Diabetes - How about a carbohydrate counting thread?

[bettybeth]

My son wears an insulin pump and we have to be very careful about counting the carbohydrates that he eats. I know others have to count their carbs for multiple shots as well as many other reasons. If you've done any research or been pretty good at guessing on certain items offered at Disney, could you post them here?

 

[momsgoofy]

I wish that I could help with the Disney carb info, but I can't...sorry! I've been diabetic for about 18 months and this is the hardest thing sometimes when I have to eat out thanks to my crazy schedule. I can suggest a website...it doesn't carry Disney info, but maybe if you requested such info the woman who runs it could try to get the info. The woman who runs it is the DIL of my son's music teacher and her father is diabetic, so she started gathering nutritional info from labels and various restaurants...she's got some great info. I hope this might give ya some help...at least in everyday life for your son.

The site is...

www.dietfacts.com

 

[Selket]

My 4 yr old son is diabetic and has been pumping since he was 2 yrs old. We went to WDW twice last summer and are going back again in a few days.

How long have you been carb counting?

Our method is called "WAG" (wild &^% guessing). Just kidding but most things there definitely don't come with carb counts. The only thing I remember having a label was the Itskadoozie bar he had - the other ice cream bars might have them also.

What I've found to be most helpful was buying a nutritional scale for home use and I tend to weight out everything he eats. I have a Salter nutritional scale (google it - they are sold many places online). The scale will tell you the carbs for 100's of foods - you input a code from a booklet that comes with it. We also sometimes weigh an entire thing (like a cake) and use the info from the ingredients (like a cake mix box) to figure out how many grams of cake = how many carbs. Anyway I can often look at something and tell if it is 15 carbs of fries or 25 carbs of pasta, etc. just from all of the measuring we do at home. We've gotten to the point where we usually don't have a problem when eating out.

They also sell small scales online that will fit in your purse and if you know how many grams = how many carbs you can weigh out restaurant food.

If I see any more carb info on items at WDW I will post back.

 

[bettybeth]

Excellent info selket and momsgoofy. I've used a website called calorieking.com but will try this new one.

Selket - we've been pumping for a year and carbcounting for several. My son was 4 when dx'd and he's almost 8 now. We are pretty good at eyeballing things. But I can't believe I've done without this scale. I'm going to order it tomorrow, after I catch up on all things disney tonight of course.

I've got lists galores and try to keep a record of how they affect him. For instance, school lunches, I can pretty accurately count those carbs and tell you how he'll trend the rest of the day. We've found that fatty items, pizza, spaghetti, movie popcorn wreak more havoc on him then just straight sugary things. We are constantly using our dual wave and temp basal feature!!

Anyway, I just figured there might be a few mom's out there who have made a partial disney list themselves. Thank you both for the information!

 

[Ambassador]

We have learned to apply a round average carb number to serving size, and dosed accordingly. Our nutritionist helped us determine the number.

 

[Selket]

bettybeth - Yes there are definitely some foods that are a challenge to bolus for! William is still on the young side so eats like a toddler at times but he is a very good eater...too good! He is also extremely allergic to peanuts/tree nuts so that has a huge affect on how we dine at WDW. I feel better making sit-down reservations because the chefs are so good at catering to what he will eat. I like to have a meat plus something like pasta or rice and then some vegetables. He often will not eat fries or mac and cheese and some of the other staples of kids meals at WDW.

An amusing note - the Chef at Crystal Palace was just great and made arrangements for dessert for him. Well I think the guy momentarily lost track of the fact he was diabetic cause they brought him out two HUGE brownies, 2 bowls of ice cream and 2 cups of sprinkles! Mind you he was 3 at the time! (the brownies were sugar-free but still rather carby I'm sure). Maybe they meant for us to share some with him but they set the whole kaboodle right in front of him. I was sitting there going oh...oh....oh....oh.....er...... LOL! I started sort of quietly pulling some of it away. Fortunately the only thing he really went for were the sprinkles - he wanted to eat them out of the bowl. Thank goodness he ate a reasonable amount and stopped and was done - whew! That whole thing was probably 300 carbs+

This is my scale I mentioned btw: http://www.zaccardis.com/salter-nutritional-scale.html I didn't get it from here but that is it exactly. Someone on one of my diabetes lists recommend this travel scale - Frieling - Accu Balance 401. Here is one place that sells it: http://www.totalhomestore.com/home/static/FrielingAccuBalancetwo.htm I don't have it but it looks interesting.

