Eating foods outside of your home may be challenging since you may not be sure what ingredients were used to prepare your food. Also, the portion sizes at restaurants may be larger than what you are used to. These tips will help you to keep your blood sugar under control.

• Memorize or bring a copy of your meal plan with you.

• Learn the Food Group Portion Sizes at home first so it will be easier to dine out.

• If portion sizes are too large, either share a meal or ask your server to pack away half your meal before you start eating.

• Do not be embarrassed to ask how a food item is prepared or make a special request. Many items can be placed on the side or not added. You may be able to get extra vegetables instead of the extra starch side dish.

• Ask for the nutrition information on the food item or look on the restaurant’s website ahead of time to see what fits with your meal plan.

• Bring some food items with you in case you need to add it to your meal or eat it as a snack if you have a long wait time before your meal is served.

• In general, avoid creamy sauces, gravies, and soups. Choose broth-based items. Choose baked, grilled, or boiled food items.

• At fast food restaurants, choose plain, small hamburgers. You may need to eat half the bun, depending on the size. Avoid breaded and deep-fried chicken, meat, or fish. Remove the breading if you must eat those items. Do not use sweet sauces like ketchup or relish, instead choose mustard or light mayonnaise.

• At sandwich shops, choose whole grain breads instead of white breads like French rolls or baguettes. Typically, the bread portion is too large so you may need to eat half the bread. Skip the chips. Add lettuce and tomato or a small salad.

• At Mexican food restaurants, be careful to check your starch portion sizes since beans, corn, rice, and tortillas all affect your blood sugar. You may need to substitute extra lettuce instead of one of the starch items. Grilled vegetables, meat, fish or chicken with salsa and 1 or 2 corn tortillas are good choices. If tortilla chips are a temptation, ask the server to take them away.

• At Chinese food restaurants, avoid sweet sauces like oyster sauce, plum sauce, and sweet and sour sauce, which will raise your blood sugar too high. There may be hidden cornstarch in soups or meat and vegetable dishes. Avoid fried foods like fried rice and fried noodles, but choose steamed rice and noodles after you measure the portion size. Steamed and stir-fried items should be picked instead of deep-fried, batter coated foods. Dumplings can be included in your meal as long as you remember to count the “skins” as part of the starch group. Avoid sweetened desserts or pork buns. Also, one fortune cookie is considered half of a starch group serving.

• At Japanese food restaurants, avoid teriyaki sauce, tempura, and sweetened salad dressings. Ask for sauce on the side. Many times sweetened vinegar is used to make sushi. Be careful in the portion sizes of rolls and gyoza dumplings as the thickness of the rice layer or dumpling wrapper will differ at different places. Do not eat any raw fish.

• At Italian food restaurants, pay close attention to your noodle portion sizes. Frequently, the red tomato sauce will contain sugar, so choose vinaigrette and olive oil dressings, pesto, or garlic sauce. You can also ask if your tomato sauce can be made without sugar. Order a side salad instead of eating the bread at the beginning of the meal. Pizza crusts and toppings vary at each restaurant, but most likely you will be able to eat 1-2 small pieces. You can eat some extra cheese and vegetable topping from another pizza if you are still hungry, but do not eat the crust portion.

• Tips for Eating Out

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