Really? I don’t expect anyone to be responsible for my need to measure, count and weigh my food other than myself! Seems we diabetics expect a lot from the rest of the world, and love to hold them responsible when we make a mistake. Next thing we’ll be asking is for them to figure the dose for our bolus 
The answer to the dilemma is to not forget that book, or check before you go, or do a better job of selecting and guessing when you didn’t do those things.
My Dr tells me that everyday we think we calculate our carbs to the exact estimate. But in actually we do not. It is an ESTIMATE! I have had type one for many years. I find myself constantly utilizing my food exchange and carb counting every single day. The food exchange things helps me to realize portions sizes when I do not have a nutritional chart.
The nutritional info on menus is something relatively new. I just heard it on the news recently that the companies will be required to post on the menu. And they did refer to change resturants only. Not the Mom and Pops.
For instance I just got back from Mcdonalds. I love their fish sandwich and they had a special on the double fish which is somewhere around 50 carb grams give or take. I grabbed a handful of fries of what looked in proportion to 25 to 30 grams and took 10 units of humalog. My dosage is roughly 2 units per 15 grams. I pretty much eye everything. I aint about to be anal and break out a measuring cup everytime I eat something. Yeah I’d rather know exactly but thats not reality in most cases unless you eat packaged things which is still probably not 100% accurate.
There is is guide which I got a free copy of at a recent diabetes expo. No Applebees, but it has alot of the other popular chains - McD’s, Taco Bell, Wendys, Denny etcs… You can get for $7 and keep it in your purse. Doesn’t count for any new items or specials though. Funny thing is that I never eat at any of these places but It is nice to have anyhow.
I have had pretty good luck with asking. (Boy, was I surprised to learn that Ikea heats a lot of Stouffer’s prepared dinners!) Also, I will look on-line ahead of time because I don’t have an iPhone. I also have a Calorie King in each car. Especially a chain like Appleby’s has no reason not have have nutrition info. I would call the manager and perhaps the district manager. At a minimum, their awareness that you desire this info might have an influence on its availability. If I get in a pickle, like you did, I’d order the plainest thing on the menu, because it’s amazing to me how reestuarants manage to stuff so many carbs into some foods.
You know, that just does not sound right at all. Do you think you might be allergic to something? You should not normally respond to 2g of carbs by shooting up nearly 250 mg/dl.
The carbs are hidden I tell you!
MY HTC Hero is my best friend. I go to livestrong.com and they have a section that you plug in what you want to eat and tells you every piece of information that you need to make choices and account for carbs. I don’t see how I can make good food choices on the run without having a phone with internet connectivity.
Hi Patricia,
I definitely know what you are saying, Ive been a Type 1 for over 26 years, and what I have done is get a rough idea based on what I order, like I know that brown rice doesnt spike my sugar as high as white rice, and the same for the bread, if I go to an Italian restaurant, its hard for me , because I tend to stay away from everything white, rice pasta, and bread. I can remember the days when my sugar was in the 5-600’s after eating , and its just not worth it, so if it makes sense sub brown for white when possible, if not limit your intake of items with a high glycemic index , aka white bread, unknown sauces, lasagna, and stick to what you know how to bolus, and try and work with it, sometimes I will order, and eat , and then take insulin based on what I eat, I hope this helps you , …
adam
The books “Using Insulin” and “Think Like a Pancreas” are very helpful. If you work through the guidance, you will find that most of the insulin dosing is based on a fairly stable response we have to dietary carbs. Dr. B suggests that many people will rise 5 mg/dl for 1 g of dietary carb, I am perhaps larger than some and hence my factor based on observation. By writing down the number of carbs I ate and how high I went at one hour, I came up with a basic factor. I keep all my blood sugar numbers in a database. The best I can tell, your rise in blood sugar based on how many dietary carbs you eat is pretty consistent. Unless you have some digestion problem, it is very predictable. The amount of insulin required to cover those carbs can vary significantly, but mostly your body weight determines how much your blood sugar rises for a given amout of dietary carbs.
Mmmmm white bread,potatoes, pasta what do they taste like it’s been so long. I do not keep any of them in my house anymore or eat them on the run as a rule either. At home I substitute a another veggie for potatoes usually I will have carrots and peas or beans with some kind of meat and the serving size needs to fit in my hand. I work in the pre hospital emergency medical field so when I say on the run I need to be gone in seconds flat and may overlook bringing my lunch with me on a call that instead of an hour for the usual call may take ten hours or so if they need to be transported some where’s else. I have multiple Calorie king books but this day I didn’t have it and needed to eat and bolused for what I had thought was the proper amount of carbs. Another problem I run into often is I will sit down and bolus for a meal that is right in front of me then get an emergency call just after I bolused and have to leave before I had the chance to eat this is where my trouble gets reversed and I end up getting hypo instead.
I got my life back in 1987 after my first shot of insulin. This is how I see it.
I love to go out with friends and to eat in a good restaurant… In Belgium, we like to dine heartily… nice food with a good glass of wine… I usually try to figure out approximately the amount of carbs, which is not easy and sometimes imposible. Experience and a good choice of the menu helps. Never go in fast food restaurants… this is actually no food, but probably rests from a chemical plant…
Giving nutritional information may help, but I would be very careful with that… I had some bad experience with pre packed food, with the number of carbs listed with even one digit after the comma…
Myself, I enjoy the restaurant, and hope for the best when I take my shot. Sometimes it works well and sometimes it doesn’t… but that’s the world we are living in…