 

[LittleDino]

One other thing to keep in mind while at Disney is possibly changing your son's carb ratio. (Sorry! more math.) I'm 25, and have been on the pump for 5 years, and usually take 1 unit of humalog per 10 carbs I eat. But while in Disney, all that walking really does wonders for my blood sugar, and I'll decrease my amount of insulin taken - following a 1/15 or 1/20 carb ratio.

I don't have any other advice than what others have already mentioned. For food in Disney, it is mostly a guessing game. Counter service items are slightly easier to guess at - because it's pretty much like fast food. So you could take a look at McDonalds or Wendy's nutritional info and make comparable guesses.

 

[disneyrunner]

Little Dino
I am the proud father of two DD whom both are diebetic and we live in Westerville. One started pumping two weeks ago and the other starts in two weeks. It has been a re-learning experience adjusting to the pump. Everyone we have had great luck in just asking whoever is at the cart, counter service etc if they have any of the containers with them. We have been counting carbs for almost five years even though we just starting pumping. Our endo gave us a couple of books that have alot if fast food and chain restaruants in it. From there we estimate if we can't get the info. One thing we have found out is that really look closely at the mac n cheese. Depending on the type of pasta used the carbs can fluctuate alot. We are returning in June for the first time since the second DD was diagnosed so we'll see how things go. We will be checking alot to be sure. Good luck everyone on your trips and remember that it will be ok if the numbers aren't perfect the kids deserve a vacation also. They go through so much we try to splurge a little when we are Disney!

 

[Zurg]

We have two Type 1 kids. Disney is real bad at sharing carb counts. OK it is a vacation place and I can see they want to push the indulgence. But carbs are a life safety issue with T1.

It took me two years but I finally got to a suit who said they don't hear guest with diabetes asking for carb counts. No kidding? Who is willing to try off and on for two years? Well help him hear write:

Mr. Mark Jones
Walt Disney World Services for Guests with Disabilities
Box 10000
Lake Buena Vista, FL 32830

That said I did have some luck getting a very little bit of carb counts out of them. There is a guy who's job is special food need. Joel Shaffer. Great guy. His dad wears a pump, so he "gets it." They have a special food needs form you can get and fax back. You will not get tons guy you will get some info.

Joel is at 407 560 4588.

We have started a blog to collect T1 Tips at Disney (see my siggie) Any tips or thoughts are welcome.

 

[Zurg]

I talked with the Disney food people.

It is the same Mac& Cheese everywhere, 40 carbs a cup.

Pizza planet Pizza 56 carbs / serving two servings per pie. They say they have 30 or 40 different pizza crusts, this was the one they could give me but it was the one I wanted too.

Same fries almost all places, 3oz = 20 carbs

Chicken tender = 11 per tender.

Choc Milk 26 carbs for 8 oz

Pretzel bread stick in Canada 17 per stick. (boy are they good)

 

[cindyrelly]

A national best-seller pocket guide for 2006 is now available at local bookstores and discount stores. It's called CALORIE FAT AND CARBOHYDRATE COUNTER by Allan Borushek. It lists over 200 fast- food chains and restaurants plus offers free website support. This miniature book is a National Health Information awards winner, which makes an easy portable reference guide in the parks, costing just $7.99. Main thing to remember, you can always take more insulin 2 hous later, you can't take less! HAVE A MAGICAL DAY!
Cindyrelly

 

[meandmad]

Our DS 12 was dx'd with T1 one week ago today. We're planning a WDW trip next February and was so glad to find this thread!! The disneywithdiabetes.com website is wonderful! Like everyone else, carb counting is now a part of life and it's so reassuring to know there are wonderful DIS'ers with lots of info to help us out!

 

[Zurg]

...CALORIE FAT AND CARBOHYDRATE COUNTER by Allan Borushek...

You can also down load the database into a palm or treo for $30 and that makes it easy to carry and search at WDW.

 

[Chloesmom]

Our DS 12 was dx'd with T1 one week ago today. We're planning a WDW trip next February and was so glad to find this thread!! The disneywithdiabetes.com website is wonderful! Like everyone else, carb counting is now a part of life and it's so reassuring to know there are wonderful DIS'ers with lots of info to help us out!

My daughter ( 6 at the time) was diagnosed with T1 6 days before we left for disney last year. The docs made sure we were out of the hospital in time to get to Disney. We were discharged from the hospital at 4pm on Tuesday and our flight left at 5 am the next day. I learned how to handle diabetes at Disney. Its not so bad since most people are willing to try to help even if they dont know how.
My Dd is currently on R and N insulin therapy so we had to eat to match her insulin. We are going to be pumping here very soon so it will be a whole new ball game once again when we return in a few months.

