Today we went to Dave and Busters and had a horrible experience when it came to finding nutritional information, specifically an accurate carb count for our newly T1D diagnosed daughter.
Reading the information, there is no indication of actual serving size and it is not clear what is included in the ‘servings’.
The Kids Goldfingers were listed to have 68g total carbs which is astronomical for fried chicken fingers. Their listing for ‘side of french fries’ has that listed at 105g carbs. There is no way that the meal had 173g of carbs. Using Culver’s as a comparison, a chicken tender kids meal with fries is 56g total. Even if we doubled a Culver’s meal it is only at 112g…not even close to 173 that Dave and Busters stated on their menu.
So my question is…
Am I crazy and doing something wrong here in calculating the carbs?
I believe I am calculating things correctly but always open to better understand things as we get used to this new way of life.
If I did calculate this correctly, have this be a warning about the accuracy of the info at D&B. Had we dosed insulin for what they had published, we would have had a world of problems. T1D is frustrating enough, running into stuff like this is just maddening.
Very frustrating!! I don’t mind guessing for MYSELF, but as a parent trying to assist a child, I would hate it.
What did you end up doing, and how did it turn out?
It sounds like you used a logical and rational approach based on your experiences with eating out. Kudos to you!
But it IS scary when the information is inaccurate. T1D is hard, even with good info.
Hi Dan @dsinnett and Welcome to TypeOneNation Forum, and to the realities of needing to figure out the accuracy of some food statistics. I’ve been in that situation many times.
I’m not familiar with Dave & Busters but it could be possible for the “Goldfingers” to be loaded with carbohydrates. I have learned that cooks / chefs often add sweeteners to foods to make them more appetizing, and especially to kids meals; in kitchens I’ve seen gallon jugs of corn syrup readily at hand. YES, hidden carbs galore; the head chef at a “classie” restaurant I frequented would warn me away from certain specials being offered.
When I think published carb are out-of-line, I make meal calculations cautiously - lower than higher on insulin - and then monitor after the meal and take additional insulin when needed. Chances are, after eating two fried selections, your daughter would need an insulin booster a few hours after her meal. For me when eating french fries, I bolus for the estimated carbs in the potato at meal time and then after a few hours need more insulin to cover the delayed impact of fat. It is tricky and we must be cautious to keep from “stacking” insulin; I’ve been working at managing my body glucose with insulin for over 60 years and the hardest part for me is a meal with lots of deep fried food. Pizza, which I really like, is another tricky food but I’ve got that down to a science so I can enjoy eating without much concern.
I travel for work and sometimes have to eat 2-3 meals a day at restaurants. Believe me when I say that they put carbs in the water. All in, if I were to have that meal you describe above, , I’d end up high for 4 hours and a total bolus of at least 100 grams carbs.
the penalty for failure is very high, so if I eat at a restaurant and find myself higher than I want to be, I walk or use the hotel gym, or more insulin if necessary.
literally anything battered and fried, and any and all sauces at restaurants are basically, solid carbs. If you stick to very small portions, and are prepared to test for 3-4 hours afterwards, you can do OK in restaurants… and you can take a pointer out of my handy manual for diabetes: bolus for the carbs you are sure of, and “you can always take more insulin”.
Thank you Dennis and Joe for all of your knowledge and experience and for all you do as moderators of this forum. As a fellow T1 D, I know what I might do when faced with an unknown carb situation. I am curious as to what a PARENT might do and how it turned out. Please @dsinnett, if you might share. It could help other parents.
Thank you for all the responses on this. We ended up basing the insulin dose on a similar meal from another place that we knew was accurate. We did err on the side of caution knowing we could always administer additional insulin if needed later in the day.
I did reach out to Dave and Busters and they did contact me to apologize for the lack of clarity and confusion. I really appreciate that they did reach back out and took the feedback to heart.
It has been quite the journey since the diagnosis only 6 weeks ago. We are learning to manage and roll with things.
Again, thanks to all for the feedback and words of encouragement.
Glad to hear of the feedback from D&B. Yes, as a parent, I would have erred on the side of caution. As a T1D, I’ve learned that I might need to be extra vigilant if I think I happened to go overboard on the insulin.
I recently went to a great Tex-Mex restaurant. I completely missed the mark on carbs (the tortilla chips were sooooo good). I spent the evening trying to correct, but never could. I felt like crap, but the meal was DELICIOUS.
You and your daughter will get very good at guessing carbs just by looking at something. But some things are still surprising.
I had a burger from a fast food franchise today that had 3 fried chicken strips instead of a patty, I was glad I googled their nutrition before bolusing when I saw it was 250% the carbohydrate content of a beef patty on an identically sized bun.
High fat content and starch do a lot of wierd things to your BG.
Nobody mentioned that the fat makes it sit in your stomach for a while before the carbs kick in, so it really is a roller coaster ride. Someday I’ll try to wizard those dual/square wave boluses…
C’est la vie. Danged if you do, and danged if you don’t. For newly diagnosed I think a simple carbohydrate counter book may help. It should tell you the carbs in a single serving of fruit, bread and other bread exchanges, or starches as they are called, and the size of a single serving.
The books should be pretty basic.
I like the idea of an exchange list. For instance the diet for each meal should be limited to the number of meat, fruit, bread, milk fat exchanges that a registered dietitian would prescribe per meal for a diabetic based on the diabetic’s age, health, daily exercise and doctors’ recommendations. It’s been working for me for 64 years…