Poor planning:- What to eat in China

[Tootse]

Hi, I need urgent advice and I hope some of you lovely people might be able to help.

I'm type 2, and through diet and metformin have kept my blood sugars relatively level. Never gave it a thought when I booked a 2 week trip to China. Arrived in China this morning, the inflight meals should have made me realise how little control I was going to have on what will be available to eat whilst away.

On arrival we were all advised to buy food from hotel on first day because for the rest of the 2 wks we'll be travelling all over the country visiting various sites and the meals are to be included.

I went to a nice cafe for lunch. Because of the language barrier I had duck in sauce, chicken in peanut sauce and egg fried rice as it was the only thing I could recognise from the photographic menu they had. Then had the set meal in the hotel in evening which was a small spicy veg soup followed by a bowl of special fried rice. Took my blood sugars 2hrs later (using the only test strip I brought with me (*another story) and it was 15.6!!!

So my question is how do I cut down on the carb intake for the rest of my holiday, what can I ask for instead of the ice etc, or is there something I can do to help lower my bs? None of my phrase book apps have the phrase 'Can you tell me how many carbs are in that meal'. Even if I did know how to say it, I am certain the waitress would have no idea what the carb count is in the food they serve (not that I would understand the answer anyway) and as I said earlier, the meals will be included for the rest of the holiday.

* I brought the wrong test strips I holiday. I just opened the container and thought 'oh, that's a full one, I'll take that'. Only realising they were for another tester I keep upstairs at home and they are not compatible with the tester I brought on holiday.

 

[SunnyExpat]

I have a 'holistic' approach to my life, which has to include diabetes.

To start, accept where you are, and do the best you can.

China is the land of rice.

But it is also the land of fish, which tends not to have the sugary sauces that beef seems to attract.
Google some chinese food that is sour, rather than sweet.
Smaller portions, and if you need to, buy street food, that you can see beforehand. It's also a lot more fun.

I would assume you low carb normally, if you do, you will notice very high readings on your first exposure to carbs, after a few days, your body's response will naturally improve, so if you could check, you would see better readings.

Exercise, walk, use the hotel gym, all will help.

But above all, enjoy the trip, stress will make your BG higher.

 

[SunnyExpat]

A few more thoughts, as you are going to be eating food you can't control.

Number 1 - be a pest.
You will never meet these people again, so, apart from the outside, but unlikely chance of physical violence from a ninja chef, you need to sample, or look at, the food to find one that isn't sweet, and make fuss.
Ok, you may be stung by flour as a thickener, but at least you don't ingest sugar.
(I don't know chinese for 'sweet' or 'sour'. normally I try to learn 'please' and thank you' from the locals, and 'a beer' so a bit of homework with the hotel receptionist)

Number 2 - If you can,order any sauce 'on the side' (again, homework, get the hotel receptionist to write down the phrases for you. Always remember, you're an idiot tourist, work the part, he can tell his wife later, and have a laugh, you can have the cheatsheet.)
Then at least you can see the food, and eat a small amount of sauce.

Number 3 - think what you eat normally, veg, fish, meat, all good chinese stuff. Avoid the rice. Pick at your food, leave the stuff you can't eat, which will be mainly sauce, (and the outside of the spring rolls, steal loads) but then make the tour guide stop somewhere to let you shop for your particular diet choice, otherwise you'll die. (Bad for his business)
(Remember, he'll never see you again, so shame doesn't come into it)

But still, always remember, and this is before number 1, unless you plan to visit china again, enjoy it, never, ever, let diabetes beat you, and that means enjoy life, do the best, and accept the best is the best, unless you choose to live your life in a small plastic bubble, being fed through a small hatch from outside, because I wish I was there now!

 

[SunnyExpat]

@AndBreathe is another one of us that spends a lot of time globetrotting to warmer climes, and eating out, so I'm sure she can help here as well.

 

[ann34+]

The Chinese have an explosion of Type 2 diabetes - it should be easy to buy testing strips and meter? Your tour guide may help. And why not ask where you are eating? - "I have diabetes - please do you know the carbohydrate content? Many thanks " Google translate will give you this, in a second, and how to pronounce it. I tried learning a bit of Mandarin - its a fascinating language - see 糖尿病 - pronounced tángniàobìng - the 3 characters mean sugar urine disease - i.e. diabetes!

 

[SunnyExpat]

The Chinese have an explosion of Type 2 diabetes - it should be easy to buy testing strips and meter? Your tour guide may help. And why not ask where you are eating? - "I have diabetes - please do you know the carbohydrate content? Many thanks " Google translate will give you this, in a second, and how to pronounce it. I tried learning a bit of Mandarin - its a fascinating language - see 糖尿病 - pronounced tángniàobìng - the 3 characters mean sugar urine disease - i.e. diabetes!

What's , 'Saki' or, 'one beer please', for two weeks, that would be my priority.

 

[AndBreathe]

I haven't "done" China since diagnosis, and nor have I done much Chinese food since, aside from home made stir fries etc. Unfortunately, Chinese food is probably one of the trickier cuisines for managing by diet alone, not only because of their reliance upon rice and noodles as "fillers", but also because of their application of the Yin/Yan principles, whereby they usually have multiple flavours in any dish. By that I mean they will balance salt and sweet, salt and sour and so on.

For me, this would be a case of picking the best, or as likely, the probably/possibly/here's hoping the best available at any given time. If you're able to have the meat or fish element served separately, then adding your own sauce or accompaniments, that might make it easier to work out where the sugary bits are and sort of manage the starches. I say sort of, because they'll often have cornflour in sauces for thickening and so on.

But, I would also be asking myself how long I'm in this environment and how often these circumstances are going to be repeated. In reality, if your best efforts, whilst still feeling engaged, joining in and fed(!) aren't as good as you might do at home, then it's unlikely to have a long term effect. Eating nothing, being starving and not enjoying a rather special trip will be longer lasting (in your mind) than a few days off-plan.

I'm certainly not saying to throw yourself face first into the biggest bowl of noodles you can fine, or to mainline on sweet and sour pork balls, but it would be pretty awful to go on such a great trip and come home feeling cheated. I doubt that would be great for your mood, and could well impact on your travelling companion(s). So just do the best you can.

I don't know if it might be helpful, but the following link is a bilingual chinese "menu". It won't tell you what's in every dish, or their carb count, but it looks like it could be useful working out what has pork, fish or whatever in it.: http://www.travelchinaguide.com/intro/cuisine_drink/food-menu/ (Sliced pork in hot chilli oil has started my tasted buts twitching, and it's only 8am here!)

Have a wonderful trip. Your more usual wagon will be in UK awaiting your return.

 

[SunnyExpat]

@Tootse

How's the trip going?