BBbevan, I buy Pork Crunch which are lighter puffed-up scratchings with no hairs and kinder to the teeth. At 120 calories a packet they are a good low carb alternative to crisps. I buy them at my local Co-op.
I suggest you fill up before you go to the meal, then eat the bare minimum while you are there. Would you be reluctant to just explain about the diet?
Gransnet forums
Dieting & exercise
Thought we needed a shiny new thread for the New Year.
The thread is intended to support people who are already on the diet or want to start losing weight / gaining health benefits by low-carbing.
Here is a simple explanation of this way of eating and how it works.
www.dietdoctor.com/lchf
You do not have to count calories, weigh anything, exercise furiously or feel hungry.
You do have to cut out sugar and sugar-substitutes and avoid starchy foods like potatoes, bread, rice and pasta.
You need to eat lots of vegetables (especially those grown above ground) and protein which can be cheese, eggs, meat, fish etc. You can eat olive oil, butter and other natural fats. You can eat limited amounts of fruit, dark chocolate and some alcoholic drinks in moderation.
You need to avoid anything labelled low-fat and most processed food and drink.
Here is a link to the Mumsnet low-carb bootcamp thread, for those who want to lose weight more quickly than the diet adopted by most people on the existing Gransnet thread.
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/low_carb_bootcamp
Here is a link to the original Gransnet thread - though there is absolutely no need to plough through it before you start. 
www.gransnet.com/forums/dieting_and_exercise/1214778-Support-and-ideas-for-those-on-low-carb-diet
We aim to help each other by offering ideas, recipes and support. Welcome aboard!
Shakshuka is one of the first successful dishes I made when I started LCHF, although it was a different recipe. Lots of variations are around and it works well for us because we like tomato based sauces - not the peppers though!
This is the Skahshuka recipe I used, leaving out the peppers. Will do it again soon, so thanks Mamie for the reminder. 
Neither of us like them Anya. 
Can't do kg. so haif a stone down this morning . Hurrah!!!!!!
Well done BB
Good on you BB
Well done BBbevan for resisting. Must try that shysal, sounds like a good lunch dish too.
We got lovely red mullet in the market yesterday. We normally do summery things like tapenade with it, but yesterday was so cold that I made a tagine with chermoula paste, squash, courgette, onion, tomato, preserved lemon and olives and popped the fish fillets on top for five minutes at the end. As we had last summer's minestrone for lunch I think we had about 493 of our five a day.
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