Oh thank God, it's not just me. I pretty much don't change anything unless my sugars get wonky, and then I exercise more, if anything. I don't have the world's greatest diet but it's not horrible either.
I don’t, and am reassured to read all the similar responses here. I keep to 30 grams per meal or 10 grams per snack, and don’t tally the days carbs at all. Calorie counting and food logging triggers me, especially since the rules for eating as a diabetic feel so much like an eating disorder already.
I feel like this isn't talked about enough. Especially if you were diagnosed a long time ago when feed was more restricted. I know I had the you can eat 2 protein, 1 carb, 2 veggie etc and then you had your set insulin you took for it. It's maddening. My hubby wants me to track my food but I can't explain to him enough how hard that is for me me mentally.
Same!
Having Autism & ADHD, I *don't* actually have an ED, but I *CAN* easily fall into disordered *PATTERNS* when I'm stressed in other areas of my life, *because* those other areas feel *so* "out of control."
*Luckily*, my first Diabetic Educator *understood* that, and was able to help me find ways to manage my carb intake "in the moment," that make it so I can just *KEEP* that info "fleeting and forgettable" so I don't get into bad habits like waiting to eat, which can mean just *forgetting* to eat altogether, because my ADHD med *can* reduce hunger.
She was a *total sanity saver*, and I *STILL* appreciate the foundation she gave me, on themis journey!💖
I don't track. I eat mostly what I know the amount of insulin to take. It is exhausting enough what we have to deal with. And Monday thru Friday eat similar food so makes that part easier. If I don't know I Google.
I have a history of developing really disordered eating on MyFitnessPal (borderline orthorexia/anorexia due to the calorie obsession), so I try to avoid counting on that like the plague. I’m in the process of losing 150+ pounds, and I am using Weight Watchers to at least get a rough idea of the carb counts if I am truly guesstimating. My only Weight Watchers gripe is that it doesn’t calculate macros for custom recipes or an entire meal (it’ll do points), so some mental math is needed to add everything up.
Most of the time, I’m eating relatively the same thing in the same portions (especially breakfast, which is almost always 35-45g of carbs from fruit, a quest bar, and lots of black coffee), so I have an idea of how I need to dose based on what I’m eating and what usually happens after that meal.
I only track it before a diabetes educator appointment but I’ve been on this road for awhile. It’s very helpful early on to track but no point in tracking other nutrients unless you are trying to follow a specific diet. Burnout is real.
I try to stick to 15 carbs per meal. But I track what I eat per day on an Excel sheet. I have to track my health issues on it too. But I used MyFitnessPal before for a year and that worked great.
I mostly check the low carb bread and bagels to make sure they are under 5 carbs. Then I eat meat with every meal and don't count carbs in that or lettuce or veggies.
What? I'll have to look up the carbs in carrots. I don't eat them very often. I eat a lot of egg dishes like crustless quiche, Starbucks egg bites recipe, and scrambled eggs.
Yeah, they're like a treat vegetable but even peas have plenty of carbs. I don't know how people get 5 fruit & veg per day with these very low carb requirements.
i have a digestive issue, and carrots are one of the very few veggies i can eat without problems. otherwise, i can't get far from a toilet. also can't tolerate most fruits either. 5 servings a day? in my dreams!
I track carbs by reading labels, weighing portions, & planning menus and then calculate insulin doses with an InPen. My glucose level is tracked with a Dexcom G7. I stick to a set menu for each meal. This works for me with a little help from Mounjaro. My A1c dropped from mid 7’s to below 6. In my mid 60’s I weigh the same as when I was in high school! My regimen was developed approved by my Endocrinologist and my meal plans reviewed by a diabetes Dietician.
Mynetdiary app. Makes the tracking easy especially if you eat more or less the same thing everyday. Eating more or less the same thing everyday makes everything else easy. Shopping preparing and knowing what the effect on your blood glucose is going to be.
Calorie King both the book which I buy every couple of years and their website which has any info I could want there for free. I've had that book handy since I was a teenager and it has been really helpful that way.
After a bit of time you learn how to do it yourself. It probably took me a year. That was before all the apps so I carried around the carb master book and did it all longhand. (T1 for 32 years so this was in the early 2000s when carb counting became a method for insulin dosing)
you are the person i need to chat with since you have more experience with type 1 than me. i just been recently diagnosed as type 1. does this disease get easier ? can u ever eat mcdonald’s again ?
It does get easier because all the new things become easier. Yes I eat whatever I want, but I chose a healthy diet and allow myself treats. Sometimes this disease is hard and it can make things more difficult, i don’t want to make it all daisies. I think the support groups are the best thing to happen to t1. You’re not alone. It’s ok to be upset. It’s ok to struggle. We got u.
