Eating out.

[Kevyu]

Hi. How do you cope with dining out. Been invited out to Chinese restaurant at the weekend.
I guess it's a matter of choices, And Obv TRY and avoid rice. Are noodles a better substitute or should I stick to a dish with veg, or something like chicken with cashews in black bean.
Or swerve the whole thing til I get this under my belt and make my excuses.

 

[Rachox]

The only dish I’ve braved at a Chinese is crispy duck! I only had one or two of the pancakes and a smear of the sauce. The sauces are the scary bit in Chinese food as you never know if they’ve chucked a load of sugar in! Crispy seaweed is low carb so is ok. Plus prawn crackers are around 1g carb each.

 

[Guzzler]

Noodles are no better than rice re carbs. Perhaps Egg Foo Yung, if it is to your liking.

 

[JoKalsbeek]

Hi. How do you cope with dining out. Been invited out to Chinese restaurant at the weekend.
I guess it's a matter of choices, And Obv TRY and avoid rice. Are noodles a better substitute or should I stick to a dish with veg, or something like chicken with cashews in black bean.
Or swerve the whole thing til I get this under my belt and make my excuses.

For me personally....
Don'ts; rice, pasta, bucketloads of sauce, and stay far, far away from the tomatosoup! (Last time I had that I had to excuse myself and take a brisk walk around the block to get my bs down. Felt so ill... But oh it was tasty, haha.). No noodle soups either... Though they might be able to leave the noodles out for you. Anything sweet & sour is problematic. Nothing fried in batter. Or, you know, moderately. I don't know how low carb you want to go! Stick with meats, meats and more meats, vegs too. Just scrape sauce off if you're not sure how carby it is. Unless you just ask for them to not pour sauce over the dish. Less messy, and less hassle while eating. You can just dig in. Me, I go over the menu before I eat out, so I know what to order. That has saved me from many a panic attack and drawing of blanks. Most places have a menu online, so with some luck... Anything I'm not sure of, I'll google the nutritional values. But you can always ask to hold the sauce, replace rice with an extra serving of veggies etc... I had a really hard time asking for things, but I've found if you're polite enough about it and add a thousand thanks, which I usually do, any server will try to accomodate your wishes. (And my usual haunts know by now they're tipped well for their trouble). I skip family get-togethers sometimes when they go to a place where there is nothing on the menu I can eat or adjust.(They keep going there regardless. Thankfully it's the branch of the family I can do without, haha). But more often than not, after facing the first eating-out hurdle, it becomes easier, and most restaurants have workable options. Heck, you could even e-mail them and ask whether they'd mind accomodating you; give them a head's up so you don't have to explain loads at the table. Just don't miss out when you don't have to. Being a diabetic is hard enough as it is. Just be prepaired, and enjoy your dinner. Really. Because if you do miscalculate by accident, by god, it should have been worth it! (Like my farewell to the tomato soup, haha).

 

[JoKalsbeek]

Completely off topic; I like your suit.

 

[Kevyu]

For me personally....
Don'ts; rice, pasta, bucketloads of sauce, and stay far, far away from the tomatosoup! (Last time I had that I had to excuse myself and take a brisk walk around the block to get my bs down. Felt so ill... But oh it was tasty, haha.). No noodle soups either... Though they might be able to leave the noodles out for you. Anything sweet & sour is problematic. Nothing fried in batter. Or, you know, moderately. I don't know how low carb you want to go! Stick with meats, meats and more meats, vegs too. Just scrape sauce off if you're not sure how carby it is. Unless you just ask for them to not pour sauce over the dish. Less messy, and less hassle while eating. You can just dig in. Me, I go over the menu before I eat out, so I know what to order. That has saved me from many a panic attack and drawing of blanks. Most places have a menu online, so with some luck... Anything I'm not sure of, I'll google the nutritional values. But you can always ask to hold the sauce, replace rice with an extra serving of veggies etc... I had a really hard time asking for things, but I've found if you're polite enough about it and add a thousand thanks, which I usually do, any server will try to accomodate your wishes. (And my usual haunts know by now they're tipped well for their trouble). I skip family get-togethers sometimes when they go to a place where there is nothing on the menu I can eat or adjust.(They keep going there regardless. Thankfully it's the branch of the family I can do without, haha). But more often than not, after facing the first eating-out hurdle, it becomes easier, and most restaurants have workable options. Heck, you could even e-mail them and ask whether they'd mind accomodating you; give them a head's up so you don't have to explain loads at the table. Just don't miss out when you don't have to. Being a diabetic is hard enough as it is. Just be prepaired, and enjoy your dinner. Really. Because if you do miscalculate by accident, by god, it should have been worth it! (Like my farewell to the tomato soup, haha).

