Carb-Counting: It Pays to Be Exact

In a recent post, I knocked down a book intended to help people make smart choices when it comes to food. Now, I want to discuss how people can get the information they need from other sources in order to enjoy going to restaurants and safely manage blood sugars at the same time. If nothing else, Eat This Not That at least made the point that we really do not know what is in the food we get at restaurants, and our best guesses can be way off. And for people with diabetes, this is super important.

Carbohydrate counting is a huge component of managing diabetes. After all, whether you use a pump or injections, you give insulin doses according to how many carbs you have at each meal. When at a restaurant, an experienced carb-counter should be able to estimate the carbs in bread from the breadbasket, a side of mashed potatoes, or a slice of pizza. If you guess wrong, though, your blood sugars will probably be high later.

One thing that often trips me up at restaurants is a mix-up between regular and diet sodas. More than once, I have asked for a diet coke and received a regular one. Sometimes I make sure to tell the waiter/waitress that I am a diabetic and really need the drink to be diet; other times I simply order water. (And water is better for you, anyway! See my old post about diet sodas to learn how they may affect us badly.)

One family I know used to bring ketone-testing strips with them when they went out to eat; they would actually dip the strips in the drinks they had ordered to make sure there was no sugar in them! I would never ever do that...but hey, it works.

Bottom line: be extra careful when ordering sodas.

When you go out to eat, it never hurts to ask the waiter if nutrition facts are available.

Dining with friends and prefer not to stand out? Go online beforehand to check out the nutrition facts. Lots of chains post their stats on their websites - Starbucks, Panera Bread, Chicken Out, Romano's Macaroni Grill, and Baja Fresh, just to name a few.

Beware that the facts posted online are not always consistent with what is served at the actual restaurant. Menu items vary in size, and there can be little/no uniformity in terms of how chefs prepare certain dishes.

In the future, expect more places to make their nutrition facts available and maybe even print them on their menus (I already know one place that does this in the DC area).

After you've been to the same restaurant a few times, you will basically have done some "experimenting" with the food there, and should have found an entree or two that you can count on! (no pun intended). For example, whenever I go to Bugaboo Creek Steak House, I know that if I order the Snowbird Chicken Salad, I should bolus exactly 4 units of insulin. You may not guess right the first time, and that's okay - just don't get discouraged or let it ruin your day. There have been so many instances where I have a great meal and then later experience a wacky blood sugar and get really upset, thinking "I KNEW those fries were more than 60 carbs!"