Chinese and lows

[Penny]

Yesterday was Hubby's 72nd birthday. We went to Columbus, Ohio, where a daughter and family took us out to eat. Grandson works at a Chinese place, and I cannot think of it's name....it had a big stone horse outside though. Usually I need to be very careful with Chinese, so I took some extra Novolog and did not eat any rice or noodles. The food was great, I especially liked the lettuce wraps, I may try those at home. I had a little of everything else...Mangolilan beef, sweet and sour pork, and one of the General's chicken :), vegetables, and something else that I can't remember. I still ate more than I normally do. Two hours later I was 126. Since we ate early, I had a half of a turkey sandwich with Miracle whip and lettuce before we went to bed. Three in the morning I woke feeling low, but was 106. Couldn't sleep, and tested again an hour later and was 76. I was getting sleepy, but worried about going too low, so ate a few crackers. At 8 this morning I was 106. It was hard to believe after all that Chinese food yesterday. I ate a banana, drank 2 cups of black coffee and we started home, about 1 and 1/2 hours away. Before we got there, I was feeling low. I barely made it up the stairs I felt so bad, tested...56! I have never had this happen after eating such a big meal, especially Chinese. Everything was very spicy, don't know if that made a difference.

[PamperedChef73]

Thats The Name Of That Restaurant Its So Good, We Had It When We Lived In Swfl.

[Penny]

Thats The Name Of That Restaurant Its So Good, We Had It When We Lived In Swfl.

Yep, that is it! I knew it started with a P. We ate the food "family style", they brought out dishes of everything and we all shared. It was nice to be able to try everything, but if you really liked something, there weren't seconds. ;)

[Jan B]

Penny,

Sounds like great b-day food! Just a warning (but sounds like you were fine), their lettuce wraps (or dipping sauce) had enough MSG to cause me to lose my voice over the couple hours after eating there. Then I became extremely weak in the chest and had to quit exerting any energy at all. Maybe, if I go back, they will allow a "no MSG" request.

[Penny]

Penny,

Sounds like great b-day food! Just a warning (but sounds like you were fine), their lettuce wraps (or dipping sauce) had enough MSG to cause me to lose my voice over the couple hours after eating there. Then I became extremely weak in the chest and had to quit exerting any energy at all. Maybe, if I go back, they will allow a "no MSG" request.


Would that have something to do with the lows? I felt low through the evening, until after eating today. We don't eat Chinese often as it is so hard on me, but it is one of Hubby's favorites and it was his birthday.

[xMenace]

Gotta love Chinese mystery food. :eek:

[Gary_W]

I have heard theories that MSG causes food to be metabolised more quickly than it otherwise would. Googling on the subject gives little clarity, and as such this may just be urban legend.

What I do know is that if I cook Chinese food, I get less problems than if I eat it out. And the main thing missing in my version is MSG.

Gary

[princesslinda]

I really like PF Chang's. I have to be very careful with it myself though. The lettuce wraps have a lot of carbs in them believe it or not, and I did have a rise after eating them. We usually get the kung pao chicken and the sichuan green beens and share them and I have a small serving of the brown rice. The Mongolian beef is a good lower carb choice as well. Its one of my favorite restaurants!

[Stuboy]

You took extra insulin and left out the really carby stuff that you were taking the extra insulin for... the rice, noodles, etc...?

The meats in the chinese tend to slow the carbs down a lot, and it sounds like you had a fair bit of meat there.

I find with chinese (and i do chinese very well :D) that I take a higher dose than usual but i split it, along with testing every hour afterwards.

[kgm0612]

Wow, Penny, you did great.

I LOVE Chinese food, especially the General's Chicken. I don't eat it often, but when I do, I use the dual wave feature on my pump and spread it over a 4-hour period. I always take extra insulin because I know I'm going to eat more that I should! LOL

Karen

[Penny]

I have heard theories that MSG causes food to be metabolised more quickly than it otherwise would. Googling on the subject gives little clarity, and as such this may just be urban legend.

What I do know is that if I cook Chinese food, I get less problems than if I eat it out. And the main thing missing in my version is MSG.

Gary

We stir fry chicken and veggies at least once a week, sometimes use leftover pork too. We do not add the sauces etc., like in restaurants,just use different spices. I do not eat the rice unless I am very low, and then just a small amount. I never have trouble with BS when I eat this. I always thought it was the sauces restaurants used that caused the BS to go up. Isn't MSG a form of sugar?

