Fried Chicken Restaurants In general, poultry is a smart choice while following a diabetes-friendly diet—except when it's breaded or dipped in flour and fried. This version adds not just carbs but saturated fat and calories as well to menu items at restaurants like KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken) and Popeyes.
Common menu hazards: Chicken is the heart of both KFC and Popeyes. But it's covered in a wheat flour that'll spike your blood sugar, then deep-fried in highly processed oil (canola oil and hydrogenated soybean oil for KFC, palm oil for Popeyes) that's detrimental to overall metabolic health.
Avoid Fried Foods Like French Fries and Chicken Nuggets
Fried foods are usually breaded, which can add up to lots of carbohydrates, unhealthy fats, and calories, says Kimberlain. Too much fat in your diet can lead to weight gain, she adds, which can worsen type 2 diabetes.
Most Nutritious Option
For the healthiest dish at KFC, opt for the grilled chicken wings, which deliver 70 calories per wing thanks to the cooking method.
While chicken is an obvious Men's Health staple, KFC's reliance on greasy oils and subsequent sky-high calorific content makes Maccy's an unlikely victor. The more varied menu and healthy options, as well as classic, gut-busting fare, make it the ideal spot to play fast and loose with your nutrition plan.
Bottom line: Yes, you can eat at McDonald's, but be aware of serving sizes and limits based on your overall daily nutritional needs. Talk to a nutritionist or your doctor about counting carbs, proteins, and fats.
They are usually high in calories fat, sugar, salt, and processed carbohydrates, and low in useful nutrients, such as fiber, vitamins, and minerals. Junk food includes many types of fast food, processed foods, and premade snack foods. People should eat these foods infrequently, especially if they have diabetes.
1. KFC options. Opt for 2 Whole Wings (Original Recipe or Extra Crispy), or any cut of their grilled chicken. For your sides, pick from: green beans, coleslaw, sweet kernel corn, corn on the cob, and/or mashed potatoes.
Fast food contains a lot of unhealthy ingredients like sugar, saturated fats, trans fats, and a lot of calories. While eating fast food once a week will not pose any harm in the short run, once you start regularly indulging in cheat meals, all these ingredients can come back to haunt your body.
A. No, zero sugar soda uses artificial sweeteners, which increases people's weight. Increased weight, in turn, is linked to the worsening of diabetes. Hence, zero soda is not suitable for diabetes.
“When ordering Chinese, focus on dishes packed full of lean proteins and vegetables with limited rice and noodles,” advises Palinski-Wade, who suggests ordering steamed chicken and broccoli with the sauce on the side.
KFC: Unhealthiest
The unhealthiest individual menu item, however, is the chicken pot pie, which contains 790 calories, 46 grams of fat, 37 grams of saturated fat, 95 milligrams of cholesterol, and 2,120 milligrams of sodium.
Unless you overturn the original Fish and Chips recipe, you can't reduce its fat and carbohydrate content. For this reason, Fish and Chips are not a dish typically suitable for those who have diabetes.
How often can a people with diabetes have a cheat meal? “Cheating once a week for normalcy is acceptable. However, cheating every other day can become an issue”, Shilpa added.
A skipped meal alters the balance between food intake and insulin production, and can cause your blood sugar levels to eventually drop. “For diabetic people dependent on insulin or blood sugar–lowering medication, skipping meals can be more dangerous because it can lead to low blood sugar,” says Pearson.
Pizza may actually be a good choice for people with type 2 diabetes; just be sure to order the thin-crust type and top it with vegetables rather than high-fat meats and extra cheese. It's also a good idea to watch portion sizes.
French fries, potato chips, and doughnuts are particularly bad choices for diabetics because they're made with carb-heavy, starchy ingredients, which can cause blood glucose levels to shoot up.
Fried Chicken Restaurants
In general, poultry is a smart choice while following a diabetes-friendly diet—except when it's breaded or dipped in flour and fried.
For a balanced meal, if you pair KFC Grilled Chicken with Green Beans or a side salad with the buttermilk ranch dressing, you can keep well within your diet goals. Each piece of KFC Grilled Chicken has less than 1 gram of carbs and Green Beans contain 2 grams of digestible carbs per serving. Voila!
However, if you're brave enough to click on the KFC nutrition calculator, the mashed potatoes and gravy are hardly the worst offenders as far as unhealthy side dishes. A serving of KFC mashed potatoes and gravy contains 130 calories, 4.5 grams of fat (1 gram of which is saturated), and 520 milligrams of sodium.