i do real well on my diet as long as no one comes to visit. then someone pops in and there it goes. i overeat or eat what i’m not suppose to eat. they’ll bring the “good” food with them and i cave. just like that. no will power what so ever. i can’t cover what i eat so here comes the high. how about you? what do you do when friends or family come to call or you meet them at a restaurant. how do you make yourself stay in control?
I never thought to ask for a box immediately as the food arrived. I will definitely do that from now on. Thank you Renee!
Hey, debb. I know how you feel, but in reverse. Every time we go out of town to visit in-laws or relatives, eating right is nearly impossible. My father-in-law’s family likes the huge all-you-can-eat restaurants and do meals at off times - like a breakfast buffet nearly on top of lunch (which makes judging my insulin needs impossible). His mom, on the other hand, will eat only burgers and hot dogs and keeps little else in the house. So we come armed. I bring a duffel full of good low snacks, morning granola bars, juice boxes. At restaurants, I allow myself to splurge only one meal a day. So if we do the breakfast buffet, I skip out on lunch and eat a snack instead. If we do the huge Chinese food meal or the burgers out for dinner, I splurge a little but really remind myself that I don’t want to deal with the bad highs while staying with family.
When company comes to visit, however, I can see that your issue is more that they want to go out with you or they want you to try their goodies. Renee’s suggestions are great. A bite or two is all you need to make them feel appreciated for their goodies and to satisfy the craving. Eating a whole serving is more than you need to do to make either of you feel good. Or if you can’t keep it to a taste, save room for the dessert by going carbless at your meal. Order a nice greens-only salad (or have one ready in the fridge) and say it’s so you can enjoy a nice slice of that whatever afterward. Then at the next meal, maybe this time you’re going out, you can say “I said yes to dessert last night, so tonight, I think I’ll be good.”
The keys that have worked for me are (1) remembering that you can say no this time and it doesn’t mean you have to say no every time - our problem is that we too often say yes. And (2) like Renee said, have a substitution ready. When I go out for Greek food (my FAVORITE) with my best friends, I know my sugar is going to go through the roof anyway - and then they suggest baklava or galaktobouriko or something amazing for dessert - so I order coffee as mine. I know I’ve already splurged by going out - so I allow myself to feel like that was the indulgence and have to draw a line at dessert.