Diabetic Living's Eating Out Guide

Eating Out Guide
From Diabetic Living magazine
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When at a restaurant, read the descriptions on the menu carefully and learn to read between the lines. Cooking techniques and ingredients can make all the difference. Try to pinpoint healthful cooking methods, such as foods that are baked, grilled, broiled, or roasted. And look for vegetables in the recipe title or description — tomato sauce versus cream sauce, for example. With our ordering tips and practical tactics in your back pocket, you'll be making smart choices in no time. Mangia!

Just for Starters
Starting with a healthful small soup or salad can help you eat less overall. This strategy also gives you something to nibble if your meal mates are feasting on garlic bread or fried mozzarella sticks. For soup, may we suggest the vegetable-rich variety? And for salad, select the house or another small green salad, with the dressing on the side. If you choose oil and vinegar, go heavier on the vinegar and lighter on the oil.

Use Your Noodle
Pasta has suffered some hard knocks during the recent low-carb mania. But there's no need to erase pasta from your list of healthful foods. Mary M. Austin, M.A., R.D., CDE, immediate past president of the American Association of Diabetes Educators (AADE), and a full-blooded Italian, suggests: "If you order pasta, be prepared to share it. Most restaurant portions are at least two cups, which may be more carbohydrate than your eating plan recommends." Pasta is made mainly from enriched flour and water, so the calories come from carbohydrate and a little protein, not from fat. However, when you choose stuffed pasta, especially one that's filled with cheese, the fat content can soar. It might help you to know that 1 cup of cooked pasta contains about 30 grams of carbohydrate or two carb choices. The bottom line? When you order pasta, select an unstuffed shape, opt for an appetizer portion, or share an order, then top it with a low-fat sauce.

Sauce Smartly
Topping pasta with a healthful sauce can have dramatic results. According to the book Restaurant Confidential, an average serving of spaghetti with red or white clam sauce can have about 900 calories and 26 grams of fat, compared to an average serving of fettuccine Alfredo at 1,500 calories and 97 grams of fat. And, even though it's lower in calories and fat, you should still split the spaghetti.

Pizza by the Slice
Pizza can be a healthful restaurant meal or takeout food, as long as you take steps to trim the fat and serving size. Control portions by ordering the right number of slices — about two per person. Just so you're not tempted, don't let slices linger in front of you. Box up the extras when the pizza first arrives. For toppers, the more vegetables the merrier — go wild with onions, mushrooms, peppers, tomatoes, broccoli, or spinach. Skip such high-fat toppers as extra cheese, pepperoni, sausage, or meatballs. For the crust, thin is in. Choose thin-crust pizza (whole wheat if available) and avoid deep-dish or stuffed pizza. And to make sure you have something else to nibble besides pizza, order a side salad.
Last Updated: 03/26/2007
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Healthy Snacks

Keeping snacks around the house is a necessary evil for my husband TB and me in case our sugar gets low. When that happens, we need a quick carb pick-me-up and the healthier the better.

The best choices begin at the bottom of the food pyramid and contain 15 grams of carbohydrate per serving. Good options include air-popped popcorn, baked tortilla chips and salsa, graham crackers, pretzels, bagels, and cereal.

Fresh fruits and vegetables also make excellent snacks, and they're portable. To make a snack more substantial, add a source of low-fat protein, such as a glass of low-fat milk. Add reduced-fat peanut butter to a slice of bread or a bagel, low-fat cheese on crackers, or a slice of turkey breast on whole-wheat bread.

These are snacks that won't put on the pounds as quickly as the junk will.

Now I have to figure out a snack that I can carry along with me. I have emergency sugar tablets in my purse at the moment and in a real pinch, they'll do.

Fat Cells Established in Childhood?

Oh noes....

Number of fat cells remains constant in all body types

A new study by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory scientist Bruce Buchholz – along with colleagues from the Karolinska Institute in Sweden; Humboldt University Berlin, Foundation of Research and Technology in Greece; Karolinska University Hospital; and Stockholm University – applied carbon dating to DNA to discover that the number of fat cells stays constant in adulthood in lean and obese individuals, even after marked weight loss, indicating that the number of fat cells is set during childhood and adolescence.

...

In a study of 687 adults, the researchers found that number of fat cells increases in childhood and adolescence, but levels off and remains constant in adulthood. The group looked at whether the number of fat cells changes under extreme conditions such as drastic weight loss by radical reduction in caloric intake, such as through bariatric surgery.

The treatment resulted in a significant decrease in BMI and fat cell volume; however, it did not reduce the number of fat cells two years after the surgery. Similarly, significant weight gain (15-25 percent) over several months in non-obese adult men resulted in significant increase in body fat volume but no change in number. Subsequent weight loss back to baseline resulted in a decrease in fat cell volume but no change in the number of fat cells.

“If you are overweight and you lose weight, you still have the capacity to store lipids because you still have the same number of fat cells. That may be why it’s so hard to keep the weight off,” Buchholz said.

What's further inspiring to note is that one conclusion is to focus on children and preventing them from becoming fat when they are young. It all sounds very discouraging but I refuse to believe that it's already too late for TB, my kids and me to slim down and be healthy!