Dear Jessica,
I have to travel for my job and so I am usually at the mercy of restaurants. Even if I stay in a place with a kitchen, it’s hard to find grocery stores and many of my meetings are at meals in restaurants so I can’t avoid restaurant eating. I don’t think I should have the attitude 'I’m diabetic so I’m just going to quit my job so that I can stay home and cook for myself." I’m thankful that many restaurants do accomodate diabetics and low-carbers and I think it’s morally right to advocate for the 1 million type 1s and the 18 million type 2s in the country. It’s also good business for restaurants. For example, we specifically visit Red Robin and Cracker Barrel because of their low-carb items. So I believe I am benefitting many people by bringing our needs to the right attention.
I certainly don’t advocate harrassing waitresses. In fact, one of my reasons for this post was to help us find restaurants that would have diabetic-friendly items on the menu so that we wouldn’t have to hassle anyone and then we wouldn’t suffer the indignity of being accused of being difficult.
But many restaurants do seem to be run by people who agree with what you said: “Stay home and cook it yourself.”
Please forgive me if I sound heavy-handed here. I had a surprisingly emotional reaction to your statement but please try to see things from my point of view too.
I don’t think she would be. You’re not accounting for the many people in the United States who don’t happen to be diabetic. I’m pretty sure they’ll keep eating out.
Well, honestly, not all of the world is diabetic so it is rather harsh to expect every restaurant to accommodate specific diets.
If you cannot manage to find at least one dish on a menu in a restaurant that would fit your needs then perhaps staying at home and/or only sticking to restaurants is the best plan. I don’t think there is any harm in saying that - it’s true.
But then maybe I have a different view on it. If I go into PF Changs I could order anything off the menu I wanted. I would just have to dial the information into my pump first. That’s one of the benefits of the pumps or MDI routine.
If you eat the entire plate of food a restaurant gives you and then continue to do that night after night at every restaurant you go to without much mind to the nutritional information then you are right - they might run the risk of developing type two assuming they have the genetic predisposition to it.
true to a degree, but it’s a unrealistic possibility. And why would you think i will do this for much longer? or why do you think i even need the job since i am not required to have a job according to my family until after i get out of college. i could just stay home and do nothing…
that’s unfortunate for you and it puts you in a unique position. What i said may not apply.
But i was talking from MY experience in all of 2 restaurants. There are diabetic friendly places, just not that many.
and yes it can be done to find healthy alternatives it requires more work and planning. I have traveled all over the globe personally and have figured it out, and yes sometimes i must be at the “mercy” of restaurants. My dad travels several times a month for work and can not have any type of fructose (certain types of sugar) w/o vomiting and getting extremely sick… and he has been that way for 30+ years… which means he can not eat any fruit ever, and most processed foods and he’s managed as well.
Anyone can count carbs and account for almost any amount, it’s not hard, but that does not necessarily mean it’s healthy.
You know what you’re putting in your body, and no one is trying to stop you. But there are just certain places where you can only expect to get so much.
There are plenty of restaurants that can accommodate almost anyone… but some are just meant for the general masses of people, and until EVERYONE is a diabetic or knows everything about diabetes it is just unrealistic to expect certain things.
At the end of the day, a restaurant is a business, and they just don’t care on an individual level.
you know i hate going to restaurants sometimes. mainly because they don’t always have the nutritional facts on hand. especially when it’s a local restaurant. drives me insane, i eat out a lot and most the time i have to guess by what i know looks the same from a different restaurant that i know has the nutritional facts around.
I think you’re selling these restaurants a little short. Take PF Chang’s: Yeah, many of the standards are going to be off-limits for those who practice carb restriction (which not all diabetics do; some just eat the carbs and compensate with insulin), but there are plenty of tasty choices that would be easily accommodated in most diets, and don’t leave you with the boring grilled chicken. I’d be a little hard-pressed to stay under Bernstein’s 12g limit for lunch or dinner, but I think I could do it – let’s say the wok-seared lamb (7) and a side of the cucumbers (5), for instance – and since I personally am able to be a little more lax, up to 25g at a meal as long as I don’t do that twice within a few days, I could easily eat at PF Chang’s and have something super-tasty and not feel shorted, especially if the server will work with me (which most will) and sub extra veggies instead of rice so my plate doesn’t look empty. I’d ask people what their personal limitations are, and go over the nutrition info with them – there are good choices there.
Outback. DN loves their cheese fries and we do go maybe twice a year. Their huge 24 oz portion (the appetizer portion) split in thirds, one third would be 90 grams. Yes, whole shebang is 240 grams! Outback does not give the carb contents on most of their food, just some. So 90 grams with a two and a half hour combo bolus worked! I was shocked we were able to master this! Their brownie, icecream thingie is 130 grams as well. She could not eat both at once, and chose the fries.
Call me crazy but when I bother to go out to eat it is a “treat” and I order what I want to eat and I just don’t eat the entire amount that is brought out. If you aren’t eating out all the time and you are able to adjust your insulin accordingly it wouldn’t seem to me that you would have to be that particular about your food. I don’t know if I’m the only one that feels this way but except when I was a little kid and there weren’t all the improvements in types of insulin and types of care available, then I wasn’t able to go crazy every once in awhile, but now as long as it’s just “every once in awhile” I can go eat at Applebee’s w/o giving it much thought except to make sure I take enough insulin for what I have eaten.
Well i just came from applebee’s and my waitress was very nice =)
he even asked how my pump works =)
it was funny cause he actually sat with me & my boyfriend to hear my story
very very nice guy =)
but im sorry for how they treated you…
you should of talked to the manager and said to him that u dont need to explain why u want
your food that way! =)
and yeah NO TIP for that girl at all! =)
i agree there are options. especially if you are not being carb restricted… then it really does not matter for most diabetics bc they can just compensate what ever is eaten with whatever units of insulin if they’re type 1.
but 90% of servers do not know the nutrition facts for every or even most items. we know ingredients but not carb or calorie count. even the chefs i’ve worked with have no idea. yes we have a nutrition book on hand with almost all items, but if it is a “new” menu item it is not always there.
i have honestly asked the chefs if there is sugar (in a general statement) and how much in sauces and dressing for food items and the response i get “we do not put sugar in that” … well true tey are not taking teaspoons of sugar and putting it in, but they really think there is no sugar in the dipping sauce for the spring rolls?
Really it comes down to people having no clue.
and the lamb, do you know if that carb count includes the dressing that is put on top?
plus at a restaurant like this, how do you know what a portion is? i can say that on each plate there is more than 1 since it is “family style” dining meant to be shared.