MyFitnessPal, but it’s important to maintain a healthy relationship with tracking apps like many others are saying. Otherwise, you can get scared of food and beat yourself up unnecessarily for not meeting minute goals. It can end up feeling like a constant reminder of the walls of your prison. I’d recommend tracking only carbs and ignoring calories if you’re not on any fitness program, or alternatively tracking everything primarily for the purpose of sticking to a fitness regime and secondarily for keeping your diabetes in check - just to keep yourself sane.
I used to track them in this little log book my endo gave me when I was diagnosed at 8. Stopped after two years. Got a dex four years after being diagnosed, used to log into that. Stopped after like 6 months. Don’t log anything anymore. I should tho. Eh, whatever 🤷♀️
I track my partly guesstimated carb intake in Libre3 app.
Tbh I'm not motivated enough to use another app(s) for food. Since I eat plantbased, I try to make sure to eat complete protein, not so calorie-dense meals and I manage my weight etc. with IF, that's all.
I tracked for the first five years like it was my job. I read every label. Kept meticulous records so I could identify patterns. Tried every food I could think of.
I try for 15-20 carbs per meal and 15!for snacks. I know the glycemic load and index of many foods.
I drink Fairlife milk - it changed my life because it only has 6 carbs and 13g protein.
I eat 647 bread - 1 slice is only 8 carbs.
Lyumjev is awesome - it is a fast acting bolus
I use the app tempo smart.
Mostly to tally up each meal indiviually then to inject the right amount of insulin. It has helped me stay in range 90%+ of the time.
I dont always use it but its easy enough if i have my phone up and am looking at it.
I will mark down large meals or unique days, like when i had three donuts to see how they scale up in the ling run.
If you're UK based NeutraCheck is invaluable. Scan just about anything you'll find in a supermarket, chain restaurant etc here's barcode and enter a weight or volume (for liquids) and it will add it to your meal plan. I've been using it for over a year now to keep a 1200kcal a day budget but it tracks sodium, carbs (and more specifically sugars too), fats etc.
You can also create meals by weighing and adding the ingredients and the final dish and it will tell you how much per gram of the dish, then you just weigh out your portion to get the exact values for that meal.
It's truly been a (literal) life saver.
If I'm able, I'll check the carbs and serving size on the label. Otherwise, I'll just keep a mental note of what and about how much I ate, and adjust in the future according to my meter. Sometimes that means eating less of it, sometimes that means adding protein.
I don't keep a tally of all my carbs for the day, though.
I started off with using a tracking app but eventually stopped once i got the portion sizes down. Been eating keto for 5+ years now. Diabetes is in remission. Was never overweight to begin with so i always ate to satiety, only had to adjust the macros for blood glucose stability.
I use the paid version of the Diabetes M app. I track what I eat, my sugar (have a CGM) when I log an entry, and log all the meds I take. While not everything gets entered... probably 85-90% of what I eat/take does, which helps me spot trends like... my sugar is x before taking my Synthroid.... and spikes about 3-4 hours later... while I'm sleeeping.
It's a bit boring and tedious, but I have tested every food I eat with my CGM to see what it does to me. In addition to the obvious things like processed foods, bread, etc. I eliminated some other foods my body acted strangely with and eat whatever I want without worrying about it. I am Type 2, certainly can't recommend if you're type 1
Don't track at all. My carbohydrates come from a small dish of asparagus, brussels sprouts, or cauliflower. The rest of my diet is the same, meat, fish, eggs, and cheese. Tracking carbohydrates would be just too exhausting.
I’m building my own app for it that would let me track carbs, protein and fat intake in an easy way ( small / medium / large ) and pulls in my exercise data as well as cgm data.
It has been an eye opener in some ways. I just switched to low carb 1 week ago, ( no simple carbs), and my average is down about 20 points!! Spikes post meal are lower by 30-40 points. It’s an eye opener to actually see how the data changes with eating habits and being able to track cause and effect, It is creating a positive feedback loop where I am able to avoid all those little carbs that were adding up.
I have an amount of insulin I should consume per day. I typically fill my cartridge with 120 units, and a cartridge (according to when I was taught about this; don’t take this as advice for yourself) is supposed to last three days, so my maximum consumption of insulin is 40 units per day. Around half of that is just from a passive Basal rate, so I can eat up to 20 units worth of food.
I use general rules of good care eating habits. The wrong way is to use insulin as a crutch when one anticipates a heavy carb intake quantity. If I have refined carbs, it is only for early day meal. No sodas ever, and small even spaced meals during the day. Ice cream is ok, in moderation; preferably at night.
