Living With Type 2 Diabetes: Keeping Track While Eating Out
It’s easy to go overboard on our diets when eating out. If I’m not mistaken, the ideal American diet is based on 2,000 calories a day. Unfortunately, some of us eat way more than that, often in one meal. For instance, a McDonald’s Big Mac combo meal packs 700 calories. While this may seem shocking, the good news is that at least they tell us how many calories we’re getting. Not so with an all-you-can-eat buffet. No, at a buffet we’re left to keep track of calories the best that we can, which is often futile.
Some restaurants have “low carb” items on their menus, which can help us keep tabs, or at least feel better about the foods we eat. I think that it plays with our psyche when we actually see how many calories we are about to consume. Although I used to feel as if a smaller meal wouldn’t be enough food, I’ve learned that a smaller portion will satisfy my hunger just as well as a larger meal. Plus, it’s better to be a tad bit hungry after a meal rather than so stuffed that you can hardly move away from the table.
While I used to think that I was getting my money’s worth by eating three or four plates of food from the buffet, I now limit my buffet trips to one salad and one plate of diabetic friendly food.