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Low-Carb: Getting through Luncheons and Other Group Meals

The first rule for following a low-carb diet when going to luncheons and other group outings is to assume there will be nothing there that you can eat. You'll usually be right and you'll come prepared. If it's a breakfast, eat before you go. If it's a luncheon, eat afterwards. Check the menu first if it's at a restaurant.

Most restaurants can offer something low-carb, but my carb-loving coworkers have a way of picking places and selecting buffets where there's absolutely nothing I can eat. (I'm carb intolerant and allergic to wheat.) Salad doesn't count as a meal. If I were more of a smart-aleck, I'd ask people who suggest salad if that's what they normally have for lunch and if so, whether they don't get hungry until dinner.

It's a problem when the meal is the entire point of the gathering or it comes in the middle of an event. This came up today--the buffet at the staff meeting had pasta, meatballs and salad. And here I thought the nineties were over. I went to McDonald's because a 20-calorie salad doesn't get me through the day no matter how much dressing I add. Some people find that socially awkward, but where are your acquaintances going to be when you're having an allergic reaction to something you ate? They won't be holding your hair back over the toilet or giving you Sudafed or regretting that nobody warned you, they'll be clucking that you should have had the salad.

The second rule is to prepare: eat breakfast before, eat lunch after, plan to fast, take some food you can eat, or find out where you can go nearby. Don't leave the house hungry--unless you know for a fact there will be food you can eat, assume there won't be. 
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Comments

horfilmania said…
lol, Lori, I'm glad I'm retired. I worked at a University where there are a lot of supposedly really intelligent people so our lunches were always so healthy. NOT! Usually, vegetarian lasagna, mixed salad (just leaves) and some sort of squares. I usually left and had my own lunch and then came back. It's unfortunate that people concentrate on everything else thinking it important, except what they put in their mouths and then wonder why they are all so sick.
August 16, 2014
Lori Miller said…
Did they think they just needed more exercise? That's the cure for everything, isn't it--along with whole grains and avoiding red meat. Funny how we've all gotten sicker following that advice.

I don't know what to do about the comment system. Why can't Google just go back to whatever was working before?
August 16, 2014
Lowcarb team member said…
Always, always start the day with a good cooked low carb high fat breakfast. That is the key for me wherever, or whatever I'm doing.

All the best Jan
August 16, 2014
Lori Miller said…
I don't always cook my breakfast, but I never eat a bunch of carb for breakfast or any other meal.
August 16, 2014
Galina L. said…
It may be awkward in same or even many situations, but I remember bringing with me couple boiled eggs when I knew salads would be the only eatable food available. Eggs are the real key when it is necessary to turn green staff into a normal food.
August 16, 2014
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