November 2, 2010

Enjoy Your Holiday Food!

It is interesting how families celebrate holidays. The question is how do you celebrate the holidays? Do you go overboard with the meal and deserts? For people with Type 2 diabetes holidays can be one of dread and fear of the diabetes police.

First, relax! This is not a rant about the holidays. Hopefully you have a few holidays under your belt and have found yourself able to cope or are looking for ways to do better. If you are new to diabetes, the holidays can be real problems. Hopefully this will provide some help and guidance.

For the parties and friends social gathering, read this for some tips. I would only emphasize that moderation is the key to these events. Do not overdo and select the serving size that is small enough to not raise you blood glucose into the stratosphere.

The next article is definitely for families and is one of the better articles for people with diabetes. I appreciate the statement by Marlene Schwartz, PhD, deputy director of the Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity at Yale University when she says “don't tell family members that they're eating more healthfully”. She calls it "stealth health".

This is sound and sage advice. If the food is just served without comment, everyone should be content. They also advise you to involve immediate family members in planning of the menu, especially if they are picky eaters and the younger generations.
There are many good tips and from experience I know that they will work for most families.

The third article is another take on planning for the holidays. It does suggest making a game plan to avoid problems and if you make it work, you can still enjoy the holidays. The best plan is sticking to the plan. Realize that this is the holidays and one day (at a time) is the best method for not being overwhelmed. If you happen to overindulge do not berate yourself. Just be careful the next few following days, and take care of yourself.

From Thanksgiving to at least New Year's Day is often very tempting for people with Type 2 diabetes. Be assured that you will find yourself being tempted, but by careful planning and conservative food selection you should survive. So relax and happy holidays!!!

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