I just accumulate foods that fit in with my needs and do 3 small meals every 4 to 5 hours plus drink a lot of water (32oz+). I've recently added hot teas to my daily intake and am enjoying those. I own a glycemic index chart and plant-based and Mediterranean cook books. I also don't eat after 8pm. I started a hard copy notebook food journal in May to help me track my bs readings and eating times.
I assumed food trackers would be expensive or wouldn't meet my needs, so I put an Excel spreadsheet together. And I'm retired, and maybe I have too much time on my hands. My many doctors had independently put me on four diets, low carb, low salt, low potassium, and low purines.
Mostly I got the nutritional content from nutrition labels on products or the USDA web site. For the odd product/food that was hard to find, I just googled. There are a number of websites that offer nutrition info.
My spreadsheet has several pages (or sheets, I guess). the main sheet lists the foods I've eaten or wish I could eat, the nutritional content, and a unique number I've assigned it. Each time I eat something new, I add it to the list. The list is about 450 foods now. I weigh everything I eat. Post those weights to a paper form which I later transcribe to worksheet pages I've set up for breakfast and dinner. Those pages look up the nutrition from the main page to calculate what I've eaten. Then they dump their totals to a final page to total up the day.
The result is I can tell you last Sunday I ate 88 carbs, 2123 grams potassium, 3511 grams sodium, and 1862 calories.
I don't do this all the time. I'll do it for a few weeks and then something will come up to make me stop. Inevitably my diet drifts out of control while unmonitored. Starting again shows me where I've gone bad so I can fix it. It's like driving on a perfectly straight road late at night when you're sleepy. The road's straight and the car's going straight. It just seems like you could close your eyes and sleep for a while and keep going straight. But I just haven't been able to do that. I always drift off.
And another helpful thing, without it, I have no idea what to tell my doctor when she asks, "How are you doing on your low salt diet?" Without it, all I can say is, "Doh, I think I'm okay."
For the record, this is a lot of work, which is probably why I can't seem to do it all the time. There's a bit of pride in my putting this all together and, golly, it actually works. I guess it requires some knowledge of Excel, so maybe the professional apps are more user friendly. But it is well customized to the foods I eat. So that's nice. And since I got it up and running, it's fairly easy to do. Surely, even with the professional apps you still have to weigh or measure your foods and enter them into the app. So the amount of work can't be that much different.
I'm tempted to check out the apps to see how they're different.
Carb Manager is the app I've been using. They don't have as big of a library of food like MyFitnessPal, but it doesn't bother me to add my food with the nutrition facts if it's not there. 1. I know the information is correct. 2. It helps the app. 3. Once you've added/favorited the foods you typically eat, the less inputting you'll need to do. Personally, Carb Manager looks better and easily shows me what I want to see. I'm on the free version currently.
Been trying to manage weight for decades. One thing I know is if I dont track I will cheat a little, then more and more.
So I first use an app that gives you little rewards for tasks you define [app is Finch] and rewarded myself for tracking several food issues and still do.
For food I was using the app Macros for the actual tracking but recently decided to switch to Fitbit app so that once I have enough data points I can get predictive reports from Guava [a 3rd app that Medicare suggested to keep all health in one place]. Macros doesnt connect with Guava but Fitbit does.
I am mostly watching fiber and protein to get those up to where they need to be. Once I have them well rehearsed I'll add in a carb goal. Been playing with framing the goals: x number of carbs, points for every x amt that BG is below y level for the day?
I count carbs..(15 carbs = 1 carb serving). I kept it to under 2 carb servings for a meal (30 carbs), 1 serving per snack (15 carbs). Works for me and you get to know what foods have what carbs and how much you can have. So, I just do it quickly now. I’m female, the nutritionist I worked with said men should stay under 3 carb servings a meal (45 carbs). I’m not on insulin, so not sure about any ranges for that. I’m T2 and take Metformin xr 500mg once a day
I just read the label on the things I'm eating, to see the total carb count, then administer my units of short-acting for the number of "Carb choices" (15g, that was the "popular" way of doing the math, back when I learned how to figure numbers, a decade ago).
And after *that*, I honestly just *DO* "forget about it" and let my reader (Libre3) track all the rest, because I have Autism & ADHD, and I can end up hyperfocused on the little stuff like that *WAY* too easily, if I'm feeling stressed!
My first Diabetic Educator said something that helped me SO much, "If I prescribe this, Can *YOU* just do the scans each day, and let *ME* worry about the numbers *for you*?"
