Company’s Coming! The Keto Host Challenge
What to cook when you invite guests?
Before the first guest approaches your door, you clean the house, scrub the kids, wipe pet hair off the cushions, iron the tablecloth, fluff the flowers, shower, beautify, set the table,…
…all to enjoy their company and, in return, honor them with your favorite foods.
Before adopting the clean low-carb life, my menu formula for guests was as follows:
- sliced cheddar (we called this “company cheese” in my childhood home) with cracker options
- ruffled chips with ready-made dip
- salad with a choice of ready-made dressings
- barbeque chicken or burgers and hot dogs or maple-marinated pork or beef
- flavored boxed rice or potatoes roasted with onion soup mix or pasta salad
- corn on the cob in summer, sugar-glazed carrots in winter
- fresh bread or rolls with butter
- brownies or cake or cookies
Today I am a true believer in the power of a clean low-carb diet, and today the only items from that list that I would eat are:
Cheese. Dry salad. Naked meat. Butter.
Diet and Disease
Cognitive decline led me to clean low-carb eating. Not because I must be crazy to give up sugar — I see what you did there! — but because of the increasing evidence that sugar consumption is linked to the development of dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease.
I had wanted to put the brakes on my decline. Check. What surprised me was that my worst episodes evaporated. I am not whole, but I am a whole lot better. 😊
Because of this dramatic improvement, I continued my self-guided nutrition education.
What I discovered is that the Standard American Diet (SAD), high in sugar and other carbohydrates, seed oils, and additives, is slowly making us all fat and sick. No one can eat this way consistently and enjoy good health.
The SAD causes chronic inflammation, and chronic inflammation causes chronic disease: diabetes, cancer, heart disease, Alzheimer’s, autoimmune disorders such as arthritis, and mood disorders such as depression.
The impact is insidious.
Cake won’t kill you today. But cake daily over the years will surely damage your health.
Those extra pounds creeping on every year? The cause is no mystery. It’s your diet.
Those aches and pains piling up with each birthday? Age is not the culprit. It’s your diet.
Those sudden scary diagnoses of high blood pressure…or worse? It’s not bad luck. It’s your diet.
That dark cloud of depression? Don’t blame your mother. Blame your diet.
Maybe Blame Your Mother
Why blame Mom?
If your diet is heavy on ultra-processed foods, the hallmark of the SAD, chances are your mother raised you on breakfast cereal, PB&J sandwiches, and Kraft dinner.
Take it easy on old Mom. Her choices were driven by the marketing machine pushing new and exciting modern convenience foods. Also, government-sponsored lies. But that’s a story for another day.
The simple truth is, she didn’t know any better.
But now, you do.
And that is the dilemma.
My Kitchen, My Food
Early on, I cleaned out my fridge and pantry. I tested all manner of keto-friendly meals, and now serve only these to the mister. Luckily, he had never been a big carb eater. Furthermore, most of the recipes are delicious. No complaints. So although the mister has not jumped on my low-carb bandwagon, he is content to play along at dinnertime.
Except: Company.
The first guest menu was a struggle.
He expected our traditional table, arguing, “You can skip carbs, but you can’t force everyone else to!”
He had a point.
Let’s talk alcohol. Everyone knows it is…a drug, a depressant, addictive, dangerous, toxic…but many choose to drink it anyway. And although I have given up the drink, I don’t force guests to abstain.
But food? The food I choose to buy, cook, and serve at my table to my treasured guests?
I drew the line. I disagreed.
Whereas people understand the health trade-offs they are making when they crack open an IPA, most do not know the extent to which their health woes are created by the food choices they make every day, three (six? nine?) times a day.
Furthermore, there is a perception that any clean low-carb diet — Keto, Atkins, Paleo, Proper Human Diet, etc. — equals “weird” food.
There may be some truth to this. Those who attempt to lose weight with protein shakes, Atkins bars, and ultra-processed foods labeled “keto-friendly (RUN!)” are missing the point.
Also probably missing the weight loss.
The heart of clean low-carb eating is choosing whole, natural food. That’s it. Eggs and bacon. Salad with salmon. Steak fajita, hold the tortilla.
Not. Weird.
Good, in fact.
Delicious, even.
If I Serve It, Will They Come?
One of my darling sisters once offered to bring a lasagna to my cookout.
Was she trying to help (yes), or was she trying to ensure there would be something on my table that she would eat (probably)?
I politely declined her offer.
When I invite guests to my table, I serve clean low-carb foods.
- Because I will not contribute to their declining health,
- Because I want to showcase my “not weird” food,
- Because I want to set a new and better example for my daughters,
And because — it’s what we eat now!
My new menu formula:
- sliced cheddar and other cheeses with homemade crackers
- charcuterie-style meats, nuts, olives
- salad with homemade olive oil vinaigrette or ready-made avocado-oil dressings
- naked meat, or meat flavored with a homemade olive-oil-based sugar-free marinade
- roasted vegetables such as zucchini, summer squash, peppers in summer; cheesy casseroles made with broccoli or Brussels sprouts in the winter
- a homemade keto-friendly treat such as a chocolate peanut butter bar, raspberry crumble, or soft serve frozen yogurt with whipped cream
Don’t be spooked by all the “homemade” modifiers. Some take a little time, true, but many are accomplished in under ten minutes. Five, even.
Do my guests come? Yup.
And do they eat? Yes, ma’am, they do.
If They Bring It, Will I Serve?
If guests, unbidden, bring a little nibbly or perhaps a dessert, of course I set it out.
I am a zealot, not a monster!
What Do You Say?
I try to say nothing about the clean low-carb nature of my table. I never bragged about the carb content of my former menu, why would I do so now?
If someone asks, sure, I’ll answer. But…no one asks.
Unless they ask for a recipe.
That happens.
Want to learn baby steps to change your diet? Say yes. Because real health comes from real food. https://www.strongwisegood.com/30-baby-info
Disclaimer: I am not a doctor, not a scientist, not a nutritionist. I am just a late boomer sharing what I’ve learned on my journey to good health through good food.