 

[Selket]

I just wanted to note that Children With Diabetes (http://www.childrenwithdiabetes.com) holds their annual conference often at one of the WDW resorts. Next year - July 2007 - they will be at Coronado Springs again. This year they are at Seaworld Orlando - so not that far from Disney. If you like going to Disney and your kid is type 1 - this is an event not to miss! It is wonderful meeting all the other families and kids with diabetes. I got a kick out of seeing all the kids at the pool with pumps

We just got back from WDW and again the only thing I noticed that had carb counts listed were the Itskadoozie bars in the ice cream carts. Because William is allergic to peanuts we avoid the other ice cream bars and candies and all baked goods at WDW are not safe for him. I think the Itskadoozies are 24 carbs but it is a big popsicle!

We used our WAG method (guessing basically) and it turned out fine. William has a pump so sometimes if we are really unsure or if he eats a lot we use a combo bolus which delivers the bolus over an extended period. We've found that if William eats a lot (which he did a couple of times - especially when Crystal Palace sat a big plate of brownies and ice cream and sprinkles in front of him) that the food hits him slowly as he digests it.

Our biggest problem on the trip was that sometime in the middle of the night one night he had a set problem which caused him to get some but not get all of his insulin. He woke up the next morning not especially high but started feeling sick to his stomach. After giving him insulin to bring him down and for breakfast and noticing he wasn't coming down much after a half hour we checked his site and saw the problem. By that time though he was starting to throw up and had large ketones. We had tons of supplies so no problems there. I talked to his pedi endo back home and was prepared to take him to the hospital. It took us most of the day to get him back to feeling well enough to do anything but he did get back on track by dinner. Poor little guy!

I highly recommend getting a ketone meter that tests the BLOOD for ketones. This is different than the urine strip ketone test. The meter is made by MediSense and is the Precision Xtra. It tests the ketones in the blood - just like doing a regular glucose check with a strip except you are measuring ketones rather than glucose levels. The urine strip only shows you the ketone levels of several hours ago - the blood strip is accurate to the current time. We were able to tell within a couple of hours that his ketones were clearing out although the urine strips still showed high ketones. Here is a link to info about it: http://www.diabetes123.com/d_0i_191.htm

We got ours off of ebay. The strips are rather expensive and hard to find but well worth it!

I suggest building in an extra day or two with some free time. The day we missed was to be our big MK day for getting there early and doing Fantasyland and so forth.

 

[bettybeth]

I haven't read this thead in a while and was thrilled to find out about your blog, Zurg. It's the little things that thrill the mom of a son with type 1 . I am going to write the note to Mr. Jones and bookmark your site!!! Thanks again!

The last time I went to Disney was in 03 and I remember some postings from you and your wife that had some references to your son having diabetes. I am so sorry that your daughter has since been diagnosed but she is blessed to have parents like you.


(My 5 year old is picking out the smilies for me)

 

[Zurg]

That ketone meter sounds like a great idea. I gotta talk with the endo about getting script for that. I think I may lift a little of that post for the Disney With Diabetes!

Suggestions for the site are most welcome. Feel free to PM me or Zurgswife (I am not here all that often but she is)

bettybeth go here: http://badshoe.com/lymi.htm scroll down to the bottom for and start reading Long-a-walk a hallway. Delaneys dx was at Disney.

 

[ilovemickeymost]

Ask your dietician, diabetes health educator or Endo for a resturaunt guide. They normally get them from the pharmicitical companies. It lists a bunch of different chain resturaunts & drive-thrus. DD uses it as a guide. If we eat at a place thats not listed, she'll say the cheeseburger is about the same size as McDs & look up their carbs. We've found dessert to be the hardest to judge. I just check her later & if her # is going up I'll give her a little more insulin. Most everything else has been pretty close. If they can't get you one, let me know & I can find out what company made ours.

 

[Zurg]

....I highly recommend getting a ketone meter that tests the BLOOD for ketones. This is different than the urine strip ketone test. The meter is made by MediSense and is the Precision Xtra. It tests the ketones in the blood - just like doing a regular glucose check with a strip except you are measuring ketones rather than glucose levels. The urine strip only shows you the ketone levels of several hours ago - the blood strip is accurate to the current time. We were able to tell within a couple of hours that his ketones were clearing out although the urine strips still showed high ketones. Here is a link to info about it: http://www.diabetes123.com/d_0i_191.htm...

These meters are on sale at Wallgreens for 9.99. We just pick up some.

 

[Selket]

Do they actually sell the strips? I can't find the strips except by mail order.

I looked online and sadly it doesn't look like the sale is online. I'd encourage anyone to pick up one of those meters if they take insulin and can run ketones.