Day EIGHTEEN: Trade Show Minefield

Big time panic yesterday when I realized that I was going to be at a trade show all day including an awards luncheon. Somehow security going through my legumes seemed like an invasion of privacy. I thought I’d just wing it and see how things played out.  What I had forgotten about was that at every trade show vendors entice attendees to their booths with a drug called SUGAR!!!

I successfully resisted the temptations of countless bowls of candy and made it to the lunch buffet unscathed. However as I started down the food line, guess what the first thing was that grabbed my attention? You have to understand my longstanding love affair with dessert. I normally scan the dessert cart FIRST and then eat lunch accordingly! It is not uncommon for our family to ask wait staff for the dessert menu before the dinner menu.

And it was all FREE…is there anything better than FREE DESSERT???!!! I quickly sent an SOS text to my fellow dieters and got this reply from Chad, “I love beans. Beans are my friend. ” Thanks Chad!

Despite the cold sweat I kept moving down the line…to the site of the most gorgeous Chicago Style deep dish gourmet pizzas! I thought that was the only lunch choice and wondered if I could pick off the sausage, tomatoes and scrape off the cheese and have a meager lunch.

Thankfully the low-carb lunch gods were smiling upon me and what came next was a great selection of cold veggies and salad! I grabbed a big plate! Following that was a tray of Italian Beef with onions and green peppers – DING, DING, DING – this was the clear winner! I gave myself a generous helping to hit my 30g protein portion.

The moral of the story? Any future trade shows necessitate a large breakfast, sugar fortitude, friends a text away, and careful buffet selections!