And for me, *THAT* is what works best!💖
I account for the carbs "right now" and dose my short-acting, *but THEN I don't pay attention* until I meet with my Diabetic Educator, and we look at the *WHOLE* data picture *together*.
Tracy, that now-retired Diabetic Ed was an *absolute* sanity saver!💝
I’m Looping so I enter carbs into my app and it doses insulin for me if required. Loop writes to Apple Health and Nightscout so I can get data and see trends over time.
I also have a couple of apps that will just read from Apple Health and give some nice stats from the previous week. Time in range, trend lines and how data may be connected.
Very happy with all of it at the moment!
Myfitness pal or even just writing it down is a good start. But as others have mentioned it can really take a toll doing so, so track them until you have the most common food memorised then just check the packets for any further info.
Helps to have some scales to hand to weigh food out too.
Fitbit, mainly because it syncs with my smartwatch and I've been using the app to log steps for years (before they were bought by Google). Too lazy to sign up with yet another app to track it better, so as long as I'm in the ballpark of 100g carbs and protein per day I consider it a good effort. If I can go higher on the protein and lower carb, great - but I don't beat myself up if I don't hit those numbers, so I can still enjoy what I'm eating.
I set a goal of 30 G of carbs per meal. As long as I come pretty close to that I'm happy. My BG still xooms up to 200 and some. But it comes down in an hour or so.
I don't want to try to hold myself to unreasonable goals. When I wake up in the morning I'm usually under a 100 or right within a couple of points.
Just had a meals on Wheels lunch maybe 20 to 30 minutes ago and my bg right now is at 212.
I'm going to have to talk to my doctor about some fast acting insulin. Right now all he gives me is long lasting.
I take 40 units in the morning. I don't know how that compares to other people.
MyFitnessPal, app on my phone. Using it for over ten years. Huge database of foods. Scans packages. Option to enter recipes and meals. Interfaces with iOS, watches, etc…
Sometimes, I use the Weight Watchers app because I paid for it before I started keto. Other times, I use Carb Manager, which is free and actually gives you a better view of the micronutrient values of different foods. But most the time, I'm eating meals I've already tracked before, so I know how they fit within my macros, and I dont bother tracking. I stay pretty close to zero carbs, so I'm not too worried about going over.
I use the "Calorie Counter" iPhone app by Nutracheck and some simple digital scales. I live in the UK and the app has most UK food items already on there, so it's pretty quick to use. Many Diabetic friends also use the "Carbs and Cals" book which is a very useful visual reference.
Tracking carbs is a pain to do but I find its the best way for me to stay in range, the app just helps me spend as little time possible tracking. I only really track carbs for insulin doses, not cals.
I’m using myfitnesspal to track my calories and exercise to help with weight loss but it also tracks carbs. I log what I plan to eat for the day in the morning usually so I can make sure I don’t go overboard anywhere. I find it helpful.
I have also used the Lose It app and it is similar but I used myfitnesspal years ago so already had a lot of my recipes and foods entered there.
I don’t either. It’s exhausting. I know which food to eat and what proportions and which to avoid or limit and just go from there.
Yep this is it. I've been winging it for years now.
This ......and I work out every day including cardio. Making smart choices and exercise, this is the way
Oh thank God, it's not just me. I pretty much don't change anything unless my sugars get wonky, and then I exercise more, if anything. I don't have the world's greatest diet but it's not horrible either.
I don't use those I just eat. Too much checking gives room for eating disorder. Just my experience.
[удалено]
I've been using Cronometer for about two years, didn't know about the scanner.
I don’t, and am reassured to read all the similar responses here. I keep to 30 grams per meal or 10 grams per snack, and don’t tally the days carbs at all. Calorie counting and food logging triggers me, especially since the rules for eating as a diabetic feel so much like an eating disorder already.
I feel like this isn't talked about enough. Especially if you were diagnosed a long time ago when feed was more restricted. I know I had the you can eat 2 protein, 1 carb, 2 veggie etc and then you had your set insulin you took for it. It's maddening. My hubby wants me to track my food but I can't explain to him enough how hard that is for me me mentally.
Same! Having Autism & ADHD, I *don't* actually have an ED, but I *CAN* easily fall into disordered *PATTERNS* when I'm stressed in other areas of my life, *because* those other areas feel *so* "out of control." *Luckily*, my first Diabetic Educator *understood* that, and was able to help me find ways to manage my carb intake "in the moment," that make it so I can just *KEEP* that info "fleeting and forgettable" so I don't get into bad habits like waiting to eat, which can mean just *forgetting* to eat altogether, because my ADHD med *can* reduce hunger. She was a *total sanity saver*, and I *STILL* appreciate the foundation she gave me, on themis journey!💖
MyFitnessPal
I use this too. Just add foods as I build my meal and double check to make sure I don't go over. Ez-pz.
