She'll Have The Usual

Eating out usually involves much angst about how many carbs there are on the plate and about how much of the meal will be consumed.  And therefore about how much insulin should be given before or (lets be realistic here) as the food starts to be eaten.

We've started to play 'guess the carbs' together most times we eat out. My daughter figures out a number first, then I add my input and we discuss.  At several recent restaurant meals she's guessed between 40 and 50 every time.

When it's been my turn to give input, I've eyeballed the plate and said something like, "If you the eat 2 pieces of the battered fish and about 20 of those fries, it's probably around 50." 

Or at the Thai place, "You think you'll eat around half of that bowl of pineapple fried rice?  Maybe about 50."

Or at the diner, "Three blueberry pancakes?  Probably 50."

Fifty.

It's the going rate.  Sometimes we add a few at the end if the fries are irresistible or the pancakes arrive heavily dusted in powdered sugar.  Sometimes we'll ease down into the low 40's if the fried rice is skimpy on the pineapple or if she's not as hungry as usual. 

But lately we've been starting at 50 and adjusting from there.  It's nothing more than a mental math trick, really, but I find looking at the food and asking, 'is this about 50?'  somehow much less stressful than starting from zero and trying to add up the plate.  There is, of course, always a generous margin of error in figuring restaurant carbs.  And this method doesn't work when she orders a big salad for dinner. 

But if we're going to eat out, we need to start somewhere. For now, we've decided to start at 50.