Diabetes and Beaches & Cream

jayandstacey

DIS Veteran
Joined
Jun 22, 2006
Messages
1,450
OK, so Beaches & Cream was already our favorite place to eat. The burgers and fries rock, and the ice cream is second to none.

Turns out the manager has Type 1, and a few of the employees have direct experience with diabetes. The food is already right there, so this was kind of easy, but when we asked for carb info, we were shown the bag of bread and whatever else we needed.

All places are generally accomodating, but the Beaches and Cream Team stand alone! :cheer2: :thumbsup2
 
Thanks for the info. For as long as we have been going to WDW and dealing with Typ.1 we had avoided Beaches and Cream. It's great to know they can provide carb info. Will have to check it out in December.

Lissa
 

Does Beaches and Cream have sugar free or no sugar added ice cream?
Not to my knowledge.

I suppose for type 2 diabetics, an ice cream place like Beaches and Cream really doesn't do much good. Our DD6 is type 1, where the real issue isn't avoiding carbs and sugar, rather just getting accurate info about those things so we can compensate for them with insulin.

Disney is notorious for (inexplicably) not providing nutritional information about the food it serves, even when it does so in massive quantities (like chicken strips). And while every place has been kind and sympathetic, B&C was the first place we felt like the people really understood what we needed and actually pulled out the packaging to show us the data they had.

Of course, this would help type 2 as well - so please don't start taking shots about the difference between 1 and 2!

I just still can't believe Disney doesn't provide nutritional information. They have greatly improved the menus to be healthy and tasty - nutritional information would be a good promotional tie-in to that effort. It just makes no sense.

In another post, I described how my daughter fell by the side of the Dolphin pool on a mid-vacation day of rest and ended up in the hospital. Maybe a lawsuit at Disney, as our daughter's bloodsugars were all over the map in the parks, would convince them that providing nutritional information might just be worth it. (the grounds would be that their lack of information contributed to her wild numbers, which causes her to lose her balance.)

I dunno. That's such an effort. But GEEEZZZ - why can't they give us INFO THEY ALREADY HAVE?
 
I just still can't believe Disney doesn't provide nutritional information. They have greatly improved the menus to be healthy and tasty - nutritional information would be a good promotional tie-in to that effort. It just makes no sense.
As a long time T1 diabetic I have never found it necessary or particularly useful for restaurants to provide nutritional information.
 
I just take my Calorie King book with me and try to figure out the carbs from the serving sizes in the book. I usually split my son's food with him and we haven't had any problems keeping him in check. Maybe once in a while when I let him have an extra churro or pretzel he might be a little higher. But for the most part with the walking and counting carbs we do ok. HTH
 
We have been writing Disney since the early 80's about nutirtionally info and for more S.F. products. They have gotten some what better but now with more diabetics counting carbs we need that info. I've become pretty good at figuring it out but hey if McDonald's can give me the info why not mickey?

Lissa
 
As a long time T1 diabetic I have never found it necessary or particularly useful for restaurants to provide nutritional information.
yeah, I'm dealing with a 6 year old who's growing rapidly - which means lots more fluctuations and little "bio feedback" where she can sense a high or low coming before it gets bad. So little insulin fluctuations, like a slight miss in a carb count guess, can cause us to see 500s or 30s in short order. Her small size also means that the dosages are very small - measured in 1/10 units and never much more than 3 units - and so errors are also compounded at that point.

Like McDonalds - if a person doesn't need the info, it would be easy to never know it was there - but if the info would help, it would be nice to have it. Of course we can't demand it, Disney is a private company. It is just that so many others HAVE decided this is a good thing for their patrons - why does Disney hold out?
 
IMO, diabetics need to learn to function in the real world without special food or nutritional information supplied by the restaurant. A diabetic can eat the same foods as anyone else, they just have to learn how with experience. The learning curve is steeper for some diabetics.

