How to cope with 1st Christmas as a diabetic

[AlisonM]

It's definitely sprouts in my case. Yeuch! Oh, and mince pies, can't stand those either. We're having a Lamb roast and all the trimming this year, with soup to start and the Christmas pud probably some time on Boxing day. Trifle in our house is a New Year's day staple.

 

[Stitch147]

Love sprouts, they are my favourite veg. Have been since I was a kid.

 

[khskel]

Sprouts with chestnuts and bacon.........

 

[Stitch147]

Sprouts with chestnuts and bacon.........

Definitely with bacon, don't like chestnuts though.

 

[trophywench]

Well it's too late now to get em on (sprouts) for Xmas Day. They'd never be soggy enough if you only start em now! LOL

The thing that actually turned me off sprouts when I was approximately 8 or so, and up to then would quite happily eat them or any veg my dad grew on the allotment - was they were quite big and I'd already cut one in half and eaten it, but when I dived in for the other half of it, I happened to notice something - upon investigation it proved to be HALF an - admittedly well-cooked - earwig.

My mum and dad told me it was extra protein and I shouldn't grumble - but I never had another till I was in my 20's after I was married and I experimented, actually lightly boiling them just for a minute or so, then chopped them up (thereby being able to inspect for other life forms) and chucked a knob of butter and a rasher of chopped up streaky in with them. Wow! The addition of chestnuts sometimes came later - from Delia was it originally? You do have to like chestnuts though and I do.

Did you know that in the region of St Flour (France) they actually have an annual 'Marron' Fest and market, in October or November-ish where Appellation Controllee marrons are on sale? Fascinating! All sorts of beiges, yellows, browns and some MAROON ones!

 

[DeusXM]

I agree that 'one day' off isn't a huge problem but I would just sound a slightly un-festive note of caution.

I don't know about you, but when my blood sugar isn't under control, I physically feel awful. I feel very tired, sleepy, grumpy, irritable and thirsty. That's not necessarily how I want to spend Christmas Day - I know the old joke is always everyone falls asleep after Christmas Dinner in front of the Queen's Speech but with high blood sugar, if I'm dropping off at 3pm, that's me done for the day.

Therefore, depending on how you react to high blood sugar, it might be that Christmas is a time when you can take the foot off the pedal for a bit but should still keep a close eye on the road.

In terms of coping strategies....

The actual dinner is one of the easiest things to deal with as primarily, your carbs are from the stuffing and the spuds. Cut down on the spuds and increase the veg, and that gives you a bit ore budget for dessert.

Portion control is critical - use a smaller plate for your dessert and you might not notice you have a smaller portion. Also, think carefully about the composition of your food. Desserts with a lot of heavy cream in them will unload glucose more slowly into your bloodstream, so a small piece of Xmas Pud with a lot of brandy butter may or may not work for you. Only one way to find out - test before the big day! Otherwise, in my experience, profiteroles are some of the most D-friendly desserts you can eat as they're mostly just cream.

Think carefully about your grazing. You'll probably have a tin of Quality Street open. I know it's hard but do try to resist the temptation to gorge on it! One thing that might help is having some really dark chocolate (ie. 90% cocoa) on standby. If you've got the urge for chocolate, eat a square of that. You may find it rapidly kills off your craving.

Mixed nuts and fruit also are a good 'picky' snack.

Another more slightly leftfield approach which is possibly a little irresponsible is to actually drink more booze. Alcohol inhibits your liver's ability to release glucose into your blood and so can reduce the overall load on your body. You need to pick the 'right' alcohol ie. one that's low in carbs for this to work - think clear spirits (except rum) mixed with diet mixers. I'm not recommending you get smashed as a way of managing your blood sugar but if you're drinking at Christmas anyway, making smart alcohol choices can give you a bit more leeway with your food.

And here's my top tip, which I recommend to everyone regardless of whether or not they have diabetes. Go for a walk after your dinner. Seriously. This is the BEST thing you can do full stop. I know the temptation is to sit and vegetate after a massive Christmas dinner but if you go outside and walk for half an hour, you will feel so much better for it. You will feel less full and sleepy, and diabetically speaking, you're helping encourage the sugar to be burnt up in your muscles. Doesn't need to be high impact. Doesn't need to be particularly long. But a good walk outside after dinner is a great family activity and sets you up for the rest of the day. I've made this our family tradition now that we ALWAYS have a walk after dinner and it makes everyone much more cheerful (eventually) and stops you all drifting into a coma at 6 o'clock.

