sauce on hand and add the toppings of choice. Ours consist of sauce, shredded mozzarella cheese, pepperoni, onions and mushrooms.

Put them on a cookie sheet and bake at 425 degrees for about 10-12 minutes. You will be surprised at the great taste and only about 23 carbs depending on the tortilla shell.

[BrendaK]

Ahhhh...pizza has been our worst enemy!! Carson has extreme high blood sugars about 6 hours after pizza because of all the FAT. If I do a straight bolus, he will go low after 2 hours (because of the delayed absorbtion) then climb up and up and it will take about 12 hours to get him under 300. BAD BAD BAD....

What is working right now for us... Pizza has a carb factor of .27 (someone correct me if I'm wrong). So figure out the carbs that way. Then, we ADD 35% of the carbs to compensate for all of the fat. This was suggested to me in another thread. Then we do a 30/70 bolus over 6 hours. This has worked much better for us.

Example:

Pizza weighs 200grams. 200 x .27 is 54 grams of carbs.

54 x 35% is 19. So add 19 carbs to 54 and that's 73 grams to bolus for.

So a 30/70 bolus would be bolus for 22 grams up front and spread the remaining 53 over 6 hours.

Does that make ANY sense??

[lulu]

I have to tell you that I just made some of the pizzas in my earlier post with some whole wheat tortillas that tasted good and only 4 carbs.

The entire litle pizza was only 6 carbs. My daughter is 14 and having some extremely high bs lately. Last night 501, heartbreading. Anyway, we are trying to have a very low carb day. Hormones are the only explanation that I can come up with.