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No you’ve read the OP entirely wrong. They want a campaign for menus to label meals as diabetic when eating out. They don’t want to know how to choose an option themselves, they want the labelling to highlight the options to them
No you’ve read the OP entirely wrong. They want a campaign for menus to label meals as diabetic when eating out. They don’t want to know how to choose an option themselves, they want the labelling to highlight the options to them
Can't agree there I'm afraid. I've reread the original post and have a very different interpretation.
I took it to mean that the OP was frustrated by the lack of low carb options on the menus they've seen recently and was wondering if there was an existing campaign for diabetic menus in restaurants, perhaps with a view to signing up, or starting their own petition.
If I was wrong about that I apologise to the OP for misreading their post. Hope we haven't scared them away, I'm only trying to help 😳
I read it like @Lucyr - ie having things labelled as diabetic just as some meals are labelled as vegetarian. Here:
“There are always vegan, veggie and gluten free options but these are not always low carb. Wondered if there had ever been any campaigns to have diabetic options included on menus?”
On the contrary, not only has there been no such campaign to my knowledge, things like the labelling of food stuffs as ‘Diabetic’ has been successfully campaigned against by Diabetes U.K. People with diabetes eat a wide variety of diets so it would be like having a diet option For People With Blue Eyes on the menu.
Morning everyone - sorry for not replying last night - I am swimming twice a day this week to complete the swim22 challenge and was just too tired to check in last night. Firstly - thank you everyone for your contributions. Secondly, let me first apologise for a clumsy title to the thread that has obviously caused confusion. I guess I was coming from the POV of having been so newly diagnosed, feeling somewhat guilty of my prior ignorance of how difficult it is sometimes being diabetic and finding a new found empathy for all of those of you who have been navigating this for years. I wasn't really aiming for meals on menus to be labelled as 'diabetic' just for restaurants to be aware of having a couple of dishes that are more diabetic friendly for those of us trying to limit carbs e.g fresh fruit as a desert option; a chicken option that isn't coated in bread crumbs; a lunch option that doesn't involve thick cut bread. I am sorry to have opened a can of worms - but thank you for i) the really good suggestions of how I can navigate menus going forward and ii) the lesson that I need to be much more careful about explaining myself fully if I ever post again!.
What would a diabetic option look like @Sweetmadriana ? I have diabetes and I eat bread, pasta, potatoes, rice, ice cream, desserts, etc. There is no one diabetic diet. More than that, a menu implying there is, can spread ignorance about the condition.
Just a thought - some restaurants give the average calorie count for their meals. Perhaps menus would be more helpful if they stated - not a diabetic label - but a low/lower carb label, or something like "less than xxxgm carbs per portion". Some online menus also do contain nutritional information, which includes the carb value. I check in advance before going somewhere new, but must admit I tend to stick to my "old faithfuls". In fact tomorrow may well be a roast without potatoes or yorkies!
Just a thought - some restaurants give the average calorie count for their meals. Perhaps menus would be more helpful if they stated - not a diabetic label - but a low/lower carb label, or something like "less than xxxgm carbs per portion". Some online menus also do contain nutritional information, which includes the carb value. I check in advance before going somewhere new, but must admit I tend to stick to my "old faithfuls". In fact tomorrow may well be a roast without potatoes or yorkies!
I think the confusion/conflict is caused by people coming at this from their own perspective of diabetes and how they manage theirs. I think a "Low Carb" option on a menu would be nice but ....
a) should not be labelled as "diabetic friendly" and
b) would likely cost more because, as I explained above, carbs are the cheapest element on the plate, so that is where the profit is made.
Most of us who follow a low carb way of eating, have had to learn how to adjust our shopping and menu at home to accommodate our needs and tastes and really the same applies to eating out. How many carbs any one individual finds acceptable varies, so we can't expect restaurants to cater to that varied need.
I understand the value of having low carb meals but perhaps this should not be focused on people with diabetes . It should just be low carb. Type 2 diabetes is not the only reason for people to chose to eat a low carb diet.
I see this analogous with gluten free food. They are not labeled as "coeliac-friendly" because there are people who favour a gluten-free diet without having a diagnosis of coeliac.
Just a thought - some restaurants give the average calorie count for their meals. Perhaps menus would be more helpful if they stated - not a diabetic label - but a low/lower carb label, or something like "less than xxxgm carbs per portion". Some online menus also do contain nutritional information, which includes the carb value. I check in advance before going somewhere new, but must admit I tend to stick to my "old faithfuls". In fact tomorrow may well be a roast without potatoes or yorkies!