Food intake is only one part of the puzzle and it’s not always predictable. Every diabetic should learn how an apple, a Big Mac and every other food they ingest may change their blood sugar. It’s up to the diabetic, not the restaurant to cipher the information.

Frankly, I don't think most food nutritional information is very accurate.
 
IMO, diabetics need to learn to function in the real world without special food or nutritional information supplied by the restaurant. A diabetic can eat the same foods as anyone else, they just have to learn how with experience. The learning curve is steeper for some diabetics.

This information is misleading and quite inaccurate. Although you are entitled to your "opinion", your opinion is not medically sound and is quite dangerous.:sad2:
 
IMO, diabetics need to learn to function in the real world without special food or nutritional information supplied by the restaurant. A diabetic can eat the same foods as anyone else, they just have to learn how with experience.

Food intake is only one part of the puzzle and it’s not always predictable. Every diabetic should learn how an apple, a Big Mac and every other food they ingest may change their blood sugar.

Frankly, I don't think most food nutritional information is very accurate.

I think to some extent this is true for us. It is good to learn how to go to restaurants, friend's houses, potlucks, etc. and be able to bolus for a meal based on your own knowledge of carb counts and experience. I agree diabetics can eat the same foods (for most part for us) as everyone else. I also agree that food intake is only one of the things affecting blood sugar and isn't always predictable..or perhaps the body isn't always predictable in how it handles it. I also question whether the nutritional info we're given for some things is accurate. Often times the serving size (or gram weight, etc) is different and if you don't or can't weigh it then you could be off by many carbs. (An example comes to mind of a whole wheat bun I was using for William's sandwich - a certain gram weight was X carbs - I finally realized that the buns were almost always 25% bigger than what the package said one bun should be.).

That being said....I think having the nutritional information is extremely helpful as a jumping off point if it can be made available.:thumbsup2
 
IMO, diabetics need to learn to function in the real world without special food or nutritional information supplied by the restaurant. A diabetic can eat the same foods as anyone else, they just have to learn how with experience. The learning curve is steeper for some diabetics.

Food intake is only one part of the puzzle and it’s not always predictable. Every diabetic should learn how an apple, a Big Mac and every other food they ingest may change their blood sugar. It’s up to the diabetic, not the restaurant to cipher the information.

Frankly, I don't think most food nutritional information is very accurate.
By that logic, diabetics should also allow themselves to lose their eyesight and have their feet amputated as that may be the "real world" and they better learn to function in it. Do you have to learn from those experiences before you ask for resources on how to avoid them?

The reality is that doesn't happen. Diabetes is all about knowledge - and knowledge = health. You are gaining the knowledge by trial and error, and that is your right. We are doing the same, and I'm going to arm myself with as much knowledge as I can to allow more trial and less error.

I hand you a "widget" for lunch. You're going to eat it and have the choice of viewing my nutritional information or not. Wouldn't you take it? At least the first time? Even if the info is wrong - it is better than taking a guess, even an educated guess, and being wrong. You would look at the info, eat the widget, give insulin and monitor the reaction. If the info was wrong, you'll note that. But more than likely, the info helped and you were better off with it.

As an adult you are able to closely monitor reactions, remember the foods you've eaten, keep a steady body condition (health, weight, etc) and return to many of the same foods while managing all the other variables like stress, exercise, insulin types, etc. With children and new diabetics, there are even more variables and there's no reason not to use nutritional information to help maintain an even keel in the face of the other factors.

Yes, we try to learn from each meal. But some are taken at school, some are snuck into the trashcan, some were last eaten when she was 35 lbs, now she's twice that, etc. So while the information on a Big Mac might be wrong, I do know it is always the same - which gives me a better baseline from which to learn.

***

I fully understand that Disney doesn't owe us this information. My appeal to Disney would not be for medical reasons, as yes, we can do (less well) without. The appeal is a marketing one - many other major franchises offer this information without major cost or image downside - why can't Disney? We've been to Disney parks 17 days in the last year and ate every breakfast outside the parks - simply because without the information, there's too much risk of losing control and I'd rather not start off the day like that. We pretty much have to take the risk later in the day, and we've had to leave once or twice because of it.

