The farming of abundant carbohydrates fueled the development of human civilization. Wheat, corn, and rice provided the energy to walk great distances to hunt animals. Carbs were easy to store as reserves of energy in bags of grains to get us through harsh winters. Even now, carbs are great if you are a marathon runner, a tour guide who walks 10 miles a day, or an athlete. Carbohydrates, however, are quite deleterious when we are sedentary. When we eat too many carbohydrates, it leads to obesity and excessive glucose our bodies can’t process, leading to Type 2 diabetes. It is unfortunate that they are so abundant in American quick-cuisine. Want a burger from McDonalds? Here is your Big Mac–a small piece of meat inside 3 pieces of bread. Oh, and your side dish? Fresh fried carby potatoes. Sometimes, you have to eat out. Maybe you’re on the road. Maybe work ran late. Maybe you’re just tired. Is it always terrible if you eat fast food? Not always.
Your first step is to pick the freshest restaurant options. In the quest for eating low-carb, we do not want to eat fake food. White Castle is not Chipotle (or other similar fresh grilled options). It would be a fool’s errand to pick the lowest carb option, but instead to pick fake foods. Rubber is low carb…but not something you would want to eat. Concrete is low carb, but not something you’d want to eat. Similarly, a stick of Slim Jim is “low carb” but chalk full of ground up God-knows-what, and all kinds of nitrite preservatives (which have been proven to cause colon cancer amongst others).
So now that you’ve picked a restaurant where you can see the cooks prepare relatively unadulterated foods, what do you pick to eat relatively low-carb? More importantly, what do you leave out? At a burrito joint like Chipotle, the first thing you want to cut out is the bread. The tortilla provides 320 calories and 50g carbohydrate energy. Similarly rice is nearly entirely carbohydrate–210 calories and 40g carbohydrates. And finally, a serving of beans is a bit better because of a modest protein content, but they are still mostly carbohydrate at 130 calories and 22g carbohydrates. If you cut out the bread, rice, and beans from a Chipotle burrito, you have cut out 650 calories and 112g carbohydrates. Instead, you will choose a bowl-style meal with chicken, lettuce, cheese, light sour cream, fajita vegetables, tomatoes and corn with a grand total of 475 calories and 28g carbohydrates (https://www.chipotle.com/nutrition-calculator). That reduces the total calorie consumption to 42% of the total and about 20% of the carbohydrates.
I frequently have patients in my ER who have difficulty keeping their blood sugar levels under control. Almost uniformly, it is dietary noncompliance that leads them to trouble. Inevitably, these patients will admit to eating a very carbohydrate rich diet of sandwiches, burgers, fries, pasta, and potatoes. I hope you can see that it can be relatively easy to dine out, fast-food style, and still eat a relatively natural and healthy meal that is low-carb. Bon appetite!
Amen.