The total calorie and carb content is something that can be achieved by large chains but I would not want to add this overhead to small independent restaurants who base today's menu on what is available at the market
If you’re type 2 eating low carb, NEVER ask for a diabetic option on a flight. I was given a huge plate of rice with some boiled fish and a couple slices of roast pepper. Oh and a gluten free bread roll that had the constancy of a cannonball. Now I just go for a meat based meal, which usually only has a small portion of carbs, and take a couple of packs of long life low carb bread for long haul, one for the flight out and one for the return. Usually there’s an omelette option for breakfast
Thanks for clarifying @Sweetmadriana🙂 I think the issue with carbs is that they’re pretty easy to spot so there’s not any need to label them. As an example, my local restaurant does a salad option that’s basically a salmon fillet on a bed of Mediterranean style green salad. That’s clearly low carb whereas their pasta meals and pizzas clearly won’t be. This is very different from, say, labelling a pizza as veggie because it’s not obvious if non-veggie foods are included even on something like a cheese and tomato pizza - because the cheese could be non-veggie. So, vegetarians and vegans can’t just look at a meal and know it’s veggie/vegan. It might have meat stocks, non-veggie cheese, egg (if you’re vegan), fish sauce, etc etc.
I’d also add that most restaurants are happy to make simple swaps, eg swapping the chips for a side salad, or for people to order two starters rather than a main meal. Cheese rather than dessert is a good low carb option, or a nice coffee or even a whisky or whatever if you want a low carb treat item. Presuming you eat meat and/or fish, low carb is easy. Even burger chains will serve you a burger without the bun.
I ate in an M and S restaurant on Monday after a language class. I've eaten in their cafe next to the food hall that offers sandwiches which are labelled scones and cake which are not. The main restaurant had photos and calorie counts. I chose hey pesto which was asparagus tips pesto on grilled halloumi with a piece of foccaccia and 2 poached eggs. I didn't realise til it arrived that it was on a piece of bread I thought the halloumi was on the bottom. I remember thinking it was a pity they didn't put carb content. I tend to go to independent restaurants and cafes. For that reason, I have chosen to still eat bread when I go to a cafe. If you cut out cake pastry and potatoes there is little choice though I occasionally have cake or a teacake.
My local city has abranch of pho which has info on the menu. We recently had a steak only restaurant open. I looked up the options before I went. It is £10 for steak £1 for sauce sides £4 each. I realised chips were the better option than the brown butter mash but it was a big helping and I left some. I have been back and had two sides of veg and no potato. Their sister restaurant only sells pasta and I no longer go there.
It would be nice to have a few more low carb options available in restaurants but I can usually find something that suits me and I make requests if I can't find anything suitable. I agree that they shouldn't be labeled as diabetic meals though, lots of people who don't have diabetes follow a low carb diet for many reasons and lots of people with diabetes enjoy carbs!
I generally find that the low carb options are also the low calorie options (eg salads) which isn't always helpful when you're hungry! I'm not on a very low calorie diet, I just don't want a lot of bread, rice, pasta etc because it makes me feel tired and unwell (not because of my diabetes), I'd rather fill up on protein, healthy fats and vegetables.
I usually find restaurants are happy to swap chips for extra salad or vegetables or give you less bread if you ask. I like to have a small amount of carbs so I might ask for extra vegetables with a steak (which I pay extra for) and then only eat a few of the chips instead of eating them all.
Lots of chain restaurants have their full nutritional information available online. A quick Google will bring up calories, carbs etc for a lot of restaurant menus. Pizza express and Pho are two that I have used recently. I generally eat at local restaurants though, so eating out is usually a game of guess the carbs! I just accept that my control might not be so good on those nights.
There are apps which will tell you the carb content of many restaurant/cafe items. Personally I use NutraCheck to track my carbs - as it has the facility to carb count and store my own recipes as well as a huge database of supermarket foods and chain restaurant offerings.
M&S cafe was mentioned above - as an example, an M&S Cafe cheese scone, my mid- shopping snack of choice, is listed as 33.7g carb. I round that to 35g and I would use the same figure for a cheese scone in any other establishment - there’s not a lot of variation between scones!
Using the app I can find pretty close approximations for most dishes to be found in restaurants.
Perhaps menus would be more helpful if they stated - not a diabetic label - but a low/lower carb label, or something like "less than xxxgm carbs per portion"
Giving the carbs would be more helpful than this but in most chains if you want the carbs you can ask for the nutritional information book and they’ll bring it to you to check yourself
Giving the carbs would be more helpful than this but in most chains if you want the carbs you can ask for the nutritional information book and they’ll bring it to you to check yourself
I go to the Sidmouth folk festival most years and the kitchen at the Rugby Club is great as it is run by a type 2 diabetic who seems to understand what I need for a low carb way of eating. My plated meals look strange to the waiting staff and other diners but it is tempting to take a week off from cooking and just eat there.
