we also use the diabetes pilot which we have found very helpful in communicating with our diabetes educators (who are 650 km away!) as we can email reports of all the info instead of having to read it all out over the phone.
[quote user="Matt Johnson"]
Honestly, I rarely ever know the EXACT nutritional value of all the foods that I'm eating at restaurants, but rather, just from experience I can get a pretty general idea of the amount of carbs in the food that I'm eating. Experience with the foods and educating yourself by researching charts with the amount of carbs in certain foods allows you to give yourself a pretty good estimate. Some people may be more sensitive than I am so 3-5 carbs off might make a big difference, but like I said, personally, I have few problems estimating.
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This ^
It's more of a trial and error system. You figure out a baseline for a certain type of food. Say I'm going to get a burger with fries/coleslaw at a sit down joint...I guestimate that the burger bun is about 45g and the fries are 80g. Then I'll give an extra unit or three to account for fat/protein or whatever other toppings I have on it.
I would not avoid a restaurant because I don't know what's in something. If I did that, I would never learn the carb value of different foods. Sure I may end up on either end of the high/low spectrum, but at least I'm gaining knowledge that can be applied going forward with that type of food etc.
I understand that for many of the parents here with youngins who have just been Dx'd that this may not sound like a fun scenario (guestimating!), but they are going to have to learn how to estimate carbs at some point. I would think that getting them thinking about it now rather than having them clueless when they run across a food they haven't experienced before or something.
Even if you do get the carb information for a particular restaurant's menu, you would still need to account for fat/protein and the slower digestion of those...which is difficult most of the time unless you're on a pump.
I love food....all kinds. There are foods that I will obviously avoid due to the plethora of carbs (desserts, pastas, fries), but not knowing the nutritional value of something isn't going to prevent me from eating it. If I go high or low, I correct, make a mental note that I didn't give myself enough or gave myself too much, and try to get it right next time.
We had the best experience when we were new to all of this- we went into a Champs and asked if they had carb counts -- they actually ran to a grocery store across the street to get a bun that they had the actual counts for. They specifically dished up ice cream in half cup measures for my ds so that he would KNOW that he was getting the right amount. I wrote a letter to the corporate office thanking them.
Other places not so great - like why does perkins have their carb counts available ON LINE but not have the ability to look it up at the resteraunt? Alot of times you just don't know before you leave home that you are going to want to stop for a bite to eat...or where.
I have found that some nicer restraunts are very good at looking the information up for you if you ask them to go to calorie king and share with them why it is needed. At one place the hostess came up and said it made her day that we asked as she was a studying to be a dietician.
In response to Pat's comment ...on one hand I agree - on the other, those with little ones have a totally different ballgame. One carb raises Lucas' bg about 8 points. 1 unit lowers his bg 200 points. We have much less room for error. I am a strong supporter for restaurants posting nutritional value - on the menu would be great - I would like to know if what I am ordering is 3000 calories with 27g of fat and I don't have any health issues. Realistically we can't food police everything (and don't want to) and we still make it by just doing our best guestimating.
I have no problem bringing our digital scale to a restaurant. I'm already bringing a full bag of ''stuff'' so why not? Don't care if people look at us weighing food, wait until I take out the needles! lol
You don't need to measure everything. I know a cup of milk is 12, a 1/2 cup of pasta is 15, slice of bread is 15...Once you get the hang of it is gets easier and you leave the scale at home. I love the scale we have. It even takes off the fibre count to give you the true Carb count.
I even got his daycare to pay for one. It's easier at home to count carbs because we have all the info on boxes and bags of the food we give him, And most of the fresh stuff like meats, veggies and fruits are easy to count. The daycare get their food from a caterer so the scale is perfect for them.
I'm sure you all have a similar one
http://www.diabetesexpress.ca/product_info.php/products_id/419
As a college student with an active lifestyle, I eat out constantly, and I've learned that it doesn't pay to be hit-or-miss. I've found that best way to guage the carbohydrate content in the foods I eat is to be very, very familiar with serving sizes. Most nutritional guides for diabetics list the carb content in your basic foods--rice, pasta, bread, etc.--rather than in an actual "meal," which can be as diverse as the chef cooking it. I would say just familiarize yourself with how many grams of carbs a serving of white rice is, vs. how many grams a serving of brown rice is, vs. pasta, vs. potatoes, etc. That way, you can ask, "How many ounces of potatoes did you use in this?" and calculate accordingly--or if you do it enough that you get really good at it, can just eyeball your dish and gauge for yourself what the portion size is. Finding restaurants that specifically list the carbohydrate content of their foods is incredibly useful, but only about 5% of the restaurants I've ever eaten at will do that for you, and most of those are the corporate chains. I'd say that learning serving sizes is the best way to go.
Hope this helps!
Kelsey