Tips for Eating Out With Diabetes

Ask questions and do some research when eating out with diabetes, says registered dietitian and certified diabetes educator Leslie Tranter. In this video, learn how to make substitutions to menu options that are diabetes-friendly.

Transcript

00:00

There's no need, really, to tell your waiter or waitress that you have diabetes. In fact, the meal plan that we teach

00:06

for diabetes is really a meal plan that we should all be doing. So when eating out, I always recommend to patients

00:15

to do some research, do their homework, figure out, based on the meal plan that we provide them,

00:21

are they making good, healthy choices? When we are eating out with diabetes,

00:29

it is good to choose food items that have mostly non-starchy vegetables. We teach making half of your plate non-starchy vegetables,

00:38

whether that's maybe a dark, leafy green salad, or maybe a side of Brussels sprouts or green beans

00:45

or mushrooms and onions-- something like that.

00:52

One of the biggest tips that I can offer to our patients is to make sure they ask questions to the waiter or waitress, and make sure that they're not

00:59

afraid to ask for certain substitutions. Say, instead of rice, maybe can I have more broccoli,

01:06

for example? Or can I have less of this, or can I have the sauce on the side? So don't be afraid to make substitutions.