It's important to follow your meal plan as closely as possible even when eating out. Always be aware of the nutritional requirements laid out by your doctor or dietitian. This way you can still enjoy eating out without straying from your meal plan. 

Eating Out With Diabetes:

If you have “type two diabetes” as I do, it is important to follow your meal plan as closely as possible even when eating out. Try to choose a restaurant with a widely varied menu so that you have a better chance of eating the foods you want. Remember to only order what you want, and what you need. Know the alternatives for your meal plan in case the restaurant doesn't have exactly what you want.

If you phone ahead to the restaurant you have a better chance of having your special needs met. When making a reservation at your restaurant of choice see if your food can be prepared with low-fat margarine, vegetable oil, minimal salt, with no excess of sauce or butter and broiled as opposed to fried. Either that or you could ask for a copy of the menu so that you can know in advance which meals suit your meal plan. Let the manager know you appreciate the healthy menu choices. If you're looking for more choices with low calories and low cholesterol don't be afraid to speak up. Like any business a restaurant will want to make customers happy and keep their business. They can only know what will make you happy as a customer if you tell them.

The average meal from a fast food restaurant can be as high as a startling 1000 calories; it can cause your blood sugar to skyrocket.

It's one of life's great pleasures to eat out at a nice restaurant. Make sure to choose wisely and not be afraid to ask for the meal types you require, balance your restaurant meals with more meals at home in alignment with your meal plan. This way you can manage your diabetes and still enjoy eating out.

Do's:

- Be sure to choose fresh fruit and veggies.

- Request food without salt or MSG.

- Ask for a smaller or even half portion of the meal.

- Plain foods like meat, poultry, fish and shellfish are ideal so long as they are grilled, roasted or broiled.

- Separate out your desired portion and have the rest put in a box to take home.

- Split your desserts. - If your meal is breaded be sure to remove the outer coating. - Vinegar with a touch of oil or squeezed lemon is a good alternative to salad dressing.

Don't:

- Don't eat soups or broths.

- Don't have alcohol with your meal. With your doctor's permission you may be able to have the occasional alcoholic beverage with dinner. However, be aware that alcohol does add calories to your overall meal. It can also trigger complications with diabetes such as eye and nerve damage.

Taking your meals at the same times each day can help balance your blood sugar level; this is especially true for those who take pills or shots of insulin for their diabetes. Consider these pointers when eating out with friends and family:

Make sure the time you go out to eat will be at your usual mealtime.

Make a reservation or avoid busy restaurants so that you don't end up waiting for a table.

If eating later than your scheduled time is unavoidable then snack on fruit or some variety of starch at your usual time.

No matter where or how you're eating, proper nutrition is key to managing diabetes. You'll need to consume a number of different healthy foods. Keep the salt in your diet to a minimum. Make sure to control your portion sizes. Always be aware of the nutritional requirements laid out by your doctor or dietitian. This way you can still enjoy eating out without straying from your meal plan.

Kim Green

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All this talk about the metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes is confusing.  Are these two conditions connected?  Can they be prevented and/or treated?

What is the Metabolic Syndrome?

• it is now known this syndrome raises the risk of developing diabetes and cardiovascular disease
• has been known by several names, including insulin resistance
• it is believed to be driven by obesity

Read the rest of this entry »

Naturally you can't eat a diet of pure protein, although protein can be considered the one indispensable food since fractions of it can be converted into fat and carbohydrate, but not vice versa. You can see why the new slimming diets emphasize protein, because liberal allowances can be expected to cause greater loss of weight than would the same number of fat or carbohydrate calories. When you eat proteins you really hire a Simon Legree to crack the whip on lazy calories, making them buckle down to honest toil instead of picking daisies as they drift to your fat depots. Nor is the slimming aspect of proteins their sole claim to your respect. They stimulate the general efficiency of your body, replace worn out tissues, furnish materials for zippy gland hormones and build vigor and stamina.

Many people still have a vague impression that a high-protein diet is unhealthy. Doctors used to think so too, but the newer knowledge of nutrition has pretty generally knocked the props from under this idea. One supposedly dangerous effect of protein was its action on the kidneys. Various ailments of these vital organs were laid to heavy eating of protein. In recent months, doctors have discarded this superstition so completely that today high-protein diets are prescribed for some—not all—kidney ailments.

Vilhjalmur Stefansson, the Arctic explorer, spent several years living with Eskimos on an exclusive meat diet. According to theories then current, he should have been struck down by all manner of ailments, from Bright's disease to scurvy. He was so uncooperative with theory, however, as to thrive on his all-meat, high-protein diet. His "unbalanced" eating habits failed even to raise his blood pressure, and he was downright stubborn in his insistence that he never felt better in his life. Later he lived on the same diet in New York, where physicians could clap stethoscopes on him. They couldn't find a thing wrong with him. Since then there has been abundant evidence that high-protein diets can be continued indefinitely without ill effect, except in certain cases of disease.

Experiments leading to the belief that protein was dangerous to kidneys were performed, in large part, before the all-important effects of vitamins and minerals were well understood. Another supposed danger of proteins—that they putrefy in the intestines and produce poisons absorbed by the body—is much more theoretical than real, on the basis of present conservative opinion. An inflamed, diseased colon can conceivably absorb toxins through its walls. That a normal colon will do is extremely doubtful. The theory of poison absorption is the popularly horrifying one of "autointoxication." Curiously, no one has ever satisfactorily demonstrated the presence in the blood, or the. specific identity of, the postulated poisons that stage these Borgian Blitzkriegs.

One famous experiment by Dr. Walter Alvarez of the Mayo Clinic has demonstrated that every symptom attributed to "autointoxication" can be produced by stuffing the rectum with cotton. The symptoms are real, but the causes are more mechanical than chemical. Meat is by no means the only excellent source of protein. Other animal products—milk, eggs, cheese—are outstanding. A protein is considered biologically complete if it furnishes liberal amounts of the amino acids needed by the body.

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