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Food choices when eating out

L

loreenie

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hi!

i've been trying to low carb for quite a while but keep having days when i'll just binge on carbs and give myself a large dose of bolus (my willpower is very weak), anyway... :(

when i go out for dinner with friends, which usually italian, chinese, thai, mexican or indian etc., i find that most dishes contain loads of carbs, especially 'hidden' carbs in sauces, which always catch me by surprise (extreme hyper or hypo after)! i find it really frustrating to control BG but i don't want to be a party pooper and not eat out.... what dishes do you usually order and how do you estimate the carbs in it?

i think that ordering a salad isn't very good value for money because it's just a few lettuce leaves and costs as much as other main courses! i would appreciate your suggestions! thanks! :)

loreen :D
 
My favourites the local carvery, Turkey, Ham, or Beef ignore the spuds pile up the veg and all for £3-50.

Graham
 
I remember Fergus saying that he would forego the rice when having an Indian and ask for a double portion of curry instead.
I don't really eat Chinese food now, as it just sends my readings soaring. Even a small portion of Chow Mein sent me well up into double figures.
Fish and chips seems to do the same.
When we eat out, like Graham says, I'll enjoy the carvery but avoid those giant Yorkshire Puds and fill up on extra veg. Last time I ate out I had poached salmon with lemon butter sauce,with fresh veg. and just a couple of small new potatoes. If the portion of potatoes is too big (it always is) I just put the extra spuds on hubby's plate, so that I'm not tempted to overindulge.
If I want to be indulgent and have a little something I shouldn't I suggest hubby and I go for a long walk after the meal....and walk it off! :lol:
 
I had dinner out a couple of days ago, and being newly diagnosed myself and only just about getting the hang of the Low Carb thing, I too was a little worried. Luckily we went to an Italian restaurant and they were perfectly happy to give me Asparagus with parma ham for starters and Salmon with some mixed gilled veg as a main. Just had a coffee afterwards but enjoyed a nice glass of white wine with the food.

Do ask at the restaurant and tell them you are on a special diet - many restaurants are happy to accommodate in which ever way they can.

I had a great evening out and didn't go off my Carb limit - I could look up and/or estimate all my Carbs when I got home.

Best
Alice

Ps. IF you don't like fish, ask for the dish of our choice but ask for as little sauce as possible - or if e.g. chicken korma served in a seperate dish, take the chicken with a fork and leave the sauce behind. You can estimate how much sauce you got (1 tbsp = approx. 10ml/10g) and then simply look at a jar of similar sauce inthe supermarket and check Carbs. You will not be too far out in your calculations. I even do this at home with a home-cooked Korma and it works fine - for me at least.
 
My experience as a diet controlled Type 2 is that it takes experience! As you say much food has carbs stuffed in it, maybe sugar and starch in the sauces. We have an excellent fish restaurant not far away: most of what they serve I find doable (though their bread rolls are disgustingly more-ish) and I'm currently fuming as a local pub which also specialised in fish has changed hands and now does sadly typical pub stodge, I must track down where the previous landlord went.

We are hard to please: I low carb, mother is tiny and usually has a starter for a main course, and some of my relatives are vegetarian. So we are something of a test case when we eat out: many pubs etc. will happily replace the chips with salad or otherwise modify things on request. If they don't we go elsewhere.

Even so sometimes I get caught out. A trick that works for some Type 2s is to eat a small high carb snack about half an hour before the meal, which gets my pancreas in the mood, and a fast walk round the village immediately after eating when my insulin is still at its highest output. I guess a Type 1 alternative would be to bolus for what you *think* the meal contains and be prepared to use a correction bolus later (or some glucose tabs) when you got it wrong. And if you got it seriously wrong, don't eat there again :(

Then when you find a place that works, bribe the landlord or chef!
 
I go for extra veggies and when given a choice, opt for places that do huge salads. Last week, we went out for lunch midweek on a whim and I got us into Pizza Hut. T1 husband had a portion of pizza and lots of salad. I had a Humungous salad and son-in-law, who isn't diabetic and is skinny and very fit, had about 5 slices of pizza. Baby granddaughter, who'd had her lunch, had a bread stick.
 
