Ever since I have started on my low carb high fat journey I have started using a “food bag” to take to restaurants. I think I started this to signify my new life and new way of eating. In it I keep what I consider to be the essentials of a low carb high fat lifestyle.
For all you voyeurs and curious alike out there I will list the contents:
-Sunflower seeds or wasabi edamame seeds to add some zing and crunch to salad… and yes, I realize Edamame is soy. I don’t have that much though.
-Butter packs they give you at restaurants so I’m not stuck with margarine, ever!
-A large pill bottle full of Ghee, which is clarified butter (butter without the dairy) so it is table safe.
-Bottle of Davinci sugar free syrup for coffee or Starbuck’s sugar free. My favourite flavour of the moment is Vanilla. Yum!
-A couple flavour packets of flavoured Splenda for emergencies when the syrup runs out.
-A couple of napkins for “more than one napkin is needed” emergencies… they happen more often than my messy self would care to admit.
-Cheap bottle of small hot sauce when I don’t want to bug the waitress or hunt down the Tobasco myself.
-Crystal lite flavoured powder to stir into regular water so I force myself to re-hydrate.
-Low carb flat wraps cut into thirds for when I want to eat a bacon cheeseburger with my hands and not a knife and fork.
I’m sure there are other things in there but you get the idea. I carry around these items in a fashionable pink “Baby Phat” makeup bag which my mom has nicknamed either my restaurant kit or more commonly “Food Bag”. If we’re meeting for a meal after work I will remind her to grab my “food bag”.
I used to be conscious about using my “food bag” in restaurants but I’ve gotten over it. People are either fascinated or horrified when they see me put extra butter or Ghee on my eggs (or under them so it melts). I will either give them a “you’re staring” look or make a comment that I’m on a low carb diet. Sometimes it opens up an interesting conversation. I am proud of my weight and health accomplishments and am proud to talk about it also.
I figure that unless they are paying for my meal they don’t have a right to judge what I do to my food. Even if they did pay for it, I would be paying for it in bad health if I ate the way of the S.A.D. (interesting acronym eh?), Standard American Diet.
I’ve become proud of my “food bag” over the years and realized I missed it on the cruise. It’s like having an old friend join you for brunch everyday. You notice it’s absense and realize something is missing.
Either you will be inspired as a low carber to start your own food bag; this will obviously work better for ladies than gents. Or you will think I’m more nuts than you originally thought. Either way, God bless 😉
LCHF Love,
Laurie “Avalanche” Rosen
High Fat, High Fun! 
Hey Laurie interesting post! Look forward to more insights about low carb and diet related issues. Keep up the good work!
Thanks, Nolan! I was inspired to start blogging after I realized some of my fellow low carb cruisers were blogging too. I love writing, so here I am. You remember when I was a “big girl” and not in a good way. Low carbing works for me so I stick to it. Hope things are well in the big city. I was there for a Tiesto concert at the C.N.E. a few weeks back.
Laurie 🙂
Well, this is certainly a great idea….however, I must caution people – in Texas, at least – to be very circumspect about this. It’s actually illegal to bring food into a restaurant from outside, and you can get thrown out if the owner objects (and they usually do)!
That said, I do it myself, just wait until the server isn’t looking….and then I have at it!
I’m enjoying your blog, Laurie! 🙂
Great idea, if you don’t get caught. I used to sneak my own BBQ sauce into a restaurant in Burbank and order ribs without sauce. If they caught me, my plan was to splatter myself with the sauce and yell, “Oh my god, I’ve been shot!” then escape in the confusion … well, after paying the tab, of course. Don’t want to be a thief.
I have certain haunts here in London that are used to me and my weird foodbag he he. One waitress even jokes that the s/f. syrup for coffee looks like a urine specimen! T.M.I.? lol
They’re even used to me raiding their sidestands for tobasco for my eggs & I “yoink” extra butter from there when noone is looking 😉
Hey Avalanche! Keep up the great work! I love the Blog!
Thanks for the positive comment, Nick 🙂
So coool. You should partent and market your idea since Low Carb High Fat is going to become an industry/worldwide standard because of cooool people like YOU!! This is not available anywhere else.. do it now dear friend! *8-)
I likes this here idea, and I’ll probably steal it (although I’m not so sure I’ll go with the bright pink make-up bag). One other suggestion I have is to put some moist towelettes in there. It’s a hoopy frood who knows where his moist towelette is!
I’ve snarfed moist towelletes from my wing nights but unless you use them they dry out. I forget I have them 🙂 Hoopy frood? lol!
Hoopy! 😀 http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=hoopy%20frood
Oh dear Ceiling Cat. Why didn’t I think of this? I shall have to snarf it. I wonder if you can get those butter pats? I bet I could make some with wax paper. It’s getting harder and harder to find real butter in restaurants. At least, it is in the ones I go to. Sad face.
I know what you mean… on our way home from the low carb cruise they offered “Promise” margarine. Ick! I explained to the waiter it’s basically a molecule away from plastic. I went on to say I would sooner lick the floor of the restaurant than eat it! Ok, I came off a bit strong… lol! Didn’t get my butter that night though .
I don’t know if they still have them, but I have bought butter pats in a huge box at Sam’s Club.
I don’t think that is nuts at all. I carry around packets of splenda, crystal light singles, and a low carb bar and 20 oz water almost always. It is good to have these things with me 🙂
Laurie,
From a die-hard Atkins girl, “you rock!” :))) I love, love, love your food bag idea and I hope you don’t mind, but I think I will incorporate the idea into my eating out. -I had a mini-version of it, by taking olive oil for my salads (I detest soy-based salad they give you in restarurants) and I thought of nuts to bring along…but I just never got around to it.
I am a type II diabetic (very mildly) and control it by a low-carb approach. For me, I still need to lose approx. 30 lbs., but I realize that I my metabolism is broken and it will be a long time until this weight does come off. In the meantime, I feel so much better, healt-wise and I seem to be losing inches first (from under the boobs on-down). 🙂
Thank you for creating a wonderful blog-space and I cheer you on in your amazing success with low-carb!!!!
Hugs from Nova Scotia,
Mair