How to Order When You Eat Out

Eating out with diabetes is mostly a set of ordering decisions made before the food arrives, not a test of willpower once it is on the table.

The plate method still applies to a restaurant menu: aim for half the food in front of you to be vegetables, a quarter protein, a quarter rice or bread.

Ordering

• Order a vegetable dish first, before you decide on the rest. It is the item that usually gets forgotten.
• Share the rice or the biryani. One portion between two, with an extra sabzi, changes the meal completely.
• Ask for less oil — most Indian kitchens will do it if asked at the point of ordering.
• Choose tandoori, grilled or steamed over fried or malai-based, when both are on the menu.
• Drink water. A soft drink or a juice can carry more sugar than the meal; Diabetes UK suggests no more than 150 ml of juice in a day.

Timing matters as much as the order. A very late dinner, eaten quickly, tends to read higher than the same food eaten earlier at a normal pace. If dinner will be late, do not save up the whole day's appetite for it — eat something sensible in the evening so you arrive able to choose.

There is more on restaurants, weddings and festival food in our Knowledge Base.