I agree with the competitive spirit, I have some of that in me, although I’m certainly no marathon runner. Check out Helmuts recent post about An A1C in the 4s he treats the interaction if his CGM and pump as a video game, and by any measure he’s winning. Interestingly he is not low carbing.
I agree in not wanting to be a pain to my hosts because of my diet. Although I have discussed my diet with those who ask I’ve found no one can keep it straight, and why should they after all. I always carry nuts and perhaps some jerky in the car for this type of emergency. In your mac and cheese with salad example I’d eat the salad, skip the mac and substitute my nuts. Most important I never make a big deal out of it. I’ve found most respect you for taking your condition seriously, and if anyone is interested I explain why grain is bad for me. For you some extra insulin can get you through the situation gracefully.
I think one thing that’s different than vegan, vegetarian etc. is that in those cases there is sometimes a veiled inference that the person with the special diet is eating “right” and the others are not. For those of us with a damaged metabolism we’re just dealing with the cards we’ve been dealt.