Meal Announcements Guide for iLet Bionic Pancreas
Meal Announcements with the iLet
Meal announcements are very important to help the iLet algorithms learn you. Here are a few tips on announcing your meals, especially in the first 2 weeks of using the iLet.
How do I announce?
- Choose the meal type: Breakfast, Lunch, or Dinner
- Choose the size: Usual for me, more or less.
- Only announce based on the carb amount. You don’t have to worry about your current/desired glucose, the total size of the meal, or the fat, protein, or carb type in the meal.
When do I announce a meal?
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Announce as soon as you start eating. If it’s been more than 30 minutes since you started eating and you forgot to announce, don’t announce because you’re already getting correction insulin.
- If you have a low glucose before a meal, treat the low and wait until glucose is normal to announce.
What should I do for snacks?
If your snack has as many carbs as a meal, you can use the Meal Announcement to announce it the same way you would a meal.
- Choose a meal type – you can base this on the kind of snack, the time of day, or whatever works best for you.
- Choose a meal size – compare the amount of carbs in your snack to the carbs you usually eat for that meal type.
- Don’t announce if the snack has less than one quarter (25%) of the carbs in your “Usual for me” meal for that meal type.
Tips for using Meal Announcements
- Don’t overthink it! Most of your meals will be “Usual for me.” If you need a little more insulin, the iLet will take care of it automatically.
- Don’t announce fast-acting carbs you use to treat a low.
- Don’t use a meal announcement to try to correct a high glucose level. Doing so could cause low blood sugar and slow how quickly your iLet learns your insulin needs. Your iLet will correct for you automatically.
- Only announce based on carb amount, not current/desired glucose, fat, protein, or carb type.
- Be consistent with how you choose and announce your meals and snacks.
Hear from an Expert: Dr. Mark Heyman on Trusting the iLet
Dr. Mark Heyman, a Diabetes Psychologist, Certified Diabetes Care and Education Specialist, and iLet user, knows that trusting a new system can take time.
In this short video, he talks about how it can be tempting to step in and try to manage your blood sugar by announcing an extra meal or selecting the wrong meal size, but the iLet works best when you let it do its job. By giving it accurate information and trusting the process, you’ll help the iLet learn your needs and feel more confident as you settle in with your new system.
For more information, please click here to access the iLet Quick Reference Guide or User Guide in Resources.
