It’s fall, so I am currently treating lows with candy corn. In the spring I use jelly beans. This is not a joke; I really do this. (And in between I use glucose tablets or orange juice.) Here’s my rationale: I know that 8 Brach’s candy corn pieces equal 15 grams of carbohydrate. I also know that 1 Brach’s jelly bird egg raises my blood glucose approximately 10 mg/dL. Using this information I can pretty closely titrate my treatment to bring a low blood glucose into a safer range with a tasty treat! (PS You will have to figure out the math if you use a different brand of candy corn or jelly beans.)
It all began when I heard a story (still don’t know if it’s true) that a hospital in Maine uses twelve jelly beans instead of the glucose drink for glucose tolerance tests in pregnant women. When I heard this I vowed never to eat jelly beans again – I just couldn’t believe they were so lethal (I’m being dramatic). But then I remembered that I don’t even like jelly beans all that much, and since I wouldn’t find myself snacking on them, they really do make a good low treatment option. So I use jelly beans until I can’t find them in the store (usually by summer).
On the other hand, I really do have a candy corn problem. It’s a good thing they are only available in the fall. But if I count out eight of them, I can usually stick with that (if I just start eating out of the bag, however, it’s all over). I often suggest to patients not to think of a low as “yay, I get to eat (fill in the blank).” Instead, eat (fill in the blank) from time to time just because you want to (and work it into your eating plan), and treat lows with something that otherwise wouldn’t really appeal to you. The reason for this is that it’s easy to get into the “I want to be low” mindset if you get rewarded for being low.
I also avoid treating lows with (chocolate) candy bars. Since the beginning of time I have stuck to this because of the fat in candy bars, and I have found that fat slows down the action of the carbohydrate. This summer I attended a talk on carbs and was told emphatically that this is not the case; that fat does not slow down the action of carbs. I’m still struggling with this, because in my experience it does. And if it takes longer for my blood glucose to rise, I’m likely to eat more (basically until I feel better), which just means packing on the calories and feeling worse when I’m high later on.
So now for a poll: How do you treat lows? Do you find that if you treat a low with a high-fat item (for instance, a candy bar) that it takes longer for your blood glucose to come back up? Do you have a festive flare to your low treatment?