View Full Version : chinese take out
grace girl
07-29-2006, 05:03 PM
Tonight was a first since carb counting..did the chinese take out thing. I spent an hour on the web and in my carb books looking for info, but it's not all that easy to find. The restaurant didn't have any nutritional info so, I guestimated.
I know I could have played it safe and opted for the lower carb/non fried things, but we eat chinese so rarely that I decided to just be me, and see what happens. I had an egg roll, some pork fried rice and moo goo gai pan.
I'm assuming that the higher fat content in chinese than my normal diet means this will be with me for a while number wise....
I hate guessing, though, because you can end up too high or too low! I'll be checking a lot!
You'll be high...guaranteed. I've basically given up chinese food from my diet, it didn't matter if I weighed, measured, calculated, demontrated, protested, etc. I was always wrong in the end about how much insulin I needed. It's part of that Axis of Evil--Chinese, Mexican and Pizza. But I don't like Mex and I have basically figured out pizza, but I can't get a grasp on Chinese. So...I gave it up. Plus, it makes me feel lethargic and bloated, and that was true even before I became diabetic.
Penny
07-29-2006, 05:39 PM
You'll be high...guaranteed. I've basically given up chinese food from my diet, it didn't matter if I weighed, measured, calculated, demontrated, protested, etc. I was always wrong in the end about how much insulin I needed. It's part of that Axis of Evil--Chinese, Mexican and Pizza. But I don't like Mex and I have basically figured out pizza, but I can't get a grasp on Chinese. So...I gave it up. Plus, it makes me feel lethargic and bloated, and that was true even before I became diabetic.
Me too. When the family brings home Chinese takeout, I might have an eggroll, but I always inject for it and use no carbs for the rest of my meal. And I am usually still hungry. So it really isn't worth the effort most of the time.
poodlebone
07-29-2006, 08:10 PM
I've had Chinese only once so far since I started pumping over a year ago. Numbers were great for several hours after and when I went to bed I meant to set a temporary basal rate (higher) but forgot, so I woke up high.
My problem is I don't do an extended bolus for a long enough period of time. Same with Indian food.
I've had Chinese only once so far since I started pumping over a year ago. Numbers were great for several hours after and when I went to bed I meant to set a temporary basal rate (higher) but forgot, so I woke up high.
My problem is I don't do an extended bolus for a long enough period of time. Same with Indian food.
That's the problem for me with Chinese. Yeah, I could take enough insulin for long enough using a combination of boluses, lots of testing and strict monitoring...BUT in the end, was it worth all that effort so I could chow down on General Chicken Toes and Egg Foo Young?
And then, if there was any gastric distress...LOL, not worth it.
amccrazgrl
07-29-2006, 08:57 PM
i have no problems w/ chinese.
had it few nights ago and woke up my bs was normal.
...must...not...get...jealous! :hmpf:
Cinnabon
07-30-2006, 06:23 AM
Grace,
How did it go??
I stay away from chinese... rather go Japanese (sushi), thats not that tricky.
grace girl
07-30-2006, 10:09 AM
300 two hours after eating! However, I've had a bit of a cold the past two days and the numbers have been erratic anyway. I'll try it again when I'm totally well and see what happens. Even if it still runs me high, I doubt I would give it up. As I said, we don't do it too often, and I do love it. Maybe next time I'll take a late night dip in the pool afterwards to work off some of those numbers!
am1977
07-30-2006, 10:12 AM
300 two hours after eating! However, I've had a bit of a cold the past two days and the numbers have been erratic anyway. I'll try it again when I'm totally well and see what happens. Even if it still runs me high, I doubt I would give it up. As I said, we don't do it too often, and I do love it. Maybe next time I'll take a late night dip in the pool afterwards to work off some of those numbers!
Ugh... :frown:.. I have trouble with Chinese too. I hope you at least enjoyed it :wink: :eating:
Wow, I've never had an issue and have Chinese food once a week. I try to eat just half the egg roll or at least just half the outer wrapper, since it's pure carbs, and eat all the veggies inside. I rarely get rice but when I have rice, it doesn't affect me. I can eat spare ribs, chicken fingers, har lung woo, beef with mushrooms, etc without having any issues at all.