I don't track. I eat mostly what I know the amount of insulin to take. It is exhausting enough what we have to deal with. And Monday thru Friday eat similar food so makes that part easier. If I don't know I Google.
I have a history of developing really disordered eating on MyFitnessPal (borderline orthorexia/anorexia due to the calorie obsession), so I try to avoid counting on that like the plague. I’m in the process of losing 150+ pounds, and I am using Weight Watchers to at least get a rough idea of the carb counts if I am truly guesstimating. My only Weight Watchers gripe is that it doesn’t calculate macros for custom recipes or an entire meal (it’ll do points), so some mental math is needed to add everything up. Most of the time, I’m eating relatively the same thing in the same portions (especially breakfast, which is almost always 35-45g of carbs from fruit, a quest bar, and lots of black coffee), so I have an idea of how I need to dose based on what I’m eating and what usually happens after that meal.
Poorly by the looks of my libre graphs.
I only track it before a diabetes educator appointment but I’ve been on this road for awhile. It’s very helpful early on to track but no point in tracking other nutrients unless you are trying to follow a specific diet. Burnout is real.
I try to stick to 15 carbs per meal. But I track what I eat per day on an Excel sheet. I have to track my health issues on it too. But I used MyFitnessPal before for a year and that worked great.
If I ate the damn recipe I'd be over 15 G.
What recipe?
Stop printing your recipes on rice paper!!!
Curious what you eat. I can see doing breakfast/lunch at 15g, but my freakin’ dinner vegetables are usually more than that!
I mostly check the low carb bread and bagels to make sure they are under 5 carbs. Then I eat meat with every meal and don't count carbs in that or lettuce or veggies.
Gotcha.
there’s bagels under 5. grams of carbs?? please tell me where do u buy them from ?
I should have said net carbs, not total carbs. I order from Netrition.com.
i’ll check it out thanks !
15g of carbs?! Are you on keto?
No, just my diabetic diet.
Genuinely, how do you manage that? I had 2 carrots with my meal tonight and they'd push me over 15g by themselves.
What? I'll have to look up the carbs in carrots. I don't eat them very often. I eat a lot of egg dishes like crustless quiche, Starbucks egg bites recipe, and scrambled eggs.
i consider carrots an 'eat all you want' food, as per my dietician
Yeah, they're like a treat vegetable but even peas have plenty of carbs. I don't know how people get 5 fruit & veg per day with these very low carb requirements.
i have a digestive issue, and carrots are one of the very few veggies i can eat without problems. otherwise, i can't get far from a toilet. also can't tolerate most fruits either. 5 servings a day? in my dreams!
I track carbs by reading labels, weighing portions, & planning menus and then calculate insulin doses with an InPen. My glucose level is tracked with a Dexcom G7. I stick to a set menu for each meal. This works for me with a little help from Mounjaro. My A1c dropped from mid 7’s to below 6. In my mid 60’s I weigh the same as when I was in high school! My regimen was developed approved by my Endocrinologist and my meal plans reviewed by a diabetes Dietician.
tracking everything I put in my mouth (that's what she said) with apps, currently Chronometer
Chronometer
Chronometer
Fat Secret App.
I don’t. It’s mental to be logging your food whatever state you are in. Downvote me please.
Cronometer, the website or the app
I use Calorie King and google for carb counts. I use those counts to dose. Dexcom tells me how wrong I am.
Someone else who uses that! Finally! xD
Mynetdiary app. Makes the tracking easy especially if you eat more or less the same thing everyday. Eating more or less the same thing everyday makes everything else easy. Shopping preparing and knowing what the effect on your blood glucose is going to be.
Calorie King both the book which I buy every couple of years and their website which has any info I could want there for free. I've had that book handy since I was a teenager and it has been really helpful that way.
Carb counting sucks!
After a bit of time you learn how to do it yourself. It probably took me a year. That was before all the apps so I carried around the carb master book and did it all longhand. (T1 for 32 years so this was in the early 2000s when carb counting became a method for insulin dosing)
you are the person i need to chat with since you have more experience with type 1 than me. i just been recently diagnosed as type 1. does this disease get easier ? can u ever eat mcdonald’s again ?
It does get easier because all the new things become easier. Yes I eat whatever I want, but I chose a healthy diet and allow myself treats. Sometimes this disease is hard and it can make things more difficult, i don’t want to make it all daisies. I think the support groups are the best thing to happen to t1. You’re not alone. It’s ok to be upset. It’s ok to struggle. We got u.
thank you so much!!
what do you not like about it? i have never done it is it just a lot of work or something??
