Happy Memorial Day!

As those of us here in the U.S. spend the weekend remembering those who died serving our country, most of us will likely be gathering with family and friends celebrating the great weather and the glory of the grill.  I wanted to remind people of a few things:

• Cookouts are awesome for low carb food!  Helloooo burgers, hot dogs, grilled veggies…
• Cookouts can be horrible for low carb food!  Chips, potato salad, dessert bars…

So, cookouts are going to be what you make of them.  How can you make them great?

1. Plan ahead.  If you know that meat is being served, plan on eating meat.  Know that you aren’t going to eat any cookies.
2. Bring something that you can eat.  Then, you won’t have the excuse “but there wasn’t anything there that I could eat, so I HAD to eat carby food.”
3. Enjoy the outdoors!  You can really use this if you decide you’re gonna die if you don’t get some carbs to eat.  Walk away from the carbs, and go enjoy the sunshine.

I just got back from my mother-in-law’s house and had a fantastic lunch.  We grilled burgers and hot dogs, and I brought a bowl of strawberries, blueberries, and blackberries.   Everyone had been digging in a candy dish until I pulled out the berries, and suddenly everyone was all over the berries.  My brother-in-law was especially enamored with the berries, saying “I forgot how good berries are!”  Berries are an especially safe choice, as nearly every Way Of Eating (low fat, low carb, Weight Watchers, paleo, whatever) encourages berry eating.  I whipped up some real whipped cream to go with the berries.  3 pints of berries, poof, gone!  I found it especially cute that my niece kept sneaking strawberries like one would sneak candy from a candy jar.  I sure wasn’t going to stop her from “stealing” such a healthy food.

I hope everyone has a wonderful and safe holiday weekend, and thank you to all those who serve our country.  All gave some, and some gave all, and my prayers are with the families of those who have lost their lives.