I also avoid the duck sauce or have just one teaspoon for the entire meal
kgm0612
07-31-2006, 08:58 AM
My blood sugars and Chinese food do not get along! LOL
Since being dx'd three years ago, and pumping only 7 months, I think I've eaten Chinese food about 5 times. I can never guess the amount of carbs and when I do a "guesstimate" of how much insulin I need, I am always way off.
Karen
poodlebone
07-31-2006, 09:09 AM
The one thing I miss about MDI using NPH + HUmalog is that I never had a problem with Chinese food, and ate it all the time. NPH was so wacky it managed to take care of the fat whether I had it for lunch or for dinner. All I ever did was take a shot of Humalog before the meal and I was good after that.
Just_Plain_John
08-02-2006, 10:45 AM
One thing you might try is getting the same dish several times in a row, but adjusting your insulin each time for that particuar dish - knowing that a dinner size Triple Delight Special from your local shop will make you react the same each time. Thus you can see if a higher bolus will tame the high, or if it spikes later than your insulin's peak, etc.
If I am eating out and the service is in courses - an extended time - I'll wait until after the salad to take my injection. My +2hr reading after the main course is usually right on, or at least within 20pts of where I wanted.
seacomp
08-02-2006, 03:45 PM
One thing you might try is getting the same dish several times in a row, but adjusting your insulin each time for that particuar dish - knowing that a dinner size Triple Delight Special from your local shop will make you react the same each time. Thus you can see if a higher bolus will tame the high, or if it spikes later than your insulin's peak, etc.
This is a good general strategic for all diabetics, whether he or she takes insulin or not. That is, master a limited number of dishes at the places you normally eat. You will not have as much variety as other people might, but after a while you will have a set of foods that you like and which you can control (in terms of the effect on your BG).
CiContention
08-02-2006, 04:06 PM
This is a good general strategic for all diabetics, whether he or she takes insulin or not. That is, master a limited number of dishes at the places you normally eat. You will not have as much variety as other people might, but after a while you will have a set of foods that you like and which you can control (in terms of the effect on your BG).
I really wish you would stop going around posting false generalizations about 'all diabetics', because the plain fact is you can't generalize anything when it comes to the disease except maybe, "Something's up."
Well. I actually had Chinese tonight. My sister brought my new nephew up from Florida, I had never met him before. She wanted "good" Chinese, so the wife asked me and I relented. Let's see if I figured this out, LOL. :)
I do have to say, it was good going down!
diaconfused
08-02-2006, 09:16 PM
I ate a scandalous amount of Chinese at lunch today. :-
But I was a good boy and stuck to Spicy Eggplant in Garlic Sauce (no rice).
Sugars behaved too.
poodlebone
08-02-2006, 09:50 PM
Well. I actually had Chinese tonight. My sister brought my new nephew up from Florida, I had never met him before. She wanted "good" Chinese, so the wife asked me and I relented. Let's see if I figured this out, LOL. :)
I do have to say, it was good going down!
How were your BGs after the meal?
How were your BGs after the meal?
Inexplicable, as always after Chinese food. Two hours post...a "perfect" 120, I was really, REALLY suprised. I went to bed about 1.5 hours later...243. Eh? I programmed my correction bolus (3.1 u) and I woke up at 6AM at 49. Weirdness.
poodlebone
08-03-2006, 09:08 PM
Inexplicable, as always after Chinese food. Two hours post...a "perfect" 120, I was really, REALLY suprised. I went to bed about 1.5 hours later...243. Eh? I programmed my correction bolus (3.1 u) and I woke up at 6AM at 49. Weirdness.
Those sound like typical post-Chinese food numbers to me! I'm always good at the two hour mark and it all goes dpwnhill after that.
seacomp
08-04-2006, 03:07 AM
I really wish you would stop going around posting false generalizations about 'all diabetics', because the plain fact is you can't generalize anything when it comes to the disease except maybe, "Something's up."
I'd be very interesting to hear what is "false" about the generalization. And were you not able to generalize about disease, there could not be a medical profession.
CiContention
08-04-2006, 12:15 PM
I'd be very interesting to hear what is "false" about the generalization. And were you not able to generalize about disease, there could not be a medical profession.
That is, master a limited number of dishes at the places you normally eat.
Pretty obvious at this point you have no idea what you're talking about. I'll just ignore you.
That is, master a limited number of dishes at the places you normally eat.
Pretty obvious at this point you have no idea what you're talking about. I'll just ignore you.
