Hello! Bonjour from Paris 
The husband and I set off on a quick trip to the City of Light two weeks ago while our son went off on a class trip to Quebec City and Montreal. What can I say, our family loves all things Français 😀
Travel with T1D is not always easy, especially on the food and insulin dosing front. But, food markets can help make our T1D struggles a bit easier.
Exploring food markets with T1D
One of my favourite things as a traveller, food lover, and person with T1D is visiting the food markets – especially in Europe!
I love the vibrancy of these markets, the liveliness, the cultures, the chatter and movements all around. I also love exploring all the foods.
Markets are a great opportunity to try new foods, but they’re also a fantastic way to find foods that most of us are fairly familiar with, and that I know will generally be okay for me blood sugar wise.
They typically have a wide variety of vegetables, and a selection of salads, as well as easy to make proteins (for us, it’s usually roasted chicken, eggs, cheese, or fish) and a selection of carbohydrates, such as breads, pastas, other grains, and fruits.
All of these selections can be great for building an easy-to-make meal – especially if you’re staying in an apartment rental over a hotel. That’s another tip for you: apartment rentals are the bomb for helping with managing travel with T1D.
Easy to make travel with T1D meals
Because we typically stay in apartment rentals, we prepare at least one “at-home” dinner, and it’s usually the markets providing that fare:
- In Paris, we’ve made eggs with cheese, baguette, and mixed raw vegetables
- In Nice, we purchased a pre-made roasted chicken and paired it with potatoes and salad greens
- In Italy, we did a selection of meat-filled pastas with a colourful salad on the side
- In Berlin, we did sausage with beans and greens
Honestly, anything goes here. Some of the foods can be a bit more challenging for me than others. For example, pasta is not a usual food for me. So, if that’s on our menu, I will use some of the more generalized carb-counting tools, and a little guesstimating too. Like, a cup of pasta or potatoes is about 30 grams of carbs give or take. And because it’s not an exact science, I’m gonna watch my blood sugars a little more closely and adjust as indicated.
Do you frequent food markets when travelling? If so, what’s your favourite? And what foods do you typically gravitate to?