Happy Valentine’s Day! While it always seems that the public persona is always negative about Keto, it appears that the marketplace has been disrupted by the sheer volume of people adopting this lifestyle. My wife and I generally have our Valentine’s Dinner the night before or the day after the actual holiday (crowd aversion behavior). So, we went out last night to LongHorn Steak House. When we go out for steak, we have traditionally picked LongHorn because of the wide variety of Keto Options. Longhorn has capitalized on Keto’s popularity and created a menu specifically targeted to us. Smart move. Of course, it is right in their wheelhouse. I wouldn’t foresee a Vegan menu in their future.

We started our dinner with White Cheddar Stuffed Mushrooms as our appetizer. This is such a refreshing option for a starter. Generally, your only choices are of some breaded, seed-oil fried fare. It was seasoned perfectly and the sauce complemented the mushrooms magically.

Main Course

Premium Sides

Our meal included 2 sides, so we chose the Cauliflower Au Gratin and Parmesan Creamed Spinach. These savory side dishes were just as enjoyable as any high carb counterpart. Now there is a risk when eating out that you may consume more carbs than you expect since you have no control of the actual ingredients. So, eating out in this fashion should still be reserved for special occasions. To me, this fits under the category of scheduled indulgence. If it wasn’t outside my typical carbohydrate goal range, it definitely was pretty high in the fat calorie department. My preference is to keep my Protein to Energy ratio pretty high. Yes, that energy includes calories from fat. We did split those sides, but the portions are still pretty hefty.

It is okay to fail at Keto

I did check my blood glucose and Ketones the next morning and both were still in desirable ranges. This meal did not impact my fat adaption, so the carbohydrate level remained below my personal threshold. Since we dined the day before the holiday, the restaurant was not crowded. Our shared dish with 2 sides plus appetizer rounded out to around $50. Not too bad for a date night, eh?

One-page food list and protocol

A Change in the Marketplace

For several years I have noticed that restaurants, food delivery services, and grocery stores have begun to cater to the low carb crowd. Plenty of blog posts exist that provide Keto eating guides to your favorite restaurant. But, this is the first national chain, that I know of, that has created a Keto specific menu. Depending on how the amount of feedback LongHorn notices may very well determine if other restaurant chains follow suit. After our meal, I took to Twitter and Facebook and talked about our meal and I reached out to the official social media pages of Longhorn to show my appreciation. We have an opportunity to ‘vote with our feet’ in this case. If you would like to see LongHorn continue this campaign and see other food companies follow suit, be sure and treat yourself to a meal and give them your feedback.

The post One Step Closer to Commercial Keto Acceptance appeared first on Sustainable Keto.