Eating Out Healthy
Dining out does not mean you need to abandon your diet and blood glucose control. You want to be able to enjoy your meal and the experience. When you eat out, restaurants can sometimes serve too much food.
Here are some things you can do to have a good time and not jeopardize your diabetes control or compromise your transplant. Individuals in the transplant process can also have other dietary restrictions (i.e. low fat, low protein, low sodium, low potassium, need to avoid concentrated sugar, etc.) You can make healthy choices while eating out that will accommodate your needs.
The following recommendations should be used as a guide for healthy meals. It is important to consult with a registered dietitian when designing individual meal plans that will fit within you diabetes management program and transplant process.
Be Careful Where You Eat
Many restaurants now have healthy choices on their menu. Make an effort to go to a restaurant that does this. If you are not sure, call and ask.
Also, ask if they will make a special request; this has become very acceptable as our society becomes more health conscious.
Examples:
- Ask for your salad dressing on the side
- Select broiled instead of fried meat
- Baked potato instead of mashed or French fries
Try Not to Overeat
Many restaurants have a "Super Size Mentality" where more is better. If you have eaten everything on your plate, typically you have eaten too much. These tips may help prevent this:
- Do not over order, instead of a main dish order:
- Appetizer
- Salad
- Side order of vegetables / potato
- Share your food with your dining partner
- Take half of your food home for eating another time
- Drink plenty of water or low calorie beverage with your meal
- Eat slowly
Healthy Hints
Here are some additional healthy hints that you can try while eating out. These hints can apply to restaurants and fast food. In general, to optimize blood glucose control it is necessary to control the total carbohydrates that an individual ingests.
But it is also important to remember that part of a healthy diet for individuals in the transplant process with diabetes is to also monitor fat intake and maintain a lower sodium diet. To limit fat intake, follow these simple hints.
- Appetizers: consider a broth-based soup or a salad with low fat dressing
- Meat: look for words that indicate a smaller portion size such as petite, sandwich size and 5-6 ounces, junior, single, and regular
- Cooking styles: choose food preparation that will not add excessive fat into meals. Choose char grilled, baked, broiled, blackened, stir fried, marinated, poached and steamed.
- On the side: hold or have on the side items such as butter, mayonnaise, sour cream, guacamole, and salad dressing
- Salads: are thought to be low calorie, but this is not always true. Hold or limit high fat items such as croutons, cheese, bacon bits and high fat salad dressings.
View a list of fast food and chain restaurant Nutritional Guide (PDF).
Watch for Fats in Foods
Fats are the hardest item to control while eating out, but there are ways to watch for fats on the menu and at the table.
Here are some words that can mean fat in food:
- Oil
- Fried
- Sour cream
- Batter fried
- Cheese
- Cream sauce
- Butter
- Cheese sauce
- Sausage
- White sauce
- Bacon