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Holiday food - how do we manage

B

Bev18

Well-Known Member
Messages
181
Type of diabetes
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
I'm going to Turkey mid September, all inclusive. Its never bothered me before but having to count carbs for insulin is going to be a problem.

I've been going there for years so know the food some is lovely and healthy but always served with rice, chips, or mash etc.

But its quite different now with the insulin use, so how do you all manage.

I assume i'd end up increasing my short acting dose if i've had more than usual carbs. Even a grilled sandwich is served with chips, bit of salad and a huge roll.

I haven't even started thinking about the alcohol yet, no fishbowls, just spirits and diet coke if i'm lucky diet lemonade. Might be pushing it for slimline tonic etc.

Any stories / suggestions?
 
Yes, it's difficult. I just do my best to guess and will inject a bit more if I'm not driving, knowing I have some glucose tablets in my pocket. You don't need to worry about alcohol other than knowing that when the liver is busy getting rid of it it can't dump glucose to overcome a hypo.
 
I'm T2, so can't offer any rare gems, but as far as meals with chips/buns te car concerned you don't have to eat them all. If at least some of the food is buffet style, you can salad load then.

Since my own diagnosis, I've only had 7 days on an all-inclusive basis, and I found I did OK. I would think it best to take some means of testing drinks to ensure they are sugar-free, as many are pump dispensed, in my experience. I used Diastix as a cheap and discrete way of doing this.

Enjoy your holiday.
 
Just use your same estimating skills as now, but remember you can ask for no chips, and you don't have to eat the whole portion if it's larger than you're used to.

I'd also think about getting some practice on the foods you might encounter ahead of time, take a bread roll and weigh it, same with a portion of chips or couscous.

Remember also that in the heat you may become quite a bit more insulin sensitive, so you may need to think about reductions in basal dose (start with 10%) and possibly bolus as well, again by up to 25% based on trial and error
 
We always go All Inclusive and never really had any issues with the food. Normally the foods is laid out and you just help yourself to whatever takes your fancy, the choice is plentiful so you can load your plate with as many or few carbs as you want, you just adjust your insulin dose to the amount of carbs on your plate, it's no different to eating out at home.

However Elydave makes a good point, as Turkey is a hot climate you may find your insulin needs may decrease, this is especially so if your active whilst on holiday as the combination of the two (heat & exercise) can make you more vulnerable to hypo's, so it's always a good idea to carry plenty of fast-acting carbs with you wherever you go.
 
I don't want complicate matters but thought it was worth mentioning my experience. When I cross time zones I find it takes my body a couple of days to register the time difference. My carb to insulin ratios that differ during the day take a while to catch up and my body still thinks it's UK time. It took me a while to figure this out.
If I've confused matters and have made absolutely no sense just ignore me!!!
Have a good holiday!
Andrea


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It can happen when going away, but things settle down very quickly, if you keep to what you normally eat and the portions, cannot see a problem. You will find out within a coupe of hours , if the food you are eating is causing you to to have a problem. I eat most things, and live in France, when I went to UK found that the food was different. but adjusted to what I normally have in the morning, and tried several things,and most of them work but smaller portions. wish you luck and have a lovely holiday
 
There is usually a wide range of food on offer at these all inclusive hotels in Turkey. As others have said, you can get a good estimate on certain foods or you can stick with foods that you know you are OK with and have at home. If anything, under estimate carb content rather than risk hypo. Test regularly and adjust dose as required.
 
Thank you all, must admit I've never heard of diasticks so will get those.

Andrea I know what you mean about time zones, came back from Dominican republic in December it caught up with me and I Had a day off sick 2 days later possibly that's when bloods really went out of control and the jet lag was worse. I find the Turkey flight worse than the long haul ( but only ever done 2 long haul before so still a novice)
 
she's only going one hour difference, that really can't have much of an effect. At least it doesn't on me
 
ElyDave said:
she's only going one hour difference, that really can't have much of an effect. At least it doesn't on me
Click to expand...
Agreed 1 hour is quite a tight one to differentiate between. But for me around 9 am I tend to switch between my 1:5 breakfast ratio to my 1:10. It really is that sharp. But that's just me.


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