Disney with Type 1 diabetes

[EmilyJ517]

Actually my biggest question is carb counting at Disney. I know they do a great job of listing allergens, and being sensitive to gluten, but I have heard that standard carb counts are a bit of a mystery. Anyone have any ideas on how to handle Disney or Disney Cruise Line food for carb counting?

 

[buffettgirl]

Actually my biggest question is carb counting at Disney. I know they do a great job of listing allergens, and being sensitive to gluten, but I have heard that standard carb counts are a bit of a mystery. Anyone have any ideas on how to handle Disney or Disney Cruise Line food for carb counting?

Disney fails so miserably in this regard. It really seems to be the only food issue that they refuse to address, despite repeated requests for accurate carb counts.

What most of us do is just use standard carb amounts based off food apps like Calorie King, Fat Secret, etc. You'll get a fairly good guesstimate and really, something like a 1/2 cup of rice or a cup mac and cheese is always going to be about the same amount of carbs no matter where you go.

The challenge when you're newly diagnosed is that you haven't yet become good at eyeballing portion sizes. I can look at a plate of pasta and know about how many cups it is. Or I can look at a banana and know if it's a 22g banana or a 30g banana.

For us, we took a travel scale with us early on. We also took measuring cups. I've seen collapsible ones that work great for things like milk. It was sort of a pain, and it's nothing we do anymore, but it just took the guesswork out of dinner. Most of the apps can tell you food amounts in grams and ounces and will allow you to put in the weight of your food to find the carb amount. If you find a scale which does both, so much the better.

And with a little child, who is already going to be highly sensitive to insulin, dosing based on a guess of 40g of carbs when the item really only has 30 is going to mean one more low you have to deal with. No one wants that.

The other big issue with restaurant food is the fat. Fat raises blood sugar HOURS later. Now, at home the fat spikes after dinner are something that we account for with basal increases in the middle of the night, but at Disney they sort of work to our benefit helping to prevent lows at night. A fat spike at 2am from a mickey bar eaten at 10pm is perfectly timed to counteract lows which are bound to happen from all the activity during the day. The exception here is that if dinner was big and fatty, desert was big and fatty, you may just have way too much fat and you might see some skyrocketing highs in the middle of the night which make you scratch your head.

You'll do great!

 

[aliceclones]

Actually my biggest question is carb counting at Disney. I know they do a great job of listing allergens, and being sensitive to gluten, but I have heard that standard carb counts are a bit of a mystery. Anyone have any ideas on how to handle Disney or Disney Cruise Line food for carb counting?

We call them WAG's (wild a** guess). After you have D in your family for a while you get pretty good at them. Even my 7y/o non D is pretty accurate with her WAGs. As buffettgirl stated, mac n cheese is generally the same no matter what. Bread is bread, pizza is pizza etc. My girls often have a standard amount of carbs that they generally eat to get full. So if we are really stumped we start there (or if they already ate and want to know "how many carbs" without me ever seeing the plate! ). If you are new keep in mind that you can always give more insulin, but you can't take away!

 

[lifesgr8]

We got back a few weeks ago from our first trip since DD was diagnosed T1. I was able to take my bag on every ride, no problem at all. As a previous poster mentioned, a FRIO bag is a great investment. DD uses insulin pens, and it kept them at room temp all day, even though it was 90+ degrees everyday. Also, most restrooms in the parks now have sharps containers out in the open, so no need to ask a custodian to dispose of them for you. Have a great trip!

where do you buy these frio bags?

 

[Sprockie]

where do you buy these frio bags?

I bought ours at the pharmacy. You can also get them on ebay and other online places. I have one for the pens and another one I will transport my vials in.

 

[eeyore68]

I bought our Frio at Amazon. I got the large one to make sure I had plenty of room and it was great. Make sure you read the directions and follow them carefully!

 

[disneyfaninaz]

where do you buy these frio bags?

Google FRIO.

Here is the website: http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...j18_wAxpjFPFYDIo5rrmCNQ&bvm=bv.59568121,d.aWc

 

[buffettgirl]

Frio Bags:
http://www.friobags.com/catalogo.html