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When
you are following any type of diet, getting that dinner invitation can be
something that will either be a source of joy - or one of despair!
Wanting
to follow a low carbohydrate regime and still honour our hosts by eating the
food that they have prepared can at first glance seem quite a difficult
balancing act .
After
all, if we have done any entertaining ourselves, we know full well how much
effort goes into the preparation of a special meal for special guests.
There’s
the selection of the menu; the purchasing of the ingredients; the preparation,
cooking and general hard work that goes into making a successful meal a pleasant
and memorable occasion.
Some of
us may run through the scenario in our minds of getting to our host’s table and
finding that we are being served a huge bowl of pasta or another dish of rice,
with freshly baked French crusty bread on the side and hardly a piece of meat or
other vegetables in sight - apart from a very rich cornflower sauce.
Well,
perhaps that’s a little extreme, but you know what imagination is like. Most of
the time you will be faced with saying ‘no’ to the vegetables and ‘no’ to a
large helping of pasta or rice to go with the dish. This refusal can actually
put the hosts in an embarrassing situation and make everybody feel a tad
uncomfortable. You attempting to refuse your host’s lovingly cooked food and
your host feeling uncomfortable, perhaps because they think you may be going
hungry.
But
this whole situation is very easy to overcome. For as soon as you get the
invitation to share a meal with your friends, pick up the phone and tell them
there and then that in order to improve your health you are following a diet
that restricts you from eating carbohydrates. When you say this, be prepared to
answer the question ‘OK that’s no problem, but what can you eat?’
If you
give them a list of the many things that you can eat on the Atkins all low
carbohydrate diet, then you can totally hear the relief in their voice, as in
fact the amount of things we can and do eat are still quite varied.
For
instance, if you are invited around for this Sunday’s roast and you’ve already
mentioned to your host that you prefer not to eat to potatoes and root
vegetables, then don't be surprised if your hosts have gone that bit further and
maybe provided a couple of varieties of meat. They may even have gone even
further still and found out which are the lowest carbohydrate based vegetables
and prepared those for you. They could have also carefully chosen a sweet that
you could have a taste of, and they may have put a nice selection of cheeses on
the cheese board.
While
this may seem quite selfish and seem like you are dictating to your hosts what
they must eat and serve to their other guests, in actual fact you are probably
helping them to break out of a pattern that they will have been in for many
years.
It
appears that people get very comfortable in preparing something they know goes
down well every time, so to have a gentle challenge and investigate
alternatives, try new tastes etc, this can actually be a win-win situation for
both parties .
One
thing you can be guaranteed of is that the conversation at the table will
feature heavily upon the subject of your diet and if they have not seen you for
a few weeks you can be sure that your trimmed down figure will also be a top
topic at the table .
Bear in
mind though, it’s not good to become a low carbohydrate bore. Do let other
people bring other topics to the table - before long enough you’ll find them
often returning to the subject of your new diet and how great you look.
Surprisingly enough, you
may well find that you are invited back more quickly than usual, particularly if
your hosts have been impressed enough with what you shared, maybe even wanting
to try the diet themselves. If you think that this may be the case, you would
do well to ensure that you let them have good information about the diet so that
they can start properly and safely. Be prepared with some basic information
should they decide that the diet is a good idea for them. And you could even
give them the ‘How to do Atkins’ guide from this magazine. That will be a good
start.
So to
recap a little bit, when you get the invitation, inform your hosts about your
dietary requirements. You might consider dropping around some basic information
there and then so that they can plan the meal accordingly. Personally I tend to
tell people that providing there is meat, fish, or something else on my
permitted list, I honestly don’t mind not having the vegetables to eat.
When it
comes to the sweets, depending on your local customs, you could always offer to
bring the desert with you. This would of course ensure that your host is saved
from doing the job and puts the desert completely under your control. So you
both win on that count.
Whatever you do - enjoy
your meal - even if you have to have a snack when you get back home.
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