I find plenty to eat at both Chinese and Thai places. Most
places will stir fry vegetables without and added sauces if
you ask. Add that to a dish without rise and you should be
ok. I find almost anything that isn't based on a sweet sauce
is ok for me as long as I avoid rice and noodles. At Thai
places I have requested meat dishes with more vegetables but
no noodles in the dish. Omelettes with stir fry vegetables
is another option, ask for no sauce and use a dash of chili
sauce or soy sauce. I always ask for a little dish of hot
chili sauce anyway. Crispy skin chicken is another good
dish, just eat the chicken meat and not the crusty bit. The
old standby of prawn cocktail can fill a hole at the
beginning of the meal.

I don't usually go to restaurants that don't have something on the menu
that I can eat and enjoy. Chinese food is not good for my BG, though I
love it, but others don't have problems with some of the menu items.
Maybe you could save your favorite restaurant for a special occasion,
such as your birthday. My hubby loves Chinese too, so a couple of times
a month, I get take-out Chinese for him, and fix myself something else.
It works out best if I get a combo plate for him, instead of having all
those little boxes of leftovers sitting around. :-)

--
Cheri

hilbert wrote in message
<1142902978.757603.315240@t31g2000cwb.googlegroups.com>...

In my case my wife changed her eating habits to coincide with mine
when I made the changes. Normally she eats the same things that I do.
Mostly because after taking a look at what we try to eat and what we
try to avoid she said that the eating plans for T2 diabetics sounded
pretty darned healthy for everyone. The one difference is when we eat
at our favorite Mexican or at a Chinese restaurant she does eat the
rice. At the Mexican restaurant all of the wait staff knows to not
bring me rice.

When we go up the street to the Chinese restaurant I eat my dinner
without rice. She and I divide one dinner since neither of us can eat
an entire dinner, nor would we want to. So long as I avoid the rice I
seem to do just fine.

We had that dilema, but I decided that I did not want to have her change
where we eat. We still go to the same places and I just become more
creative. She gets all the rice and I skip as much carb as possible.
There is one thai rest that does not put any sugar in their curry. I
love their curry!
At an authentic chinese restaurant, which we frequent (many of them),
she can order rice or noodles all to herself & I stick with the veggie &
meat dish. If we really want to, I have her tell the staff to not put
sugar in the dishes. (or eggs for that matter (egg allergy)). I even
know how to say no sugar or no eggs in mandarin!!!

So that all in all was a must not change - going to our regular
restaurants.
Trinity

Uh, don't eat the rice?  I like a nice beef and broccoli, for instance,
just by itself.  You can always request that they omit sugar and
cornstarch from sauces, and stick to the "plain meat/seafood/tofu and
vegies" dishes.

Priscilla

Hilbert, there're lots of things at Chinese restaurants that won't send
your bg high.  First, no rice. Second, tell them no corn starch to
thicken the sauces, no added sugar and no msg.  Then don't order
anything that's "crispy" because it's battered and deep fried.  Szechuan
stuff in restaurants tends to be sugary, Hunan less so.

 <Same for thai restaurants - no

Ask them to make it without adding sugar.

 So while I would like to go

See above.

Susan

egg foo yong (chicken, shrimp, pork), no rice, no sauce, add soy sauce.

My favorite food is Mexican.  I did without it for years, with the exception
of what I made at home.  Too many carbs in it for me!  But now most of the
Mexican restaurants have some sort of salad I can eat.  Now granted it's not
my first choice.  But at least I can eat it.  Some Mexican restaurants have
side orders or "child's plates" for adults.  So this would be doable.  I
don't think there would be anything I could eat in a Thai restaurant, but
that's not a favorite food of mine either.  There are some places I simply
can't or won't eat at.  If my husband wants to eat there, I tell him to go
there with his friends or coworkers.

I can eat chicken and snow peas...Garlic Chicken(non breaded) Beef
Broccoli...I do ok with the sauce...but omit rice or noodles. My hubby is
not a big Chinese food eater...but he will go if I have a hankering:)
jacquie

My wife is  healthy, unlike me - who is trying to get his
bg under control with diet/exercise and medicine.  So I hate
to see her make unreasonable sacrifice when we eat out.

When I go to, say, a chinese restaurant - there is nothing
that I can have apparently that won't cause bg spikes. Mostly
its the rice that sends it shooting. Same for thai restaurants - no
curries with coconut milk for me anymore!  So while I would like to go
to restaurants that were both of ours favourites (hers especially),
we no longer can. Its not a very big deal - but I am wondering
whether you deal with similar things and how you do it.

Thank you for your suggestions!

I too have a similiar situation. But I eat according to my glucose
meter and I don't expect my wife or family to do as I have to do.
Would you want your family to be on chemotherapy just because you had
cancer?

When somone asks why I don't eat certain things I tell them the truth
and you will find that most are receptive and supportive.

-James

Regarding
Chinese restaurants, I order no crispy or sweet an sour dishes.  I ask tht
my food be prepared witout cornstarch or sgar  adn have aobut a big
spoonful of brown rice.  Others can have what they want, bu tyou skip he
egg roll, dumplings, scallion pancake, juicy buns, Sesame and lemon
chicken adn stick to the dishes with uncoated chicken,etc.  These meals
work well for me adn you can try it for yurself adn test.

My Endocrinologist has also giben me Strlix, a sort acting beta cell
pushier that I use onl occasionally, when I eat in restaurants where I
cannot ever comeletely control what is in the food.  It helps keep hte
bg's down.

Wendy

Actually, Asian restaurants are easiest of all. It all goes
in the middle and we each choose what we wish.

Of course you can still go to your favourites. Just don't
eat the rice, and make sure that at least one of the dishes
on the table is one you can eat. Your partner can select
from all of the dishes, you just eat a little more
selectively.

