On September 18, 2012, I wrote a blog, Emergency Food Supply.  In that blog, I wrote about what things to bring with you when you go out of the house.  That brings me to today’s blog.

Today, I went to my usual Friday morning class 25 miles away.  I get ready for that class the night before with food (doesn’t take long! because I don’t want to be stuck out somewhere and only have access to carbs for food and SABOTAGE my eating plan.

PACKING THE NIGHT BEFORE:  Think about the low carb food pyramid and not the regular dumb food pyramid that you were led to believe is good for you.

What I packed today was my Sunflower seeds in a measured out bag, a salad with protein, and a protein bar (usually my favorite, Nature Valley Protein Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter.  I also bring a Vitarain no carb flavored drink from Costco and my coffee.  I sometimes buy coffee at the cafe in the building too.

I have seen some fellow students coming in, UNPREPARED, and they buy a coffee and a muffin (not on the low carb pyramid).   Those muffins are large and about 50-60 g of empty carbs.  And I can assure you that they will eat that muffin, get a sugar spike, feel hungry and crappy later–not to mention that they will eat more carbs and not only NOT lose weight that day, but probably gain.

I ate a hard-boiled egg as I ran out of the house.  My salad was 11g of carbs, my protein bar was 14g of carbs, my seeds were 3g of carbs, totaling 28g of carbs and I spaced it out over 5 hours.  So, half of my day as gone and I ate about half of what that lady ate at 10am, and she was probably starving by lunch time.  I feel good.  In the past, I have also brought along low fat cheese, Dannon Lite and Fit Greek Yogurt, nuts, cheese and meat slices, etc.  No bread, other than perhaps LOW carb tortillas or bread NOW and THEN (not every day!), mentioned in my previous blogs and can be found in normal market places, if you look for them.  I have also made low carb pizza and brought it along if a microwave is available.

MORAL OF THE STORY:  Don’t be lazy.  Prep what you will eat for the next day the NIGHT before.  You have to plan.  No planning leads to temptation. Pack a freakin’ lunch and don’t run out the door without eating some cheese, an egg or some meat.  That is why I have hard boiled eggs from Costco at home, for my running out the door!

**This reminds me that I wrote that I gained 2 pounds after having half of a waffle on Sunday.  I lost those two pounds by Wednesday, thankfully–by watching my empty carb intake and watching wheat products and products which spike your glucose, like potatoes and rice.  Some of us just gain more easily than others and this is what we have to do.  I would rather be thin than eat something that feels good to me for about 5 minutes.  And I can find alternatives that I enjoy anyway, like low carb pancake mix, low carb frozen desserts and nuts.  I can’t wait to try my new low carb recipe book for some great dessert items to report.