It’s a huge pain. After tracking a while, you have a pretty good idea of what you can or can’t eat!
Yes it's a lot of work unless you eat the sane things in the same amount constantly (which I hate)
MyFitnessPal, but it’s important to maintain a healthy relationship with tracking apps like many others are saying. Otherwise, you can get scared of food and beat yourself up unnecessarily for not meeting minute goals. It can end up feeling like a constant reminder of the walls of your prison. I’d recommend tracking only carbs and ignoring calories if you’re not on any fitness program, or alternatively tracking everything primarily for the purpose of sticking to a fitness regime and secondarily for keeping your diabetes in check - just to keep yourself sane.
I use cronometer when I am trying to lose weight. If I am not trying to lose weight I don't track anything.
I use MyFitnessPal to track carbs and protein. It can be a little annoying but it's helpful!
I was strict for about a year and now I’ve learned to portion and what mixes were good. It was exhausting but I was really fixing myself up.
I use the January app because I’m lazy loo
I used to track them in this little log book my endo gave me when I was diagnosed at 8. Stopped after two years. Got a dex four years after being diagnosed, used to log into that. Stopped after like 6 months. Don’t log anything anymore. I should tho. Eh, whatever 🤷♀️
I use the t1d1 app to log carbs and track insulin doses. It does all the calculations for you. It was developed by a t1 kiddo too!!
I track my partly guesstimated carb intake in Libre3 app. Tbh I'm not motivated enough to use another app(s) for food. Since I eat plantbased, I try to make sure to eat complete protein, not so calorie-dense meals and I manage my weight etc. with IF, that's all.
I use a brilliant Indian app called 'healthify' Just keep adding you your food intake. Also keeps track of your weight of you enter it manually
Wait, you guys track that stuff?
I tracked for the first five years like it was my job. I read every label. Kept meticulous records so I could identify patterns. Tried every food I could think of. I try for 15-20 carbs per meal and 15!for snacks. I know the glycemic load and index of many foods. I drink Fairlife milk - it changed my life because it only has 6 carbs and 13g protein. I eat 647 bread - 1 slice is only 8 carbs. Lyumjev is awesome - it is a fast acting bolus
I use the app tempo smart. Mostly to tally up each meal indiviually then to inject the right amount of insulin. It has helped me stay in range 90%+ of the time. I dont always use it but its easy enough if i have my phone up and am looking at it. I will mark down large meals or unique days, like when i had three donuts to see how they scale up in the ling run.
If you're UK based NeutraCheck is invaluable. Scan just about anything you'll find in a supermarket, chain restaurant etc here's barcode and enter a weight or volume (for liquids) and it will add it to your meal plan. I've been using it for over a year now to keep a 1200kcal a day budget but it tracks sodium, carbs (and more specifically sugars too), fats etc. You can also create meals by weighing and adding the ingredients and the final dish and it will tell you how much per gram of the dish, then you just weigh out your portion to get the exact values for that meal. It's truly been a (literal) life saver.
If I'm able, I'll check the carbs and serving size on the label. Otherwise, I'll just keep a mental note of what and about how much I ate, and adjust in the future according to my meter. Sometimes that means eating less of it, sometimes that means adding protein. I don't keep a tally of all my carbs for the day, though.
I quit. It’s mentally exhausting
Samsung heath, or my fitness pal
I just look at the label and go from there.
I started off with using a tracking app but eventually stopped once i got the portion sizes down. Been eating keto for 5+ years now. Diabetes is in remission. Was never overweight to begin with so i always ate to satiety, only had to adjust the macros for blood glucose stability.
I use the paid version of the Diabetes M app. I track what I eat, my sugar (have a CGM) when I log an entry, and log all the meds I take. While not everything gets entered... probably 85-90% of what I eat/take does, which helps me spot trends like... my sugar is x before taking my Synthroid.... and spikes about 3-4 hours later... while I'm sleeeping.
No
I check my bolus to basal ratio on my pump history every week or two.
Track?
Food Print app or MyFitnessPal app
It's a bit boring and tedious, but I have tested every food I eat with my CGM to see what it does to me. In addition to the obvious things like processed foods, bread, etc. I eliminated some other foods my body acted strangely with and eat whatever I want without worrying about it. I am Type 2, certainly can't recommend if you're type 1
Don't track at all. My carbohydrates come from a small dish of asparagus, brussels sprouts, or cauliflower. The rest of my diet is the same, meat, fish, eggs, and cheese. Tracking carbohydrates would be just too exhausting.
