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2. Measuring Blood Sugar to Carbohydrate ratio.

2.1 Preparation before testing your BG/Carb ratio

Test your Blood Sugar to Carbohydrate ratio on a day which follows a vanilla day. That is, the previous day should have no insulin reactions, unusual highs or lows, or out of the ordinary physical activity.

Prior to and during the testing period, you should not participate in any activites which are out of the ordinary. Do the things you normally do every day.

In order for this procedure to work correctly, blood sugar levels must remain stable and constant during the test period.

2.2 Repeatability of the BG/Carb test

The Blood Sugar to Carbohydrate ratio measurement should be repeated two or more times on different days to make sure the results are accurate and repeatable. Make changes to basal rates and boluses only after successfully repeating the test results. It can be expected that there will be some minor variation in readings from day to day. Repeatable test results indicate a true pattern which can then be used to maintain correct blood sugar levels.

2.3 BG/Carb test procedure

Measure your BG/Carb ratio by checking your body's response to the ingestion of 4 to 10 grams of carbohydrate in the form of glucose tablets. If you anticipate your blood sugar rise to be less than 25 points, then use two glucose tablets instead of one.

  1. Fast for 4-5 hours prior to beginning the test.
  2. With blood sugar between 80 and 100, eat one or two glucose tablets.
  3. Wait 20 to 30 minutes and check your blood sugar, record the difference from the original reading.
  4. Divide the difference in the blood sugar readings from the beginning to the end of the test by the number of grams of carbohydrate ingested in the glucose tablets. This is the Blood Sugar to Carbohydrate ratio.


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