Zero Carb and Surviving Social Situations

One of the biggest worries about turning to a zero carb diet is handling the reaction by your nearest and dearest family members and friends. Most will have been brainwashed by years of so called healthy eating advice and guidance that has demonised fat and red meat.

With plenty of persuasion and a good supply of information, most family and friends will be happy to listen to your reasons for choosing this way of eating. The proof is in the pudding, as the saying goes, so will see the positive changes in your health as you go along and will come to accept and support you eventually.

However, letting your close family and friends know that you are ZC is one thing, but who has the energy, will or determination to explain, argue and defend your way of eating to your work colleagues, friends of friends, people you see at a group, or even family members that you only see once or twice per year for big family gatherings.

It can be easy to cave into pressure when enough people around a dinner table are picking on you about your food choices, or start to feel insulted that you are refusing plate after plate of sugary goodies that they have carefully prepared to share. They can take it as a personal affront that you don’t want to eat a slice of their caramel frosted chocolate cake after all the effort they put into making it.

Any mention of diets are also easily dismissed at these gatherings. “Oh, a little bit of cake wont hurt you! You can go back to your diet tomorrow”….. How many times have you heard this little gem?

It can be hard to say, “well, actually yes. That little bit of cake WILL hurt me. If I eat it just to please you, I will spend the rest of the night doubled over in pain.” But sometimes being impolite is the best route to getting people to understand that you eat ZC for a reason and it is not just another fad diet.

Sometimes though, it can be much easier all round if you avoid making it obvious that you are not eating fruits, vegetables, grains and sugar at the dinner table. Even if it means loading up your plate with lots of meat to eat,  adding a bit of salad, then pushing the same bit of salad around the plate out of the way of your meat as you eat. Most people leave a bit of salad or garnish on their plates, so most people will never notice that you didn’t eat the salad.

Refusing a desert with a pat of the belly and a “phew, I am too stuffed for pud” comment may work well too when the deserts come around. Your obligatory slice of birthday cake can be left on the plate and sneakily put into the bin when no one is looking, or you can ask for it to be wrapped up to take home with you, where you can dispose of it later.

There are lots of little tips and tricks you can use at big gatherings where people are less likely to notice what you are eating. There are also plenty of ways to broach the subject should someone notice your food choices and decides to question them.

Caitlin Tilton, from Zero Carb Health has written a wonderful post about this very subject. Here is a link to her piece, so if you have an up and coming event that you attending that you are worried about handling, there is plenty of tried and tested advice to follow from a very long standing zero carb follower.

If you need some reassurance that going zero carb is the best thing for your health following a brow bashing from your family or close friends, watch a bit of Dr Shawn Baker explaining why ZC is the best way! Keep strong and meat-on!