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Xmas food

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NotPink

Well-Known Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 2
Hallo,
Looking for suggestions food wise for Xmas. For 35 years I have had a very restricted diet due to years of IBS and now have prediabetes controlled by diet and exercise. I can't eat carbs, grains, fruit, dairy, and certain veggies and I would love to taste Xmas food again but scared...I sometimes get miserable at Xmas but tell myself that lots of you have very severe diabetes 1 and 2 diagnosis with other nasty symptoms so I should get on with it and stop snivelling. Any suggestions please?
 
Well that’s a tough one.. come to mine if you like we could share a carrot and be miserable together :D and before anybody tells me there are many wonderful diabetic friendly meals and I have no cause to be miserable… I’m sorry but at Christmas I want to eat like the rest of my lot, and fall asleep like a stuffed pig once I’ve eaten all the caramel barrels out of a giant tub of roses!
 
Most of the forum tend to loosen their carb limits on Christmas day, one day isn't going to do anything long term so just relax a bit (I went through 3 Christmases with an eating disorder and got so worked up about the carbs I'd shake and cry) don't be scared, it isn't good for you to feel that way towards food, what things would you like to have again around Christmas time? xx
 
I’d agree, being prediabetic gives you a little more wiggle room also. It’s funny that you should say that kaylz as I also get like that with food anxiety. My numbers are so tightly controlled as even with mild hyper I have some very unwanted symptoms that can last a few days. That why I don’t wanna relax it at Christmas impacted by the fact that I’m going on a big family holiday for Christmas, all families in one house. This is the first time we have done it since my diagnosis and it’s starting to worry me because I’m usually the chef and my extended family haven’t yet seen the impact this has in me day to day. To be honest I’m not sure I’ve not taken the low carb too far it’s really effected my health. Notpink, homemade soups for starter is a good one, turkey, pigs in blankets, veggies that you can tolerate bit of mash and a huge glass of Prosecco and some after eight mints !
 
You can eat some carbs even if T2, and certainly if still prediabetic you do not need to be so tight. What level of carbs are you aiming for?
 
I think the general consensus on the forum is that Christmas and your birthday are "skinchies" days when you are allowed to treat yourself and not worry too much about your diabetes, so don't stress about it and enjoy your day.
Personally I enjoy my low carb way of eating so if I am going to be at home I will cook something that I would normally eat and enjoy, but if I am with family, I will moderate the carbs but certainly eat some roasties and half a Yorkshire pudding and perhaps a little bit of Christmas pudding with some cream. Personally I love Boxing Day lunch with cold meat leftovers pickles and salad and maybe a few chips. So much more relaxed.
Obviously with your other condition you may need to continue to be careful about that or perhaps accept that you will be in digestive discomfort for a few days afterwards. Balance is important, so don't feel you are too restricted on that special day.
 
I have a fairly normal Christmas dinner - turkey and other meat, veges, Yorkshire puddings and gravy, then trifle or a chocolate cake with cream later on, I make chocolate covered brazils or slivered almonds on a chocolate base drizzled with more chocolate - I don't even see higher than normal BG levels. I might have a dry wine, or rum with diet coke or vodka with diet bitter lemon.
I substitute other lower carb veges for the potato, there is parsnip amongst the roasted veges but I can cope with that.
 
Thank you for your suggestions. I seem to be carb intolerant. For instance last night I was looking forward to the first seasons Brussel sprouts...I eat only organic as I have other dietary issues...I ate 5 of them with my usual mixed veg. and cheese... and spiked over 7.5 with a dry mouth and felt rough. I have had a long battle with tolerating many foodstuffs.
 
Spiking over 7.5 is not a problem (unless you went up above 10 or 15 which of course are also over 7.5) and certainly should not be responsible for a dry mouth and feeling rough, otherwise I would feel like that a lot of the time), so I think you may be laying the blame very unfairly on the sprouts but also perhaps have an unrealistic expectation of managing BG levels.... or there is something else going on which is causing these symptoms unrelated to your diabetes. That increase (I struggle to see 7.5 as "a spike") might be due to stress or hormones or any number of other factors. What was your starting reading ie premeal? It is always important to experiment several times before you draw any conclusions from readings taken around a new food and particularly a low carb food like brussels, so definitely try the same meal a few more times and see what happens.
 
My a1c is currently in the non diabetic zone. Im at 7.5 maybe 8.5 after every meal, comes down pretty quick and sometimes I do feel a little lightheaded especially after breakfast but I do go from 4.5ish to 8 and back down all in about an hour. I’m working on this. My daughters all non diabetic will regularly be in the 7’s when experimenting with my kit…don’t worry they are grown ups lol xx
 
NotPink said:
Thank you for your suggestions. I seem to be carb intolerant. For instance last night I was looking forward to the first seasons Brussel sprouts...I eat only organic as I have other dietary issues...I ate 5 of them with my usual mixed veg. and cheese... and spiked over 7.5 with a dry mouth and felt rough. I have had a long battle with tolerating many foodstuffs.
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That sounds pretty normal to me @NotPink I’ve often tested non-diabetic friends’ blood sugar over the years, usually after meals. I’ve found it very interesting to see what happens in people without diabetes. Being above 7.5 would be the majority of those post meal tests. People are usually in the 7s or occasionally early 8s.

