All you can eat buffets.

[Cofito]

So how do you all regulate/calculate or deal with all you can eat buffets.

My son as I have said loves his good so we do tend to go to these often as gives both him and his brother the option to choose meals themselves.

Thinking about it if say Chinese the fresh grill would be extra that he could eat on top. Meat prawns squid etc but the other meal items trying to figure out how much is in what must be hard or is there some (short cuts probably not the right word) but thing that you all do to make it easy to go to these types of restaurants.

We are due to go away next weekend for a night and although the oh we can't go has come up I'm very much why shouldn't we go. As it is the same as if we are at home and got to deal with everything at some point 🙂.

 

[Amberzak]

Do you carb count?

I plan before how much carbs I'm going to eat, then if I want more I take more insulin.

I'm on the pump now, but with multiple injections it meant a second injection. Be sure to test regularly when doing something like this so you can see if it's worked, and don't worry if things don't go right this time. Remember that for next time. It's all about learning how things work for your son.

For example, I always went high when eating egg fried rice, despite carb counting correctly. I've since discovered than for some reason, when I eat egg fried rice, I need more insulin that I normally do. After much experimentation, I have worked out how much I need now it's it's fine.

 

[trophywench]

Difficulty is eg chicken in lemon sauce, what's in that sauce? How many carbs in that particular spring roll, handful of prawn crackers? Always be on a wing and a prayer, that type of meal, so my way is to enjoy the food, bolus conservatively and deal with the aftermath, after. But it can take a couple of days for my BG to 'get over' it, so we don't do it very often.

Every single restaurant you go to, will be different, same as Indian or even pub chains who although they are supposed to put eg X weight of prawns in a certain offering - if they haven't quite defrosted enough or too many, it will be about right (by look, by the kitchen staff) but hardly ever absolutely bang on.

You have the right attitude however - life should indeed be just normal. Treat it as a challenge - but make sure your son also wants to experiment and will be prepared for more (hourly?) finger pricks after he eats it!

 

[khskel]

Probably not appealing to your son but during a recent trip down south we went to a Toby Carvery and I was able to pig out on loads of veg, meat and a Yorkshire all for a bolus of 3 units of novo rapid. NB their horseradish gravy is rather good 🙂

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Absolutely no reason why you cannot continue to enjoy all you can eat buffets - though you may need a bit of practice before you work out a system that works for you 🙂

My approach to these kind of places is usually this:

• Try to avoid massive carb overload by deliberately going a bit easy on rice, garlic bread, naan etc...
• If going for puds, don't go nuts and overdo it. Though tbh there might be quite a bit of food to slow it down, whatever he fancies
• An app/book like 'Carbs and cals' can help with visual ready-reckoning
• Assume that I am going to get the carb guess wrong, and dose as if the count is around a third more than I think
• Assume that the food is likely to be quite fatty as well as a pretty hefty carb load both of which can slow the carbs down, so 'split the dose' taking some up front and then the rest around 2 hours later. It might be a 60:40 split, or 50:50 or any number of other options!
• Test lots and don't forget that if you have split the dose bedtime is likely to come around with quite a bit of insulin still active. Testing overnight to be on the safe side is well worth considering.
• Enjoy it! And don't expect perfect numbers, but try to remember/record what you did to inform your guesswork next time

 

[Cofito]

Thanks all. Did kind of think it will be some trial and error but some good methods and ideas to look at and to discuss with him about what we could do.

We may not visit one yet but due to go away on Saturday, although just a night, would like to think we can choose where ever both our boys want to eat as we normly do. 🙂