I had a dinner event to attend after work recently, and I debated whether or not to eat a snack beforehand. The problem with attending a function where a plated dinner is being served is that you have very little choice in what to eat. I’ve learned to be creative (and discrete) at events like that. I usually leave food on my plate, and I’m still trying to break the mindset that it’s wasteful to do so … but the truth is that it goes to MY WAIST to eat it just because it’s there.

Thankfully, the dinner event ended up being buffet-style, so I scanned the dishes while I waited in line and planned my course of action. They were offering Caesar salad, ziti noodles with a meat/marinara sauce, breadsticks, grilled summer squash/zucchini/red bell peppers, lasagna and cake (I tried to ignore it, so I didn’t notice what kind it was).

So, I got a half-plate of salad (sans croutons) and a half-plate of the grilled veggie assortment. Summer squash & zucchini only have 3 net carbs per cup, and red bell peppers have 6 net carbs per cup (and I had way less than a cup of the bell peppers). I added a bit of the meat/marinara sauce (not totally safe, since a lot of spaghetti sauces have sugar, but I took a gamble) to the veggie assortment.

It was scrumptious, and I didn’t feel conspicuous avoiding the carb overload! In fact, I think grilled squash with the low-sugar spaghetti sauce that I usually use would be a nice, hearty dinner to make at home, too.