Thanks JoKalsbeek.
Lovely anecdotes with your replies... And tomato soup I will learn by your lesson.
Let's face it, some family get together are worth avoiding anyway. Lol.
Taking your advice, did look on line and chicks and cashews appears to be a good guess to start (atleast for me at experimental stages) 30g carbs but will keep looking.
No rice OR NOODLES maybe some extra veg instead.

 

[mo53]

Chicken satay as a starter should be fine as it's basically chicken and peanut butter. I had chicken and mushrooms and ordered some extra vegetables as has been suggested.

 

[There is no Spoon]

something like chicken with cashews in black bean.

Hi Kevyu,
The truth is one meal isn't going to kill you.

As far as Chinese is concerned its not a wise choice. If you buy a packet of black bean sauce of the shelf in a supermarket it's got as much as 60 grams of sugar in it.

For a non diabetic 37 grams is the recommended limit per day.
The absolute minimum you should be doing to control your condition is stay well under that amount. Your about to eat a meal where the sauce alone, is practically Double that amount.

Give the restaurant a call, I've never had any trouble asking for a steak at a Chinese restaurant. Remember they want your money give them some notice, they should be willing to help you out.

 

[bulkbiker]

Hi. How do you cope with dining out. Been invited out to Chinese restaurant at the weekend.
I guess it's a matter of choices, And Obv TRY and avoid rice. Are noodles a better substitute or should I stick to a dish with veg, or something like chicken with cashews in black bean.
Or swerve the whole thing til I get this under my belt and make my excuses.

I second the cripsy duck without pancakes or plum sauce.. or roast pork if they do it.. then get some stir fried veg (I pick out the carrots and give them to someone else) broccoli or choi sum. Chinese is probably the hardest meal out to low carb.

 

[bamba]

?? Chop suey ?? - stir fried meat and veg

 

[bamba]

http://www.thechinesequest.com/2014/07/low-carb-chinese-food/

http://www.thechinesequest.com/2017/08/chinese-food-low-carb-diet/

https://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/threads/chinese-takeaway.40635/

 

[lovinglife]

My go to dishes - crispy duck ask for lettuce for wraps instead of pancakes, tom yam soup, stir fry veggies no sauce, chicken satay - can have sugar just ask, deep fried seaweed has a lot of sugar sprinkled on in some places - ask for it without.

Funnily enough I can manage a few noodles in a chow mein but not rice, testing, testing and testing again is the key to knowing what's acceptable for you. Avoid curries, Chinese curries are usually thickened with flour, most other sauces are thickened with cornflour
Find out if they use MSG - the thing that makes Chinese dishes addictive! - avoid like the plague it's a menace for blood sugars.

If they are a reasonable place they will be able to modify a good few dishes to suit you

Most importantly- have a great time and enjoy time with you family, this comes first and food comes second

 

[Antje77]

I guess you've had enough useful reactions by now, so have fun, enjoy your meal and don't panic if your meter tells you you've made a mistake with your food choices. It only tells you to choose something different next time and maybe take a brisk walk now.

 

[Kevyu]

http://www.thechinesequest.com/2014/07/low-carb-chinese-food/

http://www.thechinesequest.com/2017/08/chinese-food-low-carb-diet/

https://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/threads/chinese-takeaway.40635/

Thanks baba.

 

[rmz80]

I normally have Chicken Foo Yung without the chips. Beware of the sauces they rife with sugar (and mono-sodium glutamate if you also avoid lots of Sodium)
https://www.fatsecret.com/calories-...(young)?portionid=51819&portionamount=100.000