how to mess up

I don't carry sweeties with me as I am T2 (only emergency nuts) What I meant was, if you visit someone socially, take along a low carb cake you have made yourself, or some berries and cream, or nuts or cheese. Something you can nibble on and share with your host. Or take nothing and politely decline any offers of food. If they are good friends and nice people, they will understand. If they are not, don't worry about offending them

 

I was also a bread fiend, with occasional pasta and potatoes for variety

I also thought 'how am I going to cope with not eating them any more'?

But hey, guess what, it's true that after a week or two of LCHF you really don't want them any more. Occasionally I give myself a treat of a thin slice of wholemeal toast to go with my breakfast eggs, but I probably won't eat pasta ever again and don't care.

Going out to eat in the UK (or anywhere) is not as daunting as it seems at first - meat or fish, veg, salad, cheese, even a glass of red wine. Just avoid the potatoes and sweet desserts.

But jump in, the water's fine!

 

The old food allergy ploy works as a last resort.

I use this with people who come rushing up trying to give my dog treats. Usually artificially coloured, flavoured and cereal based treats.

***mustn't rant about dog nutrition***mustn't rant about dog nutrition***mustn't rant...

I just look them in the eye and lie.

'Oh, how kind, but I'm afraid he is wheat intolerant. Here, you can give him one of these, if you like. They don't have any wheat in them...'
And I pull a wee pot of dried meaty nibbles out of my pocket.

The same thing works with humans and carb laden foods. After all, most of the things you get offered are wheat based.

 

Hi, I'm not sure why you think that it is more difficult living in France. I think it's much easier than when I visit the UK.
Are your friends English or French , personally, I only find that it's the English who may eat snacks with coffee. I am a type 1 and use insulin and don't eat a particularly low carb diet but my English friends know I don't eat things like biscuits.
If you visit people regularly , then they do get to know what you prefer not to eat, so for example at dinner the other day the dessert was a strawberry shortcake, my hostess asked me if I'd prefer just strawberries.

When eating out there are lots of menus that don't include pasta/pizza or chips. One of those 400g thin crust pizzas unfortunately has 80+ g carb,
Why not choose one of the main course salads or a steak ? (often served with chips or haricots vert or salad) . Quite often the menus de jour include only small portions of starchy veg.
Buy a big bag of frozen mixed red fruits rather honey to go with your morning yoghurt I used to find these difficult to get but now most of the supermarkets have them as do the frozen food shops.
To help you work out how many carbs there are in 'French' foods , this might be helpful: (it was given to me when I started using an insulin pump but the carbs don't vary!)
http://chretiens.republicains.perso.neuf.fr/politique/sante/medtronic_aliments_&_glucides.pdf
The other thing is, have you considered using Sophia ? This their website lots of info not just on diet. Their is a sidebar leading to quite a bit of info about diabetes care and advice.
. Their advice will be mainstream, I think French advice has an emphasis on balanced meals which includes some starches but not huge portions and chosen carefully (definitely not low carb high fat though)
http://www.ameli-sophia.fr/service-sophia/laccompagnement-sophia.html

 

For visitors, keep something in the cupboard, sealed, that you personally dislike. The more you dislike it, the better!

Sent from the Diabetes Forum App

 

I'm not so sure the French are into sweet things? Their pattiseries put our bakers to shame. My local baker is stuffed full with white flour buns covered in while icing sugar or jam etc. The French have far more refined and less sugary 'cakes'; often with a lot of fruit berries. French chocolate is dark chocolate with a high cocoa content. Our milk chocolate is sugar and milk with some cocoa added

 

It's easy for your doctor to laugh. He probably hasn't got diabetes!

Do you remember the old Grange Hill song Just Say No. It is very wise lol

 

Its not a science.