Wow… I was completely off with my carbs tonight after eating out in a Chinese Restaurant. I looked up all the food which came to (well I’m embarrased to say how many carbs). Thought I took the appropriate amount of insulin… now 2 hours later I’m over 400 BG. I don’t do this often but I always loved Chinese food and I just about stopped eating it until I grow weak and crave all the bad food including chocolate ice cream and 2 UNfortune cookies.
I added another 40 carbs instead of just a correction and I'm a little nervous because now it's a guessing game. I'll be testing my fingers raw every hour on the hour for the rest of the night. :-( Now I'm afraid I may have taken too much insulin. Tomorrow is back to healthy foods I can monitor easily. Can't even enjoy a VERY HIGH CARB evening out.
“Chinese food” is a little broad of a description :-).
I always did worst with dim sum. I always guess that there’s a lot of carbs… but I always underestimate the actual number! The fact that most dim sum seems to be coated in some kind of syrup doesn’t help any.
Other kinds of chinese food I always found easier to deal with than dim sum. I love the noodles and noodle soup and can usually dose pretty well for my favorite serving sizes.
I have to inject twice when eating chinese, because I think the fat slows the absorbtion. So I do half what I think I will need before I start eating, and then the other half about 30-50 minutes into the meal. I still go highish, but not like I would before. Sorry you had a hard time today.
Oh, I had sweet and sour chicken, wonton soup (2 wontons) with shrimp and veges, fried noodles with duck sauce, chocolate ice cream, 2 fortune cookies and the healthiest thing of all… a diet coke. lol AND, picked some food off my husband’s plate. I was hoping God would forget I had diabetes tonight and cure my pancreas… just for ONE night. Oh well.
Thanks Devon but I did it to myself. Most of the time I’m really good but it’s times like this I wish I could turn back the hands of time to when I didn’t even know what diabetes was.
I don’t have trouble with Chinese food. I stick with Egg Drop Soup, a couple of the fried noodles. My main food is usually Shrimp with Chinese veggies in garlic sauce and some ( about 3/4 cup) of brown rice. I never use the Duck sauce, it is all sugar. I have tea and 1 fortune cookie. The sweet and sour chicken and won tons probably did it for you. It is possible to eat out and not send your BS into the stratosphere. Try again.
I love Chinese food. But the ingredients are very unpredictable, specially the sauces. Often I stick to anything steamed…fish, shrimp, veggies, chicken, and spring rolls. I try to stay away from the sweet sauces and condiments…(too bad since that’s what makes it so good).
I can’t handle Chinese food. The few things that don’t send me soaring aren’t what I want to eat. I want the dumplings (how I adore dumplings!), rice, noodles & the yummy sauces.
Really think they should be a law that we get one day off a year to eat whatever we want without going super high. Just one day a year doesn’t seem too much to want.
Scares me when I have to take many doses over the course of hours trying to bring BG down. I invariably overdo the insulin.
I know the feeling…it can be so hard. Turn back the hands of time, ahhhhhh yes I wish that for all of us. Tomorrow will be a better day and you can start fresh. I hope that you feel better and like Gerri said, Dont beat yourself up. xo
To quote Gerri, “Don’t beat yourself up.” You are on top of it, and you did not overdose on insulin, so that is good. I hate eating when I am full. It happens too often with me.
Not sure what your work schedule is like, but here is what I do with Chinese food or pizza:
Plan on taking multiple injections. Only eat for lunch or on the weekends before 5, because they can create unpredictable blood sugars for 5-6 hours or so for me. My boyfriend accommodates me and eats dinner at 4 or 5. I also treat them like Thanksgiving dinner…I have no clue, so I check my bg every hour, at least, until it seems to be under control. I don’t like to chase my bg at work, so I usually just eat them on the weekends. I take more insuiln after maybe an hour or two, depending on what I eat.
Dang it, now I want Chinese food, and it is past my bedtime.
Thanks everyone. I woke up with a BG of 133 after waking up twice during the night with over 200 BG and inching it down. I was really upset with myself because I felt awful and sick but after reading your comments that are so supportive I feel better. This is the best site on the internet and I got that “Chinese craving” out of me and won’t do that again for a long time. Now I have to go to work and I’m completely exhausted so when I get home I’ll hit the couch, turn on the TV and rest the tired, old body. lol
Thanks again all.
Sweet and sour pork is particularly high carb. The sauce is often made with large quantities of sugar. The biggest problem is not that it is high carb, but it is an unknown amount of high carb. Any error will be large.
The other thing that can get you with large (volume) meals is the so called “Chinese Restaurant Effect.” This effect (described by Dr. B) occurs because our gut triggers the release of hormones from our pancreas. A massive meal will attempt to trigger a release of insulin (which won’t do much in a T1), but it will also trigger a release of glucagon. This can cause a liver dump that further aggravates the situation.
Janet… I want you to just take a deep breath, step back… consider the fun, joy, love, company, conversation of the moment you experienced last night… Rebel in it… And FORGIVE yourself.
I don’t really have any advice to give, other than that. I know you already know how to dose, how to carb count, how to correct… What you should eat, or not eat… You’ve been around the Diabetes block.
Now, today is a new day… It’s time to plan ways in which to give yourself some love: read a good book, go for a walk, take a hot bath, get a great haircut, go to a day spa, give yourself a pedicure or manicure, go gardening, fly some kites with the kids, snuggle with the spouse, watch a favorite movie, etc, etc… Forgive yourself because you needed love, nurturing, comfort, and enjoyment… And we sooo many times have memories of finding these in food, and when the good food comes it’s hard to resist! It’s no big deal. It happens to best of us… It sure doesn’t help it tastes so darn good! lol
New days are like blank slates… We can begin again, like nothing happened.
Thanks Lizmari… actually I got a pedicure and a massage and feeling a lot better today. I appreciate ALL your wonderful thoughts and advice. I really do feel blessed on how many beautiful people I’ve met on this site.
I want you to just take a deep breath, step back… consider the fun, joy, love, company, conversation of the moment you experienced last night… Rebel in it… And FORGIVE yourself. 
We can begin again, like nothing happened. 