Dis Dining For Diabetics

[Baklava]

Tell me the good stuff!

I was recently diagnosed with diabetes and it sure changes my eating plan for Disney. We are taking our first WDW trip in January and I'd love to hear your favorite restaurants, snacks, desserts that help you keep on track.

 

[bumbershoot]

DH just tried to eat decently. For him it was all about carb control, and the carbs he reacted to hugely are not ALL carbs. For him, corn syrup sends his glucose into the atmosphere, but other sugars don't do it the same way. It's actually really interesting. So we found all the items at Disney(land, in our case) that have corn syrup based ingredients (Uncrustables, all the Dreyers/Edie's ice creams (which are also what Ghirardelli's, at least at Disneyland, uses), most desserts, many other things...). Alas, we found those through trial and error and THEN checking ingredients.

Alas, because his issues are so different than how other people react, that's about all the help I have.


But...your username, given your diagnosis, is just as interesting a combo as the one time I was the first to answer about AA meetings onboard cruiseships, given my avatar picture.


Oh, speaking of drinking, DH really canNOT have alcohol. Again, blood sugar through the roof with just one shot of something. Worth paying attention to.

 

[Baklava]

But...your username, given your diagnosis, is just as interesting a combo as the one time I was the first to answer about AA meetings onboard cruiseships, given my avatar picture.

That's because I can't eat sweets but I'm still so sweet myself. I find that I can manage ONE drink if I eat carefully around it. I would not push for two, seems like tempting fate.

 

[JZCubed]

Tell me the good stuff!

I was recently diagnosed with diabetes and it sure changes my eating plan for Disney. We are taking our first WDW trip in January and I'd love to hear your favorite restaurants, snacks, desserts that help you keep on track.

I have been diabetic for about one year and had a Disney trip a few months ago, with another coming soon.

Managing diabetes is different for all of us.

How you Tour at Disney is different for all of us.

How I managed my meal time became more important to keep my wife from 'parenting' me and to be certain that we eat/ate before the bloodsugar starts going haywire.

Where we used to have fewer ADR's and grabbed something on-the-go, we've now made a bit more effort to have meal time of something more than a pulled-pork sandwich lathered in sauce served with fries and soda. Sit-down restaurants can be more accommodating (and have unsweetened iced tea), but I have also found the Qwik Service places to be as accommodating as they can be.

How we manage breakfast with an attempt to locate more protein and fewer sugary or sandwich based meals is a trade-off - 6:30am room service for 2 people (we're 3) is enough food and gets us to Rope Drop better nourished and less hassled that a full sit-down meal. And then we have in-Park lunch ADR's on the early side.

In other words - ordering room service gave me better protein, and gave us less hassle to get to Rope Drop. If we had to go to the dining room, my wife would not enjoy our lunchtime ADR (because we enjoy Signature dinners too), because then we'd have schedule too much time for eating.

If you are more Quick Service kinda' folks - Disney has made an attempt to offer many healthier sounding choices, but there are too often hidden sugars in dressings, particularly Disney's dressings/sauces that are certain to contain high-fructose corn syrup. This is the challenge for most diabetics - eliminating those excess sugars.

Snacks - popcorn is my friend....I hide eating the Mickey Bars when the women go to the bathroom.....ssssshhhhhh....

After 10 trips to Disney, only after managing my diabetes did I go home weighing less than I arrived (and that's a good thing)....even after sneaking those Mickey Bars......

 

[JJZMgailey]

Snacks - popcorn is my friend....I hide eating the Mickey Bars when the women go to the bathroom.....ssssshhhhhh....

After 10 trips to Disney, only after managing my diabetes did I go home weighing less than I arrived (and that's a good thing)....even after sneaking those Mickey Bars......

Your secret is safe with us!!!

 

[pumba]

going to disney also means keeping your Blood Sugars level...walking and more walking made me go down faster...so eat your regular meals ...like every morning I had the breakfast platter minus the waffle...(only cause I didnt like it)...it kept me going good for three or so hours...then I had a snack someplace.. usually I had peanut butter crackers from home. Lunch is always at the same time...(creature of habit)...sometimes hubby and I would share a HUGE burger with all the fixings and a chicken ceasar salad...worked for us...we would go back to the resort and swim (we had 90s all week) and then had a snack from the food court... Dinner was a TS and I love buffets. I had some really good choices at Crystal Palace, Biergarten, and also Ohana (my favorite)...remember to keep snacks with you in your backpack or purse...and have a little something to bring back to your room...but everyone usually reacts to their diabetes different...this way is good for me

 

[TelynnRose]

Keep hydrated and check your sugar more than you do at home. I also found that having access to a carb counting book or app handy for estimating carbs in a meal (you've got time before your trip to practice your size/volume estimations) if you are counting carbs for insulin use.

 

[JustCallMeMommy]

What works at home may be different than at Disney because you are walking a lot more than normal. I find I need to increase my snacks a little because of this. That said, meals are easy for me - almost every restaurant has a meat with veggies option. If you avoid the pasta and pastries, you practically have it made. Sweets are my downfall, so I plan for less carbs in the meal itself so I can split a dessert with DD.