When I eat out at a vegetarian restaurant I come

[applegrove]

home and test and my sugars are high. Is there lots of sugar or carbs in a broccoli salad, chick peas, mung bean noodles, saffron rice, and the like? I never cook vegetarian.

[Ocelot II]

1. Chick peas, rice, beans, etc. are very high in carbs.

If you're on a low carb diet those things should be avoided along with the more obvious things like bread, pasta and pastries.

[applegrove]

3. I had all of that. I guess I just assumed a vegetarian

restaurant would be diabetes friendly. I'll have to be more careful.

[sl8]

5. While high in carbs, the chickpeas & beans are also low-glycemic. nt

[Ocelot II]

6. I wasn't thinking in terms of glycemic issues, just about carbs in general

like if you are on a low carb diet (keto or Atkins). I went low-carb just for weight loss and avoided all low-carb food, including beans and chickpeas. It worked well. I've started eating things like black beans for the protein but still mostly stay away from rice and pasta.

[sl8]

8. Gotcha.

In terms of blood sugar level, which the OP seems concerned with, I think the glycemic index is relevant.

I'm no expert (but I am prediabetic - not to brag), but everything I've learned suggests that legumes should form a big part of your diet if you have diabetes concerns. I'm pretty sure they tend to moderate your blood sugar level much more than spike it.

[mitch96]

2. Does your sugar spike when you eat other carbs? It seems like someting had a high

glycemic index..
I know when I eat mostly veg there is no bump in my sugar. Most veg are slow carbs which don't raise your blood sugar all at once. Kinda sorta dribbles into your system.
m

[jimfields33]

4. I'm thinking at a restaurant they add sugars to add to the flavor

At home, most wouldn’t add sugar to most dishes.

[mitch96]

7. Yup, I think your right. I don't go out much and my sugar is fine. Sugar, Fat and salt

the food industry has that down to a science. Want lo fat? jack up the sugar and salt.
Want lo carb? jack up the salt and fat.. I remember watching Bourdain and he said most restaurant foods use a stick of butter per meal... for the flavor. Then add handfulls of salt and a pinch of sugar to sweeten things up a bit. Hi Fructose corn syrup is the worst.
Concentrated calories..

m

[sir pball]

14. No, we absolutely do not add "sugars" to "add to flavor".

In the restaurant we don't add "sugars" any more than you would at home – there's plenty of recipes that call for a bit of something sweet, but dumping in a tablespoon of Domino's is simply something that's not done; it would make the food inedible if anything, it certainly isn't going to improve a pot of shakshuka, saag paneer, or ratatouille.

We amp up the flavor with fat, salt, and acid, far more than home cooks think is reasonable. A knob of butter, a heavy pinch of salt, and maybe a squeeze of lemon is how restaurant dishes are finished, even in vegetarian cookery - check out Amanda Cohen's excellent Dirt Candy Cookbook to understand.

[onecaliberal]

9. The noodles and rice. High in carbohydrates.

[Retrograde]

10. Do you know what's in the broccoli salad?

aside from broccoli, that is - does the restaurant use packaged salad dressings, for example? And how high is high - twice your usual level, 10% more? Rice and beans do contain carbohydrates of various kinds, some more easily digestible than others. Serving size can also be a factor - many American restaurants have huge portions.

Based on my extremely unscientific observations on a sample size of 1: my mother, who was diabetic, took blood sugar readings three times a day. In the weeks I cooked for her - using no prepared or packaged foods (because when I was Mom-sitting there wasn't much else to do except prepare meals from scratch) her blood sugar levels were consistently lower than they were when her regular caregiver cooked for her. I have no idea why, but I suspect that even a small amount of packaged foods can have an effect.

[applegrove]

11. Nope. I don't know the recipes. The mayo does not taste like miracle

whip or hellmans as you would expect in a vegan restaurant.

[woodsprite]

12. I'm type 2, and unless I'm careful, even the chickpeas

Can spike me. I try to limit my serving to a half cup or less, depending on what I’m having with it. The noodles and rice are the most suspect though. Broccoli is good for diabetics. My team has said it glucose should be less than 180 2 hrs after the first bite of a meal or snack.

Last week I couldn’t get that number if you paid me whenever I ate a tuna sandwich (albacore, Helman’s light Mayo, onion, celery, a bit of dill, mustard, and a 1/2 tsp of stevia sweetened pickle relish on low carb bread).

I’ve been in an exercise program since January to try to affect my glucose numbers. So far they have barely budged, but my BP meds had to be cut in half, and my resting heart rate has dropped about 8 points. I’ll keep plugging away.

[spinbaby]

13. Restaurant food in general does it for me

I think restaurants generally have a lot more hidden sugars than they let on. I’m not vegetarian, and when I eat out, have a rather limited range of restaurant food I can order that I know won’t spike my sugar: vegetable omelet, steak with a vegetable, chef salad without dressing, and a few other things. Even what seems like a harmless chicken dish can have all kinds of crap in it that I can’t handle.

A vegetarian restaurant isn’t going to have as much protein and fat on the menu to help temper the effects of carbs, hidden and otherwise. Vegetarian and vegan cuisines are more difficult to do in a palatable way that doesn’t spike blood sugar, so often restaurants offer dishes that are deficient in protein and fiber and lean on high-carb dressings and sauces.