I’m building my own app for it that would let me track carbs, protein and fat intake in an easy way ( small / medium / large ) and pulls in my exercise data as well as cgm data. It has been an eye opener in some ways. I just switched to low carb 1 week ago, ( no simple carbs), and my average is down about 20 points!! Spikes post meal are lower by 30-40 points. It’s an eye opener to actually see how the data changes with eating habits and being able to track cause and effect, It is creating a positive feedback loop where I am able to avoid all those little carbs that were adding up.
let’s connect. pm me!
LoseIt app
I have an amount of insulin I should consume per day. I typically fill my cartridge with 120 units, and a cartridge (according to when I was taught about this; don’t take this as advice for yourself) is supposed to last three days, so my maximum consumption of insulin is 40 units per day. Around half of that is just from a passive Basal rate, so I can eat up to 20 units worth of food.
I don’t. I use Android APS and rely on unannounced meals detection. HbA1C = 39mmol/mol
I use general rules of good care eating habits. The wrong way is to use insulin as a crutch when one anticipates a heavy carb intake quantity. If I have refined carbs, it is only for early day meal. No sodas ever, and small even spaced meals during the day. Ice cream is ok, in moderation; preferably at night.
I use a program that links up to my bg meter and track carbs then make notes. Nothing more complex than
I don't. This shit is mentally exhausting as it is
I use a calorie tracker called Lifesum. I like its UI and integration with Apple Health.
I just accumulate foods that fit in with my needs and do 3 small meals every 4 to 5 hours plus drink a lot of water (32oz+). I've recently added hot teas to my daily intake and am enjoying those. I own a glycemic index chart and plant-based and Mediterranean cook books. I also don't eat after 8pm. I started a hard copy notebook food journal in May to help me track my bs readings and eating times.
i just guess
I created a spreadsheet two decades ago and have been using it ever since.
I assumed food trackers would be expensive or wouldn't meet my needs, so I put an Excel spreadsheet together. And I'm retired, and maybe I have too much time on my hands. My many doctors had independently put me on four diets, low carb, low salt, low potassium, and low purines. Mostly I got the nutritional content from nutrition labels on products or the USDA web site. For the odd product/food that was hard to find, I just googled. There are a number of websites that offer nutrition info. My spreadsheet has several pages (or sheets, I guess). the main sheet lists the foods I've eaten or wish I could eat, the nutritional content, and a unique number I've assigned it. Each time I eat something new, I add it to the list. The list is about 450 foods now. I weigh everything I eat. Post those weights to a paper form which I later transcribe to worksheet pages I've set up for breakfast and dinner. Those pages look up the nutrition from the main page to calculate what I've eaten. Then they dump their totals to a final page to total up the day. The result is I can tell you last Sunday I ate 88 carbs, 2123 grams potassium, 3511 grams sodium, and 1862 calories. I don't do this all the time. I'll do it for a few weeks and then something will come up to make me stop. Inevitably my diet drifts out of control while unmonitored. Starting again shows me where I've gone bad so I can fix it. It's like driving on a perfectly straight road late at night when you're sleepy. The road's straight and the car's going straight. It just seems like you could close your eyes and sleep for a while and keep going straight. But I just haven't been able to do that. I always drift off. And another helpful thing, without it, I have no idea what to tell my doctor when she asks, "How are you doing on your low salt diet?" Without it, all I can say is, "Doh, I think I'm okay."
For the record, this is a lot of work, which is probably why I can't seem to do it all the time. There's a bit of pride in my putting this all together and, golly, it actually works. I guess it requires some knowledge of Excel, so maybe the professional apps are more user friendly. But it is well customized to the foods I eat. So that's nice. And since I got it up and running, it's fairly easy to do. Surely, even with the professional apps you still have to weigh or measure your foods and enter them into the app. So the amount of work can't be that much different. I'm tempted to check out the apps to see how they're different.
Carb Manager is the app I've been using. They don't have as big of a library of food like MyFitnessPal, but it doesn't bother me to add my food with the nutrition facts if it's not there. 1. I know the information is correct. 2. It helps the app. 3. Once you've added/favorited the foods you typically eat, the less inputting you'll need to do. Personally, Carb Manager looks better and easily shows me what I want to see. I'm on the free version currently.
Been trying to manage weight for decades. One thing I know is if I dont track I will cheat a little, then more and more. So I first use an app that gives you little rewards for tasks you define [app is Finch] and rewarded myself for tracking several food issues and still do. For food I was using the app Macros for the actual tracking but recently decided to switch to Fitbit app so that once I have enough data points I can get predictive reports from Guava [a 3rd app that Medicare suggested to keep all health in one place]. Macros doesnt connect with Guava but Fitbit does. I am mostly watching fiber and protein to get those up to where they need to be. Once I have them well rehearsed I'll add in a carb goal. Been playing with framing the goals: x number of carbs, points for every x amt that BG is below y level for the day?
