Diabetes practices and regimens can vary between countries, hospitals / clinics, & specialists.  Therefore what may be encouraged in one setting may not be so recommended in another.  This insulin tutorial is not meant to provide a didactic (regimented / fixed) plan for using insulin.  Rather the tutorial intends to show some ways of doing things, and provide some explanations as to why things may be done in a certain way.  Furthermore it is hoped that this tutorial may encourage people to think a bit more about what insulin regimens are possible, & how they might be improved and / or tailored for an individual.  In all this remember that people's mileage may vary - so what works for one person may not be appropriate for someone else.  Therefore, as with all medical information on the Web, it is important that you consult your doctor or diabetes specialist before considering acting on any of the information discussed in this tutorial.


Insulin Tutorial 3-1
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Intensive conventional therapy: Timing of meals and apportionment of carbohydrates


When someone with diabetes is using intensive conventional therapy they can adjust the insulin action to fit in with their food intake.

This gives them much more freedom to plan their food intake.

You can choose when you want to eat,
e.g., lunch can be at 12 noon or 1 p.m. or 2 p.m.

You can choose how much you want to eat,
e.g., for lunch you can have 24 or 36 or even 48 grams of carbohydrate.

Because one of the features of intensive conventional therapy is that the insulin which is injected is mainly regular insulin with a rapid onset of action and a shorter-lasting duration of action.

As you know, you need roughly 2 units of regular insulin for 12 grams of carbohydrate.

Very roughly - more or less.

Like people who do not have diabetes, you have three main meals - in the morning, at midday and in the evening:
    Breakfast,
    Lunch,
    Evening meal
    (Dinner / Supper).
Intermediate meals dwindle to mere snacks or are left out altogether.

In such circumstances the distribution or apportionment of carbohydrates might look like this:

48 g | 12 g |        | 48 g | 12 g | 48 g | 12 g
or:

36 g |        | 12 g | 48 g | 12 g | 36 g
or:

48 g |        |        | 60 g |        | 48 g
There are lots of possible variations!! You are absolutely free to arrange your carbohydrate intake as you wish!

Diabetes Insulin Tutorial
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The information presented at this site is for general use only and is not intended to provide personal medical advice or substitute for the advice of your doctor or diabetes specialist. If you have any questions about any of the information presented here, concerns about individual health matters or the management of your diabetes, please consult your doctor or diabetes specialist
The material in this on-line Diabetes / Insulin Tutorial has been drawn from a number of different sources.
However the original Web-based version can be found at the AIDA Website at: http://www.2aida.org/tutorial.

AIDA diabetes software simulator program of glucose-insulin interaction