Diabetes Etiquette

How can you make a guest with diabetes feel at home?

How can you enjoy social events with diabetes?

These questions are related, whether you have guests with diabetes, or whether you have diabetes, and need to attend social events.

---if you have a guest with diabetes	---if you are a guest with diabetes
Serve meals early during events, or have substantial snacks circulating if you expect long drinking and talking sessions.	Eat a small meal before attending an event at which you expect long bouts of drinking, or a menu which may not cater to your special food needs.
Have yoghurt dips, roasted corn chips, raw nuts, and barbecued lean meats in your lists of snacks	Eat less than usual, especially of food rich in fats, sugar, and carbohydrates, if you have had a couple of drinks, which are obviously not part of your prescribed diet.
Include medleys of apples and melons in the array of desserts	Ask your doctor beforehand about dose adjustments in your oral medicine or insulin, to account for events at which you are forced to consume more calories than you should
Offer sugar free sodas and fruit juices without added sugar as beverages	Keep a stock of high fiber biscuits to nibble on in a rest room, if meals are not served on time.
Do not ply a person with diabetes with too much to drink, followed by a large meal	Take active part in conversations, chew slowly, and take breaks between mouthfuls, to stay within calorie limits, when delicious and rich menus tempt you
Make all your special arrangements discreet to protect the privacy of your guest with diabetes. Serve healthy choices of food and drink as a general practice, rather than to cater to any individual. You could have guests who do not even know that they have diabetes, or who have pre-diabetes.	Decide in advance about how you would like to field pointed questions from strangers about your glucose tolerance. Some people do not fight shy of admitting that they have the condition, especially if it is type 1 diabetes. It is not uncommon to feel guilty about type 2 diabetes and gestational diabetes, and you can fob off people by saying that your doctor has asked you to take some preventive steps for better glucose tolerance, and then deftly change the subject!

How much of your medical condition to disclose and to discuss with others is always a personal decision, and it helps to think things through, if you are the partying type, and want to keep your diabetes under wraps!

Please share your experiences here about how you deal with diabetes at social events, whether as a host or a guest!