He's expressing what works for him, and may work for others. As it is, I have "mastered" a few dishes from various restaraunts, and as long as I can remember the bolus amounts, I'm okay (easier said than done). However, in the case of Chinese food, I'm hosed. I don't like to admit defeat, but I feel like I am attacking an enemy that can change tactics on me at will, and it's clobbering me.
It is a very individual disease, though, as we can see in this thread as some people seem to be able to consume Chinese food no problem. But that won't include me, LOL.
RickLV
08-04-2006, 01:06 PM
..........some pork fried rice.......
I'm sorry Grace, but I'm stunned that a diabetic would eat rice (or bread, or pasta, or potatoes...)
I'm sorry Grace, but I'm stunned that a diabetic would eat rice (or bread, or pasta, or potatoes...)
I do all the time, and that's what confounds me about Chinese food...Even if I measure the food, I can't typically calculate carbs. Sometimes, I have added a "fudge factor" and acted like even meats were at least 50% carb, and threw that into the bolus, to no avail. Otherwise, I can bolus accurately for rice, pasta and potatoes.
(pre-pump, potatoes killed me, actually.)
Lynne1
08-04-2006, 01:55 PM
I do all the time, and that's what confounds me about Chinese food...Even if I measure the food, I can't typically calculate carbs. Sometimes, I have added a "fudge factor" and acted like even meats were at least 50% carb, and threw that into the bolus, to no avail. Otherwise, I can bolus accurately for rice, pasta and potatoes.
(pre-pump, potatoes killed me, actually.)
It may be that there are different cooks working in the same restaurant who use different amounts of "hidden carbs" like cornstarch, sugar, etc. Unless you know for sure the same recipe is used each and every time it would be impossible to figure out the # of carbs in the meal.
grace girl
08-04-2006, 02:04 PM
Why shouldn't diabetics eat rice? I haven't been told yet that the point was to avoid carbs, just count them!
I have no problems with rice ordinarily. Or pasta, or potatoes. But I don't eat any of those things in large amounts....I never have even before diabetes. I think my DE would have a STROKE if I quit eating normally.
If I had the guess what the problem was that night, I would say fat, not rice in itself. I don't eat a lot of fatty type foods, but when I do, I usually have the numbers to prove it. I know there's alot of hidden fat in chinese, as well as the hidden carbs in the sauces.
I guess I'm part of a more relaxed school of thought. I refuse to believe that there is ANYTHING that I can't eat, but there are some foods that I choose not to eat, or to limit. I lived the same way before diabetes. Everyone does, if you think about it. Now my reasons have simply changed.
CiContention
08-04-2006, 02:42 PM
There are companies also that make foods such as pasta, bread, rice that are high in fiber and low in 'net carbs' that generally taste the same as the normal stuff and work well.
I use Dreamfields for pasta, Sara Lee for Bread (9g carb per slice, high in fiber also), and there is a specific kind of rice I haven't used yet, but is much lower in carb/high in fiber.
It may be that there are different cooks working in the same restaurant who use different amounts of "hidden carbs" like cornstarch, sugar, etc. Unless you know for sure the same recipe is used each and every time it would be impossible to figure out the # of carbs in the meal.
Yeah, I know...and of course, this can make it nearly impossible to count carbs/calculate boluses correctly.
On a related note, one of my fav restaraunts, Bertuccis, won't release nutritional info on their meals because they say each meal is made from scratch, and they don't force their cooks to meaure/pre-measure meals, so they can't reasonably calculate nutritional info.
KickStart101
08-05-2006, 02:41 AM
Well, we've either ordered Chinese food in or gone to our
favourite DuBarry's Chinese Buffet usually once or twice
a month, since time began. :D I've tried about everything
acceptable to me there. I've chosen what I like and I
normally eat the same foods with very little variance and
have fine-tuned it through the years.
I've been testing Friends and Relatives for many yrs. to
make sure they were okay and to see how their sugars
differed from mine and each other after eating different
foods and different portion sizes. We went out for my
Hubby's Birthday last month. There was our Daughter,
Daughter-in-law, our Son, Hubby, male Family Friend and
me. I tested everyone 1 1/2 hrs. after the meal.