Having said all that...do expect all your best laid plans to go out the window and make your peace with it. As a T1, theoretically I can do more than you to keep my blood sugar level but Christmas always makes me come unstuck. I tend to increase my basal by about 30-50% the day before and then work on an insulin to carb ratio of about 1:1 as I tend to massively underestimate my carb intake on Christmas Day, so by adopting a ridiculous ratio, I offset my under-counting.

 

[Amigo]

Yes good, considered advice as always Deus. I could increase the booze but surprisingly tend to drink very little on Christmas Day (too many people to look after!). I agree the dinner is less of a challenge and I will give the profiteroles some thought. I like those.

I'll take a leaf out of Mark T's colleague's book and offload left goodies onto friends and colleagues to avoid temptation into New Year. I really don't want to go too awry on this because I can't afford to.

I've put the sprouts on Jenny and thankfully earwigs are low carb! 😱

 

[Bloden]

Don't drink so much that you stop caring and hoover up all carbs in sight! 😱😉

 

[Mr B]

Amigo, I'm in exactly the same boat and I'm diet controlled and high numbers worry me as well! But I can't get cheesecake out of my mind and I'm in two minds about whether to do it or not... But, if we can't have it once in a year, then we may as well give up altogether!

I think I'm gonna live on the wild side and do it! Will let you know how I get on!

 

[robert@fm]

Well it's too late now to get em on (sprouts) for Xmas Day. They'd never be soggy enough if you only start em now! LOL

Aren't they supposed to be put on to simmer at Easter?

 

[Ralph-YK]

I was diagnosed early last December (a bit of a story). I just went without. I wasn't cooding for anyone though. I've found it more difficult since.

 

[trophywench]

Isn't it just a bit like the grass being greener on the other side of the hill, which never actually is once you get there? - eg tell me, who doesn't really much like Mars Bars anyway and never did anyway, before I was 22 and became T1 - that I am totally banned from another taste of a Mars Bar, ever - and I'll probably start to imagine I fancy one and ten get a bit obsessed by that thought until I HAVE to have one - and wonder why the hell? after two bites, but finish it anyway and then still feel sick, which is probably why I never really liked em anyway in the first place ??

LOL

 

[Bloden]

Isn't it just a bit like the grass being greener on the other side of the hill, which never actually is once you get there? - eg tell me, who doesn't really much like Mars Bars anyway and never did anyway, before I was 22 and became T1 - that I am totally banned from another taste of a Mars Bar, ever - and I'll probably start to imagine I fancy one and ten get a bit obsessed by that thought until I HAVE to have one - and wonder why the hell? after two bites, but finish it anyway and then still feel sick, which is probably why I never really liked em anyway in the first place ??

LOL

It's true! I never used to be that fussed about crisps, but now...! 😱😛

 

[Bessiemay]

Isn't it just a bit like the grass being greener on the other side of the hill, which never actually is once you get there? - eg tell me, who doesn't really much like Mars Bars anyway and never did anyway, before I was 22 and became T1 - that I am totally banned from another taste of a Mars Bar, ever - and I'll probably start to imagine I fancy one and ten get a bit obsessed by that thought until I HAVE to have one - and wonder why the hell? after two bites, but finish it anyway and then still feel sick, which is probably why I never really liked em anyway in the first place ??

LOL

I gave up mars bars after dx as I really didn't think they were worth the effort but after a pretty bad hypo once, I came round to this delicious taste of something and I was saying can I have some more of that. My OH had managed to get some coke down me and was then feeding me slices of Mars. They are now hard to resist. There's no point having a 'fun' sized one because I know the rest of the bag is lurking if only I can find it.

 

[Pine Marten]

My son has invited himself round for Christmas again this year so we'll have the usual turkey & roast spuds etc - I just have a little and fill up with veg (not necessarily sprouts 😱 ). It works pretty well. However, I cannot resist the Italian panettone, and one leapt into the basket yesterday when we were out shopping, so of course we had to buy it...fortunately nobody likes it except me, so I shall ration myself to smaller slices (as I did last year) and scoff the lot! Mmmmmm...