Dining out

Dining out while traveling or even just as a weekly event can be enjoyable and tasteful. But if you have food restrictions or other concerns, it must also be done with care. As this site/blog is about traveling – I will center around that discussion, however many parts will also apply to just weeknight or staycations at home.

Many people suffer from two sometimes separate and sometimes related conditions. Excess body weight and diabetes. Weight issues can trigger type 2 diabetes but I have know people that were as slender as a stick but still became ill with this disease. I have also know and had family members with type 1 which they were born with.

I have a different restriction as does many others being related to a depressed immune system because of a transplant. As a result I have to be very cautious of not only what I eat, but how it was prepared and served. Even such safe items as a glass of water could present problems if I do not take a few extra steps. Salt/Pepper/Ketchup/etc, can be worrisome to me as I don’t know who handled the items before me.

Having suffered from weight issues since, well honestly, not long after birth, it has become worse the later years – as it does for many people. When cooking at home, I am more able to control the intake of calories, fats, carbs and salt. Dining out, I am at the mercy of the establishment. Luckily many large chain facilities have uniform recipes from coast to coast. Local mom and pop diners are less rigid and documented.

Diabetics often have to deal not only with the sugar/glucose in their diet but also calories plus other nutrition issues. I will not attempt to tackle this here as I am neither qualified nor a diabetic.