So, cognitively the best thing to do with any diet plan is to focus on the positives and what you love about your chosen plan. I try to do that a lot here, meat pusher that I am, never forgetting the advantages of low carb in terms of fast weight loss, overall health, curbing hunger, delicious foods.
But, today, I'm doing the opposite, and answering the question: what's the worst part about doing low carb?
For me, it's that low carbing can be an essentially anti-social diet. As a culture, we choose to celebrate by sharing food. Now, some people will counter this by saying the focus on food as a necessity for celebration is not healthy, and we should just opt out of it altogether. I think that's a bit extreme, and as someone who gets a lot of pleasure out of cooking and sharing a meal with friends and family, I'm not about to throw out the very delicious baby with the carby bathwater.
The problem with low carb is the one I brought up during the low carb conference call back in February: this is not a widely socially accepted diet. People counting calories can always just eat less, or stick to the salad and fruit which is generally always available. People on low carb have to be wary of sugary salad dressings and shredded carrots, ask about sauces and marinades, and skip many courses altogether.
While we may have only started incorporating carbs into our diet fairly recently in evolutionary terms, socially, carb eating seems to be well ingrained.
Restaurants that cater to low carbers are few and getting fewer as marketing departments dismiss this way of eating as a long-gone "fad". (Single tear here for the loss of the incredible low carb cheesecake at Ruby Tuesday's. Full disclosure: I used to waitress for Ruby Tuesday's, and I had a whole one of those cheesecakes for my birthday cake two years ago. Yum!)
I get annoyed going out to eat and paying double to eat half as much. For a twenty-something in the big city, the lack of low carb drink mixers available in bars and clubs is also a social concern. Gin or vodka and diet coke can only last for so long before you realize wait, this tastes revolting, and sugar gives people worse hangovers anyway so why not offer some lower carb options?
While we're on the low carb options kick, I find the plethora of ready made carb options in the grocery store ridiculously disproportionate to the rotisserie chickens or lunchmeats available for us. Add in the "heart healthy" or "sensible solution" stickers all over products crammed with high fructose corn syrup and a bunch of chemicals, and I'm positively growling by the time I get to the steak section.
I also find being invited to a restaurant or event has a little extra layer of stress: will there be something I can eat? I'm not about to call my host and demand they lay on the protein for me (I've read too much Miss Manners for that), but it is a small worry.
So, what's a low carb girl to do?
1) Change the culture
Watch this space. In all seriousness though, one of the reasons I try to blog about low carb whenever I can is to spread the word. Slowly, slowly, people are starting to pay more attention to the way sugar affects them, and a variety of low carb plans are getting more positive media attention.
2) Make like a Boy Scout
Being prepared for little to no low carb options at certain gatherings helps me stick to plan. It's way easier for me to do this if I have a protein bar stashed away, or if I down a protein shake beforehand to tide me over. Also, checking the restaurant menus ahead of time can ease your mind.
3) Realize other people's comments are about themselves
This is a powerful tool when combating negative energy about low carbing. I learned this from a wise poster over at the Meat & Eggers For Life Forum, who advised anyone worrying about what others would think that diet-bashing comments usually just came from a place of insecurity or hurt in the commenter. This may not always be the case, but it is ALWAYS the case that their comments are more about themselves than about you.
When people come at me with the usual Atkins myths, I just grin and tell them how much I love it, and how I've been doing it for years and never felt healthier. If they actually want to engage in discussion, I enjoy telling them about the studies and research backing up low carb. If it's just a drive-by bash (you know the ones I mean!) then I just grin and get back to my meat. Remember, though, you don't have to defend the way to eat to anyone.
I bring up these points not to be negative about low carbing, but because I believe in painting an accurate picture of this way of life. I know I can deal with problems much better by writing about them and analyzing them, and I think it's important to be very honest about all aspects of a plan.
So, what about you? Do you find it harder to low carb in a carby culture? Any tips for survival?
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