Hi All
I was interested in what
@Paul_ said as I think the biggest loss of LC is the spontaneity especially when eating out at friends or a restaurant. I don’t like to influence what friends cook and try and swerve as best I can but tbh it rarely happens these days. Looking at a menu trying to figure out if I can find something suitable and if they will do tweaks does for me suck the pleasure out,, eg sometimes the only safe bet is steak and salad which is NOT what I want to eat. Then you look at some of carbier options which look interesting but I cannot have. Frequently the protein can’t be separated from the sauce. We only eat out on holiday now and have two safe takeaways instead near home. Its one of the reasons I like the simplicity of Nandos.
Agree with you here. The most significant impacts on normal life when you're a diet managed type 2 are the reduced level of convenience and the fact eating out becomes a bit of a chore in many establishments. Most restaurants are poor value for money these days, but that goes treble when you're low carb.
I share your approach, where low carb is my personal choice and one I don't expect others to cater for, or run their lives around. Friends and family are mostly happy to be flexible though, so often opt for places where I can get steak/chicken/pork etc, a mixed grill, a decent burger, or there are good low carb salad options. I've found speaking to restaurant staff to be an effective approach too, where a quick and friendly conversation to explain my situation means many have gone out of their way to substitute out the highest carb offenders for more suitable options so I still get decent meal portion and better value for money. I hated doing it at first, but my experience has been overwhelmingly positive. I increase the tip accordingly too, in the hope it further encourages their determination to help.
Work related functions are more difficult. There's no attempt at even considering that not everyone can just pile down cheap, mass catered carby options, or whatever slop is being served in a restaurant priced within acceptable ranges for expenses claims. Vegetarians might be considered, but any other dietary restriction is a distant and forgotten concern. I'm not alone in this, one of my colleagues is coeliac, so we keep each other in good company and spirits when we're judged as difficult or problematic because we decline those all day meetings with the so-called "working lunch" catering, or the meeting followed by dinner at a restaurant with no suitable options. I'm just not desperate enough to spend unpaid time with work people, or to sit in boring all day meetings that are a scourge on actual productivity, so I unashamedly play the T2D card rather than go hungry while enduring those occasions.
There are times though when necessity means I just pick what I can from a menu, look at it as fuel, get it over and done with, and chalk it down to experience.
(Apologies if I've dragged the thread off topic here - I've had an omelette for breakfast, if that helps
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