Diabetes

[peaceful nurse, RN]

My question is about our new diabetic preschoolers coming to head start. I have used the Internet and the book calorie King to help me count carbs but how do I count things that are home made or mixed together. For example chicken and noodles, longboy cheeseburgers, BBQ pork, or ham green beans and potatoes, muffins... please help losing my mind with all this

[meanmaryjean, DNP, RN]

If this stuff is coming from the cafeteria, they should have all of that from either the packaging or the supplier website.

[peaceful nurse, RN]

Yes.it all comes from the kitchen. Homemade.

[meanmaryjean, DNP, RN]

Again, they have the information you want. And 'comes from the cafeteria' does not equal 'homemade'.

[Windchaser22]

We have an outside supplier who prepares the food onsite that is used in our cafeteria. The supplier has a website that lists the carb counts of all the meals they serve. I just have to look on page 17 for example to see all the chicken dishes they offer then find the one that is being served that day. Same for the sides and condiments. Since your head start, I would think the government would have a similar page. Hope that helps.

[JenTheSchoolRN, BSN, RN]

Cafeterias have to meet nutritional guidelines and portion sides, so calorie/portion information should be available, likely on a weekly or monthly basis depending on how far out they meal plan.

When I did work with the younger kids, I had a running list for one student of that student's "frequent foods" and their portion size/carb count. Easy reference and also a good guide to use for teaching. Even the very little ones can learn a little about carb counting .

[Flare, ASN, BSN]

Homemade food coming from the student's own home needs to come with a carb count figured from home. Food made in the school's kitchen can have a carb count figured by checking packaging and portion sizing appropriately. Remember, you're not building a watch here, you're feeding a child so you might need to estimate and eye ball here and there but for the most part you should be able to follow it pretty easily. If your in school kitchen is making chicken and rice with carrots, then you'd have to ensure that they portion the carrots and rice so your carb count is accurate. if the chicken has a coating, it should say it on the package and should be served to whatever the guidelines would be. Like the earlier posters said, if your kitchen if making up a menu, have them do carb counts to go along with those meals.

My bigger stress with a little one would be ensuring that that pre-k eats enough to actually meet that coverage.

[KKEGS, MSN, RN]

Here's what we do in our district. Our cafeteria provides carb count with all meals. We get a monthly menu with carb information that we hang on a cabinet in our health office. Our older diabetic students come in and figure out what they are going to eat for lunch and let us know how many carbs, how much insulin, etc and we track it on a daily log. If there is a substitute item our cafeteria manger calls me and lets me know. For example there are chicken strips instead of chicken nuggets today.

If a child is bringing a lunch from home it's the parent's responsibility to provide us with the carb count.

[NutmeggeRN, BSN]

Here's what we do in our district. Our cafeteria provides carb count with all meals. We get a monthly menu with carb information that we hang on a cabinet in our health office. Our older diabetic students come in and figure out what they are going to eat for lunch and let us know how many carbs, how much insulin, etc and we track it on a daily log. If there is a substitute item our cafeteria manger calls me and lets me know. For example there are chicken strips instead of chicken nuggets today.

If a child is bringing a lunch from home it's the parent's responsibility to provide us with the carb count.

Same here and I also email it to all my parents of diabetics.