Eating Out With Diabetes - A Forbidden Pleasure?

By Julia Hanf in Diabetes on February 26th, 2008

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by Julia Hanf

Most techniques of diabetes management veer heavily towards monitoring and regulating your diet, in view of the fact that the high blood glucose that brings diabetes its much-dreaded notoriety, is a directly influenced by the carbohydrates you consume. Keeping your diet well-within the recommended guidelines also goes a long way in ensuring that you keep away from mindless bingeing and irregular food habits, which pave the way for obesity. And thus, diet plays a predominant role in determining the effectiveness of your diabetes control, both as an immediate determinant of your blood glucose levels and also as a precautionary measure to keep you from the complications to your diabetes that obesity brings about. Here, it is equally important for you to not just track your calorific intake, but also schedule your meals at regular and frequent intervals to allow your body to receive a constant and steady supply of energy.

With such stringent restrictions and meticulously planned meals, the prospect of eating out for a change is very likely to make even the most ambivalent of diabetics shudder. A huge part of this fear stems from the fact that at a restaurant, it is not you who decide everything that goes into each dish that you consume, and also the paranoia that you might eat more than what is recommended for you, consciously or otherwise. Many diabetics also shy away from eating out at social occasions, afraid that social pressures may force them to indulge.

This stifling attitude towards eating out is rapidly changing to a more flexible one, with diabetes experts recommending the use of exchange lists. This method of meal planning focuses more on the nutritional composition of your meal, instead of the meal in itself, thereby allowing you to make changes and switches as and when you need to. And so, by simply balancing your meal to accommodate your daily nutritional requirements, you can adapt your dietary regime to include more variety making eating out a much more feasible option.

The two major challenges that eating out pose are the ingredients your meal is made up of and the portion size. If you haven’t been to the particular restaurant before, or are looking to experiment with a relatively unknown item on the menu, ask your server about what you should expect. Letting your server know the kind of food you are looking for also goes a long way in ensuring that your meal is as diabetes-friendly as possible, as most restaurants offer substitutes for their popular dishes that are low in calories, high in fiber and low in sodium. Many chefs also try to accommodate special requests for low fat or reduced cholesterol alternatives, if you make it a point to let them know when you order your meal.

A majority of diabetics fumble when posed with the issue of portion size, neglecting the fact that most restaurant portions are a lot larger than what is recommended for them. If you find your meal looking a lot larger than what you are accustomed to, don’t force yourself to wolf down more food than you usually do. Share the remainder with your dining companions or carry it back home, to make for an appetizing snack the next day. Try to make your meal as nutritious as possible by choosing your food sensibly. For instance, you could replace your white bread rolls with whole wheat ones, a red meat entre with grilled chicken, and even a low-calorie vinaigrette instead of a mayonnaise or cream-based salad dressing.

Plan your diabetes medication in tandem your meal time. If dinner’s going to keep you waiting a while, it helps to consume a your after dinner snack before dinner to keep your blood glucose from dipping too low. Consult your physician to adjust your medication with this swap, to maintain a steady level of glucose in your body. Make reservations whenever possible and be on time to ensure that you aren’t kept waiting for your meal. And lastly, don’t ruin your carefully planned dinner by helping yourself to a fat and sugar laden dessert at the end of your meal. Choose a more diabetes-friendly fruit salad instead of the guilt-laden tiramisu the difference it makes to your diabetic wellbeing is well worth the sacrifice!

Eating out, when you have diabetes is not an inconceivable notion - provided you pay attention to these basic guidelines. Also remember that over-indulgent damage, if done is not irreversible and can be amended with balancing your excesses with your other meals, thus making room for any additional calories. Try to keep your dietary schedule, and your attitude flexible; rigid and harsh methods of dealing with your disease will only lead you to be disheartened and binge uncontrollably with one single day of havoc causing damage you’ll have to spend years recovering from.

About the Author:

Julia Hanf author of the book How To Play the Diabetes Diet Game and Win Through a real life crisis Julia figured out how to live diabetes free. Visit www.yourdiabetescure.com and learn more about your solution for diabetes.