We stayed in Disney hotels all 17 days and still didn't eat at those either - we bought groceries - cereal, muffins - that had nutritional information.

Doesn't Disney want my breakfast dollar? Their vendors have the nutritional info - so both the info and my money is there for the taking...
 
By that logic, diabetics should also allow themselves to lose their eyesight and have their feet amputated as that may be the "real world" and they better learn to function in it. Do you have to learn from those experiences before you ask for resources on how to avoid them?

The reality is that doesn't happen. Diabetes is all about knowledge - and knowledge = health. You are gaining the knowledge by trial and error, and that is your right. We are doing the same, and I'm going to arm myself with as much knowledge as I can to allow more trial and less error.

I hand you a "widget" for lunch. You're going to eat it and have the choice of viewing my nutritional information or not. Wouldn't you take it? At least the first time? Even if the info is wrong - it is better than taking a guess, even an educated guess, and being wrong. You would look at the info, eat the widget, give insulin and monitor the reaction. If the info was wrong, you'll note that. But more than likely, the info helped and you were better off with it.

As an adult you are able to closely monitor reactions, remember the foods you've eaten, keep a steady body condition (health, weight, etc) and return to many of the same foods while managing all the other variables like stress, exercise, insulin types, etc. With children and new diabetics, there are even more variables and there's no reason not to use nutritional information to help maintain an even keel in the face of the other factors.

Yes, we try to learn from each meal. But some are taken at school, some are snuck into the trashcan, some were last eaten when she was 35 lbs, now she's twice that, etc. So while the information on a Big Mac might be wrong, I do know it is always the same - which gives me a better baseline from which to learn.

***

I fully understand that Disney doesn't owe us this information. My appeal to Disney would not be for medical reasons, as yes, we can do (less well) without. The appeal is a marketing one - many other major franchises offer this information without major cost or image downside - why can't Disney? We've been to Disney parks 17 days in the last year and ate every breakfast outside the parks - simply because without the information, there's too much risk of losing control and I'd rather not start off the day like that. We pretty much have to take the risk later in the day, and we've had to leave once or twice because of it.

We stayed in Disney hotels all 17 days and still didn't eat at those either - we bought groceries - cereal, muffins - that had nutritional information.

Doesn't Disney want my breakfast dollar? Their vendors have the nutritional info - so both the info and my money is there for the taking...

Very well put. I, for the life of me, couldn't even respond to that statement without getting upset. Thanks for taking the time and explaining it. I find that since my son's dx that is all I do. We shouldn't have to explain when asking for information.
 
I've been a brittle diabetic for almost 21 years. I have to have the carb info to keep my BG level. I go very quickly for 20 to 400 if the info is wrong. I don't think anbody is demanding anything of Disney just asking. And yes I have become very good at knowing the carbs in certain foods but some are just impossible. Everybodies diabetes is different and everybody needs different things to stay healthy. I don't feel that asking for nutritionaly info is not living in the real world.

Lissa
 
Not only do I need to count carbs but must know the type of sugar substitute used due to extreme sensitivity to some of them. Unfortunately some of the chefs are clueless like the one at Garden Grill who offered me a Rice Crispie Treat for dessert since the brownie had sugar alcohol as the sweetener. Yuck. I didn't eat dessert that time as I knew what would happen if I did.
 




New Posts









Receive up to $1,000 in Onboard Credit and a Gift Basket!
That’s right — when you book your Disney Cruise with Dreams Unlimited Travel, you’ll receive incredible shipboard credits to spend during your vacation!
CLICK HERE













DIS Facebook DIS youtube DIS Instagram DIS Pinterest DIS Tiktok DIS Twitter DIS Bluesky

Back
Top