How to not go home hungry from a dinner party?
January 16, 2010
One of the early challenges I have faced with dealing with my Ulcerative Colitis is realizing that I can still do everything I was doing years ago, just with a few minor modifications. This has not happened overnight, but since it has now been over 5 months of feeling well again, I am definitely venturing out quite often to places where I am not in control of the menu.
If your situation is anything like mine, you probably feel that others are overly concerned about what you can/can’t eat. I think the realization here is that we UC people need to know that others care about us when they ask the question, “Hey Adam, can you eat fish….?”
Being that I am 30 years old and my wife is from Czech, when we go to meet people for dinners or other events alcohol is usually all around. My rule of thumb is to stay away from that stuff. When it is offered, I pass on the opportunity everytime. There are many people with UC who do drink alcohol on the other hand. My suggestion would be to approach alcohol very carefully, and to drink very little amounts before assuming that your body can handle large quantities. As time goes on, your friends will begin to remember that they don’t need to go and buy you that shot of whiskey, or ask you what type of beer to bring over, there is a learning curve here too.
So let’s get down to eating. Last night I was at a dinner party with a very international crowd. Here is a breakdown of what was there, and what I ate:
What’s For Dinner/ What I ate:
Potato Chips/ Yes a little bit
Doritos (corn chips flavoring)/ Yes a little bit
Salsa & Guacamole/ Yes tons of this
Hummus/ None
Pita Bread/ None
BBQ Steak/ Yes, two big pieces(this did not have BBQ sauce on it)
BBQ Hot Dogs/ None
BBQ Chicken Livers/ Had my first small bite of this ever, it was so so
Pineapple/ Yes, all day everyday, I love pineapple and it works well for me
Mediterranean Salad (cucumbers, tomato, red onions, salt, pepper, cilantro)/ Yes, this salad was great
French Fries/ Did not have any fries
So if you have read through the diet section on the website, it just so turned out that the meal that we had at a friend’s house last night by luck happened to work well for me. I was not needing to eliminate 50% of the offering, and that was that. Is this going to happen everytime you go and eat out somewhere… probably not. Are you going to go home hungry, I have not yet.
Maybe some of you have some great ideas that you could share by posting how you make the most out of events you attend when you are not in direct control of the menu? Does anyone have any good insights into how this process can be more manageable and easier to deal with? Please include them in a comment below.
Here are some pictures from the dinner for visual effects:
I started site shortly after being diagnosed in October of 2008 with severe pancolitis (when my whole colon was inflamed).
For me, it was a very rough start with severe symptoms. Getting bounced from medication to medication was not easy or too helpful. But, I did meet another UC’er, changes several parts of my diet, and of course the rest is history.
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