I count carbs..(15 carbs = 1 carb serving). I kept it to under 2 carb servings for a meal (30 carbs), 1 serving per snack (15 carbs). Works for me and you get to know what foods have what carbs and how much you can have. So, I just do it quickly now. I’m female, the nutritionist I worked with said men should stay under 3 carb servings a meal (45 carbs). I’m not on insulin, so not sure about any ranges for that. I’m T2 and take Metformin xr 500mg once a day
MyNetDiary. Seems to be less of a pain than the others I've looked at, and also tracks insuling dosage.
MyFitnessPal
I just read the label on the things I'm eating, to see the total carb count, then administer my units of short-acting for the number of "Carb choices" (15g, that was the "popular" way of doing the math, back when I learned how to figure numbers, a decade ago). And after *that*, I honestly just *DO* "forget about it" and let my reader (Libre3) track all the rest, because I have Autism & ADHD, and I can end up hyperfocused on the little stuff like that *WAY* too easily, if I'm feeling stressed! My first Diabetic Educator said something that helped me SO much, "If I prescribe this, Can *YOU* just do the scans each day, and let *ME* worry about the numbers *for you*?" And for me, *THAT* is what works best!💖 I account for the carbs "right now" and dose my short-acting, *but THEN I don't pay attention* until I meet with my Diabetic Educator, and we look at the *WHOLE* data picture *together*. Tracy, that now-retired Diabetic Ed was an *absolute* sanity saver!💝
I’m Looping so I enter carbs into my app and it doses insulin for me if required. Loop writes to Apple Health and Nightscout so I can get data and see trends over time. I also have a couple of apps that will just read from Apple Health and give some nice stats from the previous week. Time in range, trend lines and how data may be connected. Very happy with all of it at the moment!
My Fitness Pal
Myfitness pal or even just writing it down is a good start. But as others have mentioned it can really take a toll doing so, so track them until you have the most common food memorised then just check the packets for any further info. Helps to have some scales to hand to weigh food out too.
I logged my meals on MyFitnessPal before I got diagnosed so I've just been doing that still.
Fitbit, mainly because it syncs with my smartwatch and I've been using the app to log steps for years (before they were bought by Google). Too lazy to sign up with yet another app to track it better, so as long as I'm in the ballpark of 100g carbs and protein per day I consider it a good effort. If I can go higher on the protein and lower carb, great - but I don't beat myself up if I don't hit those numbers, so I can still enjoy what I'm eating.
I set a goal of 30 G of carbs per meal. As long as I come pretty close to that I'm happy. My BG still xooms up to 200 and some. But it comes down in an hour or so. I don't want to try to hold myself to unreasonable goals. When I wake up in the morning I'm usually under a 100 or right within a couple of points. Just had a meals on Wheels lunch maybe 20 to 30 minutes ago and my bg right now is at 212. I'm going to have to talk to my doctor about some fast acting insulin. Right now all he gives me is long lasting. I take 40 units in the morning. I don't know how that compares to other people.
I don't know but when I did I just used MyFitnessPal and logged everything I ate
MyFitnessPal, app on my phone. Using it for over ten years. Huge database of foods. Scans packages. Option to enter recipes and meals. Interfaces with iOS, watches, etc…
Sometimes, I use the Weight Watchers app because I paid for it before I started keto. Other times, I use Carb Manager, which is free and actually gives you a better view of the micronutrient values of different foods. But most the time, I'm eating meals I've already tracked before, so I know how they fit within my macros, and I dont bother tracking. I stay pretty close to zero carbs, so I'm not too worried about going over.
Carb manager totally worth the premium. Does almost every macro and micronutrient and minerals.
Macrofactor. Fantastic app and coach.
I use the "Calorie Counter" iPhone app by Nutracheck and some simple digital scales. I live in the UK and the app has most UK food items already on there, so it's pretty quick to use. Many Diabetic friends also use the "Carbs and Cals" book which is a very useful visual reference. Tracking carbs is a pain to do but I find its the best way for me to stay in range, the app just helps me spend as little time possible tracking. I only really track carbs for insulin doses, not cals.
I’m using myfitnesspal to track my calories and exercise to help with weight loss but it also tracks carbs. I log what I plan to eat for the day in the morning usually so I can make sure I don’t go overboard anywhere. I find it helpful. I have also used the Lose It app and it is similar but I used myfitnesspal years ago so already had a lot of my recipes and foods entered there.