We have found that in many Indian restaurants a lot of the food actually tastes sugary (although there should not be sugar in authentic dishes). A lot of waiters don't know what goes into the food, and we found a moussaka the other day had tomato sauce in it (with sugar) which made me feel ill. Another problem is what sort of food to eat out as a SNACK. A trip to a local petrol station shows shelves crammed with crisps, coke etc, which is not on my diet. If I am able to take a picnic with me everywhere I go, then that's not a problem, but if I get hungry when I'm out and about in the car, especially on motorways then it's more difficult.
 
I find that most petrol stations, especially Motorway ones, will have a pack of roast chicken in some shape or form and I would have that as a snack, if nothing else available.

One thing I do tend to do, is to have a seable bag with some nuts and perhaps a piece of 90% dark chocolate (seperately wrapped) in my bag when setting of for a longer drive. A bottle of water can be purchased almost anywhere. I have done this before being diagnosed as Diabetic and it works for me.

What works for you, depends on what you can and cannot eat. Bringing your own is an option even if you have to get a small coolerbag - I have seen them "sandwich"-sized in places like Rober Dyas and similar shops OR try in a golf shop!


Best
Alice
 
I love peperami
Now there are the shorter ones i n multipacks, 1 of those is a great carbfree? snack
 
My new fave snack is mozzarella balls - only 47p at sainsbury's basics and should last the day in a cool bag
 
thanks so much for your food suggestions!! i will ask to swap carbs for veggies next time when i go out. i still find that i need alot more insulin, even if i have calculated everything properly (which means i must be underestimating most of the time). it's also hard to resist desserts!

ooh, i only recently noticed that Hamburger Union does carb-free burgers: burgers served between lettuce leaves (this is what i do at home!) i won't be eating out as much for now because i'll be busy cramming my revision in. :(
 
My new favourite eating out meal is burgers - Gourmet Burger Kitchen do the most humungous burgers, they have loads of delicious carb free toppings and you'll be full even without anything else. I had a bacon and blue cheese burger there one time, and the next an avacado, garlic mayo and bacon burger. They also do a really nice coleslaw with minimal carbs. :)
 
We don't do it very often, but I had lunch out today with my colleagues in Wagamama after I checked there were salads, after all it is a noodle bar :?

Anyway, I found a lovely asparagus, mushroom and tofu salad and asked if they could hold the noodles and replace it with other veggies as I don't do carbs. The waiter came back a few moments later and said that chef had suggested replacing the noodles with beansprouts. It was lovely, one of our group had the "original" version with the noodles and it looked very similar.

I tested just over an hour later and my BG was 6.3 :o :D I have stayed under 7.8 most of today (2 hours after my breakfast porridge with coconut and raspberries). This evening when I shot up to 9.5 after my evening meal :shock: which was actually my left over salad lunch with cheese and oatcakes from midday. It does not usually make me spike like that during the day :?: almost 2 points higher :shock:
 
I asked for a burger without the bap in a restaurant lately but they decided to leave out the salad too........until hubby chased them to put salad back. Can't say I missed the bap and I struggled to finish what was on the plate. My appetite is certainly not what it was.
We're on holiday soon and one of the places we'll be visiting is a Warners For Adults hotel. The food is plentiful at these hotels. Three course meals in the evening,if you want them but I struggle to eat one course these days. They also have a carvery and a salad bar though,if you prefer, so I'm confident of being able to follow quite a reduced carb. diet during our stay. I really look forward to a cooked breakfast when we go away. I just avoid hash browns and baked beans etc and fill up on other things.I did slip up at the last hotel we stayed at and had a small bowlful of fresh figs.....only after I'd eaten them, I checked and found they weren't fresh, they were tinned,in syrup and my Collins Little Gem book told me they were probably one of THE worst things I could have eaten carb-wise.
It's all a learning curve!
 
sugarless sue said:
Chinese ,I usually go for Chicken chow mien and noodles,doesn't have too much affect on my blood sugars.
Click to expand...

Rather you than me m8, I know someone who delivers to resterants and take aways and he wont go near a chinese place.
 
Don't know where you are Graham but you must have some very strange eating houses round your way ?

I have been in the back of my local Chinese and Indian and seen the fastiudious way food is prepared and served. No corners cut here in the West Mids. Mind you we have a very good Public Health Department here who crack down hard on any transgressors, even down to naming and shaming on the website and local papers. Court cases are always well reported.

Ken.
 
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