Have a quick check on the thickeners and sweeteners used in
dishes by chatting to the staff first. Most will limit
cornflour(cornstarch), sugar etc if asked in the right way.

We usually end up with enough take-home containers afterward
for another dinner:-)

Cheers, Alan, T2, Australia.
d&e, metformin 2x500mg

I don't eat rice any more - it's dreadful for my bgs. I also ask advice in
the restaurant for dishes that don't contain sugar, and preferably no
cornstarch thickening, although I can handle a little of this. I have also
been known to take low-carb tortillas and Hoisin sauce (with the
restaurant's permission, of course) so I can have Peking duck. Coconut
curries are not a problem for me at all, without the sugar, although coconut
is a sat fat - I try not to eat it in such large quantities too often! But
we eat out at least once or twice a month without risking either my health
or our pleasure : )

Nicky.

Hilbert, there is absolutely no type of restaurant that I dont eat in.

If I have chinese, I have food made without corn starch and have sauces
on the side,  I order brown rice and just have a couple of spoons,m  If
I want an egg roll, I go for a spring roll which is a lot less carby and
mostly eat the inside.  If I get a soup like hot and sour I have it made
without corn starch.  For me it is about portion size.

I am going to red lobster for lunch today.  I will have coconut shrimp,
but I will peel off the coating and still have the flavor,  I will have
a salad and a third of a baked potato.

I can have eggplant paramagiana with some pasta and a big salad and my
numbers are fine.  I have the food prepared without breadcrumbs.  I can
have chicken parmagiana the same way.  

With a little imagination you might find that you dont need to be
deprived and still have wonderful dining out experiences.

Loretta

--
In tribute to the United States of America and the State
of Israel, two bastions of strength in a world filled with strife and
terrorism.

The only Chinese restaurants around where I live are buffet-types, so
asking for any of the food to be prepared differently isn't an option.
If I go, just about the only things there I can eat are the beef and
broccoli and the cashew chicken (just a little bit).  Since my buffet
dinner costs the same as the rest of the family's and since I'm only
eating a little bit of food, it doesn't seem worth it, so we've only
gone once since I was diagnosed.  My husband believes in getting his
money's worth, so listening to him complain about paying $10 for me to
have such a little amount of food just isn't worth it.  I do much better
when we go to a steak house where I can have a small steak, steamed
veggies instead of the potato, and a small salad bar.  But since fast
food places are just about all there is around here, we aren't eating
out much anymore.

I am the only diabetic in the household and I prepare the meals for my
husband and two teens.  I've tried to put them on the same foods that
I'm eating, but we cannot afford it.  Without rice, potatoes, pasta,
bread and the like, it costs a small fortune to feed teenagers who both
seem to have a hollow leg they are trying to fill up.  And I end up
cooking two meals and hiding the food that I can eat to keep them from
using it for "snacks" and leaving me with nothing to eat long before the
next shopping trip.

It's torture for me to stand there and prepare stuffing, rice, pasta,
sweet potatoes, and the like when I can't eat a bite of it, yet I have
to do it.  I find that I'm deeply depressed over this most of the time
and can't seem to shake it off.  It's been nearly two months since I was
diagnosed and I have not "cheated" a single time, yet my BG levels go up
and down, seemingly regardless of what I'm eating.  I'm taking metformin
500mg twice a day and it's not doing much good.  It's very frustrating.
 To be honest, I go hide in the bathroom and cry a lot lately.

There isn't a lot of sympathy around here for my plight and when my
older kids and their families come over, I'm cooking for 16 people, tons
of things that I cannot even taste anymore.  This is torture.  It
doesn't help when they keep saying, "Just a bite won't hurt you, will
it?  Come on and try a bite, it's sooooo good."  My husband seems to
think this is just a "phase" and that I'll get over it and be back to
normal eventually, like I had strep throat or something.  He thinks the
metformin will make everything normal again.  Even though the doctor has
told him differently, he doesn't believe it.  This is hard to deal with.

How in the world do I cope with this?

Jeanie

hilbert wrote in message
<1142902978.757603.315240@t31g2000cwb.googlegroups.com>...

   My problem seems to be the sauces.    Restaurants around here  add a lot
of sugar to their sauces.    I can eat commercial frozen food Chinese with
very little problem.

Rice is always tricky,  and Chinese cuisine uses short grain rice which is
the worst for a diabetic but,  for me, moderation will work with the frozen
entrees.

Regards
 Old Al

Then don't let her. I wouldn't dream of letting my missus eat "sparingly"
just because I do.

We still go to restaurants we always went to (including Chinese) and I eat
less than her and keep the carbs down to a minimum. I don't have OR see a
problem doing that and the occasional BG excursion won't kill you (not yet
anyway:-)

We always go to the chinese buffet, that way I can choose for myself and so
can he.   I find roasted meat, baked fish, stir fried veggies, steamed crab
legs, that sort of thing.   He chooses the noodles and rice.

It's not been so hard for me.  When I go out for dinner with a woman friend
we just pick a place that has a large variety of entrees.  Typically though
we tend to end up in Cuban restaurants, steak houses and most often seafood
joints.  A nice Italian place we go to has a large variety of garden salads
which are always made to order.  Plus the better the restaurant the more
willing they are to allow substitutions.  For example, instead of the
steamed carrots and potatoes with the braised beef, you get steamed
cauliflower.  Also, if you mention to the waitperson that you are diabetic,
he or she often understand and even suggests subs.

It all depends on the restaurant and how customer service oriented they are.
If the day ever comes when I am so hard up for a baked potato that I could
not stand to watch my dinner companion eat one, then it'll be a problem.
For now it's not an issue.

Paul