The results:
D---2 plates:: 5.0mmol/90mg
DIL---2 plates:: 5.2mm/93mg
S---4 plates:: 7.5mm/135mg
H---4 plates:: 7.5mm/135mg
MFF---4 plates:: 8.9mm/160mg
Me---2 plates:: 10.3mm/185mg
I was the only Diabetic in the group. I would have taken 2
extra units Humalog to cover if I had known. The only new
item I tried was crab stuffed mushrooms(1/2 c). They were
good but I'll leave them out tomorrow when we go to DuBarry's. Yum. :)
lilituc
08-05-2006, 02:16 PM
I haven't had Chinese food since going on insulin (kind of afraid to, actually), but I have the little Calorie King book, and when I looked at the carb counts for Chinese food, I about fell over. I knew there were "hidden" carbs, but I had no idea there were so many. Yes, I know it should just be taken as a suggestion, since it doesn't list very many specific restaurants. Still, this seems to validate my experience with not being able to control my blood sugar if I eat Chinese, even though I don't eat any rice.
Dewey
08-05-2006, 03:53 PM
I love a variety of Asian foods, such as Chinese, Vietnamese, Japanese and Thai....
All of the above have very tasty cuisine, and I've found that as I go with my favorites ;), I've been able to get a good idea on the amount of carbs, and get a decent handle on it. Doesn't always work, but I've come a long way since starting to carb count.
RickLV
08-06-2006, 09:59 AM
Why shouldn't diabetics eat rice? I haven't been told yet that the point was to avoid carbs, just count them! ....
Grace,
Diabetes is a disease of carbohydrate metabolism.
Grace,
Diabetes is a disease of carbohydrate metabolism.
Interesting how insulin helps deal with that...
grace girl
08-06-2006, 11:38 AM
Interesting how insulin helps deal with that...
That's what I thought!
Keezheekoni
08-07-2006, 10:35 AM
LOL Oh man, Chinese food... makes me crazy. Can't eat it. Sugars go way out of whack. :( However, when I make it at home it's fine. Guess I don't add those hidden carbs like they do in restaurants?
Oh and yes, I eat bread, rice and pasta. I also have insulin to cover those carbs. :D There are some things that I won't give up!
Tim_Roy
08-15-2006, 07:46 PM
Rick's a Type 2, so you might imagine why he feels that way.
I have this one Japanese fast food place near me that serves this great, cheap and humongous chicken stir-fried rice.
What I'd like to do is buy a $5.77 thing of it, and then weigh it out on my digital scale, calculate the carbs using Calorie King and then check the results and adjust the carb count upwards if needed the next go round. You could easily eke three meals out of one of these things. They used to screw up my sugar so badly when I ate them.
It's a guilty pleasure I'd like to regain access to. Since I started carb counting religiously I've pretty much stopped eating at places that don't give nutritional information on the web or in C.K.
That said, I really want to get back to eating pho. Though really, it's too hot in Las Vegas to eat a big bowl of soup in the summer. Maybe this winter I'll pick a pho restaurant and experiment with them in a like manner.
Pho is a fav of mine, and yes I still eat it and have great results. I can get mine carryout, and the way it is served is the noodles are seperated in a different container than the broth. I just weight the cooked noodles and use my spaghetti conversion from CK, and I have been pretty much spot-on every time.
I am realizing I need to lay off the hot pepper paste they send along with it...
Tim, you *should* be able to measure out the stir fry in a similar manner. Try it and test test test.
I've found Chinese food to be a killer for my blood sugs - I go VERY high, and stay high for hours. I always feel 'blergh' after eating it anyway so I've given it up.
Maybe....
Lol. I had some a couple of weeks ago, thinking it's gotta be ok once in a while, even if it does play with my blood sugs... But naaaah wasn't worth it.
Bet I'll do it again anyway though!!
Em.
someone
08-18-2006, 11:16 PM
Pho is a fav of mine
Hear hear. I never have a problem either.
I tend to have the most problem when I have not excercised. In that case, nothing seems to work.
Cyborg
08-19-2006, 05:06 AM
Bolus well and bolus a little early. It helps me with Chinese.
Now that I'm using Symlin, it's much easier to eat Chinese food. In fact, I broke down yesterday and ordered some House Special Lo Mein for lunch. I probably guessed a little high as I assumed 100g of carbs. My bg didn't go above 100 at all and about 4 hours later I had to correct to avoid going low.
gettingby
08-19-2006, 06:14 AM
I have found through trial and error that I have no problem eating Cantonese Chicken with a little rice. My biggest problem is low mein.
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