Joe Otulau often eats both breakfast and dinner at Kenny's Restaurant in Kalihi, where it's easy to decide whether to be bad or good.

He can choose the $8.39 loco moco hamburger patty over rice, smothered by two eggs, gravy and macaroni salad; or the $9.49, low-cholesterol, "healthy choice" breakfast of turkey ham, with scrambled Egg Beaters and brown rice.

For dinner, there's the battered and deep-fried Korean chicken marinated in kalbi sauce and served with white rice and mac salad for $11.99; or the popular $12.39, kama'aina chopped steak, wok-seared with tomatoes, onions, carrots, bell peppers and celery — with an optional sugar-free teriyaki sauce.

"We haven't gotten any complaints," said Martin Corcino, Kenny's assistant general manager.

The folks at Kenny's think about diabetes — and the temptations of local food — all the time.

Kenny's owner John Fujieki is the former chairman of the board of the Hawai'i chapter of the American Diabetes Association and has been trying to help diabetics — and everyone else — eat good, healthy food for the last seven years.

Kenny's chefs experimented with Kenny's recipes and now use Splenda to produce sugar-free sauces on request and offer fresh, steamed Hawaiian reef fish such as akule, red weke, 'opelu and menpachi.

"When we first did it, it was very positive," Fujieki said. "We offer brown rice and wherever we can, we substitute sugar-free sauces."

Last year, Corcino showed off some of Kenny's diabetes-friendly dishes at a gathering of diabetics and diabetes advocates, where he was urged to test his blood sugar.

Where his blood sugar should have been somewhere around 100 milligrams per deciliter, Corcino's was off the charts at 700.

In November, he was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes.

"I've got a sweet tooth," Corcino said. "I've got to stop eating sugar. And I'm staying away from the starches."

At least at Kenny's, Corcino said, he has a chance to make the right choices.