I appreciate it must be hard if you can’t tolerate foods like dairy as that rules out lots of things. However, I do think you could probably relax a little about your diet as being ultra-restrictive isnt good. If you’re worrying about 5 Brussel sprouts, I think you need to stop and revise your approach to food and not be so hard on yourself. X
 
7.5 is a perfectly normal BG reading.
Where did you read it was a bad result?

You may be starting a vicious circle, if you are testing, and worrying over the reading beforehand, the stress will cause the dry mouth and rough feeling, and this in turn will further raise your BG.
 
silentsquirrel said:
You can eat some carbs even if T2, and certainly if still prediabetic you do not need to be so tight. What level of carbs are you aimi
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For over thirty years I have had to check everything I eat because of the reactions and intolerances to foods that increased over time. I ended up not eating very much at all. I needed to work and feel comfortable. None of the consultants at the NHS came up with anything helpful...so I went private. The clinician recommended a diet for me which introduced new foods very slowly after eating broth for 2 weeks. I began to eat cheese, eggs and some veg for a couple of years. I still have problems tolerating different foods.
After this I was told I had pre diabetes without any instructions, like many here. I was very confused and still am as to how I got to this point as I did not eat any grains or dairy.
But even though 7.5 is not a spike as you say it still affects me as I said. I am not stressed about food usually as I had to accept my diet a long time ago but I do notice when I eat things that I don't usually eat.
I have tried to keep to 4.7mmol first thing am and not go higher than 6.5mmol by the evening.
I don't test myself very often any more but did last night as I had a dry mouth and felt wrong.etc.
It's like I am over sensitive to foods that other people can tolerate. Thank you for your responses.
 
You have had it rough I think, and it sounds like you have had to put a lot of effort into trying to work out what works for you. It’s not easy. Your sugars do seem to be in normal range but I too can feel symptoms as mine fluctuate within what would be considered normal. Maybe because mine moves a little quicker that the average person. X
 
I don't test myself very often any more but did last night as I had a dry mouth and felt wrong.etc.

I can understand feeling wrong and I don’t doubt you did. All I question whether the cause was your 7.5. I suffer from a dry mouth and can’t bear certain foods because they make it worse and make me feel quite desperate with the dryness. Of course, every time I get a dry mouth, I test my blood sugar (I’m Type 1 and test numerous times a day) and I gradually worked out that they were unrelated. The dry mouth was caused by certain foods - just eating them, not the effect on my blood sugar.

I went on a low oxalate diet and that helped, but I didn’t have time to keep it up. So now I avoid ‘bad’ foods or keep them to a minimum.

I’m not saying that you have the same issue, just describing one of a number of possible causes of a dry mouth that is a less common one.

For Xmas you could concentrate on meats and fish you like. Choose posher ones and treat yourself that way. The same with vegetables - go for what you can eat but make it smarter. I presume you can eat potatoes, so, again, look for quality options. It’s a pity you can’t eat cheese as that’s a good treat option, but could you have nice nuts? Pickled vegetables maybe? There are also various grain-free crackers eg ones made with veg. Yes, they’re more expensive, but that could be your treat with, say, smoked salmon or whatever you can tolerate.
 
Thank you. I cannot eat potatoes or nuts except occasionally almond flour and I make tiny pancakes mixing with an egg and psyllium husk... Everything I eat has to be organic.
I sometimes imagine eating delicious real chocolate fresh cream eclairs and fish and chips not in that order or maybe in that order...yum yum...my favourite. I did try a low carb cream the other day which tasted very, very sweet and disagreed with me. I tried.
I will look up a low oxalate diet...not heard of it.
 
Ah, difficult. Are there other tubers you can eat (I realise calling them tubers doesn’t sound very appetising!) ? Sweet potatoes, yams, etc? Could you roast parsnips as a potato-like alternative? Or have mashed celeriac maybe?

With regard to grains, can you tolerate buckwheat (which - in case there are any casual readers - isn’t wheat and isn’t a grain at all)? There are some nice buckwheat recipes and it’s very adaptable.

Are you intolerant to seeds as well as nuts? If not, I like roasted pumpkin seeds, sprinkled with salt and pepper. Very more-ish. Organic roasted vegetable crisps are tasty too.
 
Dear @Inka thanks for your posts, much appreciated. Not good with buckwheat although I like the taste. Love Sweet pots and was sad they were carby maybe I ate too many! A good choice possibly for Xmas. Can't do celery or celeriac. I will look into seeds as I haven't re-tried them. Thanks a lot for being interested.
 
Inka said:
Ah, difficult. Are there other tubers you can eat (I realise calling them tubers doesn’t sound very appetising!) ? Sweet potatoes, yams, etc? Could you roast parsnips as a potato-like alternative? Or have mashed celeriac maybe?
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Swede seems to be another popular tuber as a spud alternative. I hear, if you ignore the smell, taste and texture, they are great. Alas, I cannot ignore the smell so miss out on the taste.

Squash are also lower carb than ‘taters. I do enjoy my butternut squash and have recently also enjoyed gem and onion squash in a few recipes. I usually roast them.
 
If you like the taste and can tolerate them ok, Jerusalem Artichokes can also be used like potatoes. They’re related to the sunflower. I think they have quite a creamy taste. I usually mash them but I think you can roast them too.
 
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