Did Somebody Say…Lasagna?!?
I know what you’re thinking. You’re reading a blog about how we navigate a world of both celiac and type 1 diabetes. Lasagna for dinner? That’s actually the very last thing you should ever make when you’re dealing with these two diseases. A carb heavy, pasta based meal.
But guess what? We’re doin’ it. We’re making lasagna (and dare I say, garlic bread!?) tonight for dinner. Why would I put us through that torture? Thanks for asking. Because my kids——yes, despite focusing on one in this blog I have multiple mouths to feed——LOVE lasagna. And when you find a food that all of your kids will eat, you make it and enjoy that one blissful night (or more like 20 minutes) of sitting down as a family without listening to everyone complain that there’s nothing to eat.
There are tons of pasta options at the store that are gluten-free. And just because we’re weird, my husband and I may make some pasta later on this week because it really does just taste better. But weeknights are busy so we have to have meals that are quick, and that we can prep ahead. One of the noodles that I’ve struggled to find at our grocery store are lasagna noodles (along with jumbo shells, but I digress…). A while back, I stumbled on a cookbook made my America’s Test Kitchen that I found at Barnes and Noble. It’s called “How can it be Gluten Free?” And I highly recommend it—-it has all sorts of recipes that I’ll end up showing the end product (I won’t share the recipe because although tempting, it felt wrong. But go buy the book and you won’t be disappointed). They have a lasagna recipe in there, which…spoiler alert…I didn’t use, because I usually just toss things together for a lasagna. And I hate boiling lasagna noodles so I just add a little extra sauce and skip that step. BUT one thing I did find so super helpful in this cookbook is that they’ve tested a lot of products and done comparisons. And they just so happened to have tested lasagna noodles. I have never in my life heard of this brand—-and maybe I live a sheltered life, but I also don’t think a lot of grocery stores probably carry it. So I did my quick amazon research…and voilá! There it was——Tinkyada Brown Rice Lasagna Noodles.
When I tell you you won’t notice a difference——you won’t notice a difference! They taste just like their gluten-containing friends. Which I needed, because there’s not a chance in hell that I’m making two separate pans of lasagna to feed our family. We can all eat the same thing at dinner. The only exceptions that I tend to make are when we do something like garlic bread (if I buy it frozen I’ll do one regular box and one gluten-free box). Otherwise, it’s all the same in this house.
“But what about bolusing for lasagna? Aren’t you afraid her blood sugar will go high?”
Well yes—-great question. This is definitely a tricky one. Now I know that the piece of lasagna that I give to her, based on the portion, is probably around 40g of carbohydrates. It’s homemade, so that’s my best guess. I also know that the mounds of cheese I added to this beast raised the fat content of the lasagna. And that fat will delay the blood sugar rise that I’ll see in her later on. I also know that brown rice, or any rice for that matter, tends to shoot her blood sugar up quickly. Also the tomato sauce in the lasagna—-tends to make her blood sugar high fast and furious. And once her blood sugar is high, it’s REALLY difficult to bring her back down.
Now this part is a personal decision, and I’m not sure there’s a right or wrong here. I’d rather correct a low blood sugar because I can do that quickly, and I’ll be watching for her to trend down in case I over bolus, than to try and chase a high blood sugar over hours during the night. So I will be aggressive with her bolus tonight. I know the original lasagna, as is probably has about 40g of carbohydrates in them. Remember when I said that the math just doesn’t add up? Here is where it’s really just a guess and check and see what your body does kind of thing. Her pump allows me to extend her bolus out. So will bolus her for the full 40g of carbohydrate up front, and extend a bolus out over 2 hours. I choose 2 hours because that’s the farthest I can put it out on the pump. If I could choose 3 hours, I would. But I’ll bolus for probably another 25g in 2 hours. So when she enters her bolus into the pump, she is saying bolus for 65g, at a 70/30 ratio over 2 hours. I will continue to evaluate over those 2 hours to see if I think she’ll need more insulin as we near the 2 hours mark. I can only do one extension at a time, so I’d have to give a manual bolus if she needs more, or just wait and give her more after 2 hours. But we’ll see how it goes.
Add in some garlic bread, and we’re really going to party tonight. But my kid is going to go to bed after a favorite meal with a full stomach, and I will do everything in my power that I can to keep her blood sugar below 180 (our high-end target) while her body processes it. I’ve had people tell me that I could just make low carbohydrate foods, or something separate for her to eat. Those people must not know me all that well, because I’m slightly hard headed and stubborn…and I’ll be damned if celiac or diabetes will make her not eat something….I just need to figure out HOW she can eat it safely.