[Jan B]

MSG is salt (monosodium glutamate), a "flavor enhancer". Sometimes it gets me; sometimes not . . . but I now avoid it like the plague because it also restricts my breathing.
Some people think it's pure poison!

[Gary_W]

We stir fry chicken and veggies at least once a week, sometimes use leftover pork too. We do not add the sauces etc., like in restaurants,just use different spices. I do not eat the rice unless I am very low, and then just a small amount. I never have trouble with BS when I eat this. I always thought it was the sauces restaurants used that caused the BS to go up. Isn't MSG a form of sugar?

It's essentially a 'flavour enhancer'. A bit like table salt, it strengthens the flavours of other foods.

As I understand it, it's used lots in Chinese restaurants due to pre-preperation. Most Chinese cooking is LOADS of prep and minimal cooking time. All of those veg that are cut to size have been like it all day, and will have lost a lot of their natural flavour. Whack in the MSG and hey presto, it makes 'em all taste a lot stronger. Which is why you can leave it out at home because you prep the food and then cook it.

I really like Chinese restaurant food. But if ever I've done it 2 days running (rare) or really badly pig out on it I always come out in blotches and feel 'poisoned' almost. I can't say which ingredient does this, but it's consistant.

I was fortunate enough to have a few days in Thailand last year. The method for bolusing over there was 'whatever you eat, it's 15 units'. Which would normally cover 150g of carbs for me. It was just that they fried everything and then added sugar, rice, noodles, more sugar, chemicals, more sugar. Oh, and sugar. It was amongst the best food I've ever eaten :D Aside from the high carb content, I kept really well on it and didn't feel ill once. If I'd lived for a week on Chinese food (or my perception of it as I've never actually been to China) then I'd have been off colour by day 2...

Gary

[JJM335]

If I'd lived for a week on Chinese food (or my perception of it as I've never actually been to China) then I'd have been off colour by day 2...

Gary

I did a 10 day work-related trip to Shanghai 4 years ago. Arriving at the airport, the first thing that hit you in the arrivals hall was the smell of frying peanut oil!

I wasn't doing proper (strict) carb counting at that time, I just bolused a semi-random number of units, typically 12-16. We were being taken out evvery night for banquets by our Chinese hosts. At a Chinese banquet, rice and noodles are considered fillers for the poor, so the only carbs were in the batters, or added as mystery ingredients.

Actually the food was great, and so were my BG's on this unconventional low carb diet.

[Lulika]

Living in China for the last 5 years, I can tell you that the food here is nothing like the "westernised" Chinese food you get outside China. I used to love the Chinese take away food that I used to eat in the UK and when I got here, I couldnt understand why they didn't have it here! Actually, apart from the fact that they use alot of fried things, the food here in Beijing is pretty healthy.Lots of veggies (I am a vegetarian) and as long as I dont have rice or noodles, I can always find a D friendly place to eat here :)

[art]

I'm Jewish and orginally from New York City.
I grew up on chinese food.
Now the rice is a no no.
I typically eat things in white sauce. Those tend to be safe for me.
I'm slowly expanding to back to a few brown sauce things. And I mean very slowly. so far so good.

Art

[Harold]

They opened a P F Changs here a couple of years ago on the other side of town. Went there several months after they opened and they were so busy the experience and the food did not impress me. However last year one afternoon the wife and I were near there on other business so we decided to give it another chance. We sat at the bar, had it pretty much to ourselves, and the service and food were both great. Checked my levels later and as I remember they were not high and lower than expected. Which I thought at the time probably had as much to do with the adult beverages as with the food.

No one has mentioned Pei Wei which is a sister company operated by P F Changs. The reason I am bringing them up is they opened one on my side of town a couple of months ago. While they have a dining area they are more geared for Take Away, in their terms, than in the dining experience P F Changs is noted for. The list is smaller and the prices lower. Yet the Asian Food is on par with P F Changs and very tasty. My BGs find it very tolerable when I eat more rice than I usually allow myself, even without adult beverages.

Since this was already brought up, I noticed on Pei Wei's menu they say they use no MSG.

Not sure how many realize this, but MSG, aka potato white, was primarily used to preserve the appearance of vegetables in restaurants and grocery stores. Yes, grocery stores would spray it on to keep their displayed veggies from showing any age. The bagged unfrozen veggies were bad about this, but the stuff in the open would get sprayed once or twice every day it was on display. I am not sure any stores still practice this, but it use to be very common.