Instructions: The following is a list of the best ideas a number of people with diabetes offer for the greater good. There are some excellent ideas about how to keep consumption down, blood sugars under control and still enjoy the holidays and fun. These thoughts and ideas are great for all of us so we may have a happier and healthier holiday season.

SF= Sugar Free
Bg= Blood glucose
Gm= measurement of a substance
Grazing= What many folks do when faced with buffets and such, just walk and eat, and eat and never realize just how much you consume.

Fran put all this together, thanks Fran.

1. Drink water - or flavoured water before eating;

2. 40 chews to one bite; old fashioned but works - seems to get the juices going and the brain seems to send out the satiety signals earlier than if just gobbling food;

3. concentrate on the taste and texture of each mouthful and component of the food. This slows down the rate of eating with the same effect as 2. above.

4. Listen and talk and never with your mouth full. Amazing then how little time you spend eating rather than stuffing, gobbling, swallowing half masticated food so you can throw in your 2 cents worth.

5. Listen to your body rather than your eyes. If your stomach says Im full - listen to that instead of eyeing all the food still there which you havent eaten.

6. Practice saying no thank you to second helpings. ;-)

* If going to a party or a get together where "grazing" is done, I will often stick some gum in my mouth-hard to eat while chewing gum :) Also this works while making goodies/cookies at home where you tend to eat the dough :))

* If I am not the one in charge of the menu I make sure I volunteer to bring a salad so I have something I can eat
*extra* of.

I tend to sip on coffee, probably drink too much, but it helps keep me full and keep the carbs away from my mouth.

I fill my plate up once only, if others are still eating when I am done, I get up and start helping to clean up/do dishes....in other words, keep my hands busy.

If going out, eat a small amount of something before I go so that I am not sitting down at some late hour and am ravenous and pig out.

Eat very slowly, then sit for a few minutes and then if I want more go for it, but never load my plate just put some food on it. I can always go back. Relatively newly learned lessons.

****Cranberry sauce made w/ Equal... its a free food, w/ portions in moderation..

SF orange jello salad... w/ shredded carrots, SF pineapple, apples and walnuts.

***LOTS of vegetable salads !!!! (Cole Slaw sticks in my mind !)

***SF ice cream

*** Putting lots of veggies into the stuffing that stuffs the bird... I use mushrooms. onions. celery, carrots and whatever else is in the fridge that may taste good... oranges too !!!

Serve (eat) only WHITE meat

In recent years Ive made SF pumpkin pie or just custard... to me it tastes as good as the real thing, and hubby luckily thinks the same !!!!

* LOTS and LOTS of fresh veggies to nibble on.....so I can eat a bunch of stuffing! My diet wont be the most nutritious... but its two days out of the year...the other 363 I manage my bg great. Those two days are my reward for doing great the rest of the year.

* I try hard to walk at least twice on Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day.

I walk 2 miles in a.m. before eating and after big dinner I walk another 2 miles if possible. I still eat too much but this helps. Usually I recruit relatives to walk with me and we have a good time.

* The problems for me come in having goodies standing around between meals. I have a really hard time not grazing. We have had less and less but I usually succumb at some point and then skip other items during a meal.

* I find if I have substantial portion of protein then I get full for hours. Can be useful if we adopt the French formal way of eating i.e. course of protein au jus then course of veggies etc. But when we pile everything on the same plate sadly the protein effect is minimised by the carbs in root veggies and potatoes etc.

Soups made with low carb veggies, good chicken or turkey or meat stock as opposed to stock cubes and small pieces of relevant protein also fill up before main course which of course then means less room for carb high desserts :-)

Lots of veggie dishes too both main course or as side dishes which are filling, tasty but dont do a number on bgs.

Desserts? SF jello mixed with quark or cream cheese and frozen raspberries - 2 ozs or so. I sometimes just mix up some raspberries, blueberries or strawberries or a little chopped mango with quark, cream cheese which is delicious either with crackers or with plain sf jello.

I also use dal in various forms - makes delicious soups, crunchy side portions with salads - masses of variations on them - half a cup gives lots of protein but does not put up bgs and sticks to the ribs (G)

Also curly kale , lightly steamed then add a little EV Olive Oil or butter and toasted sesame seeds - maybe a dash of worcester sauce or soya sauce or chilli pepper or whatever. Delicious!

* I am bringing the turkey and stuffed veggies as a garnish. These stuffed veggies are a part of my holiday diet strategy. They are only moderately low-carb, since the stuffing does include some garbanzos, black beans, and squash. I will only eat a couple of bites of turkey and these veggies will help to satisfy me, since I tend to find even small portion of beans very satisfying. I go for raw veggie munchies and I will bring a yoghurt dip for those to augment richer dips. Into an eight-ounce portion of plain yoghurt, I stir three tablespoons of vegetable broth powder, a tablespoon of olive oil and pinches of my favorite herbs and seasonings such as garlic, thyme, black pepper, chopped green onions.

I also make for parties a wonderful low-fat cheese spread. To a sixteen ounces (two cups) of Quark ( a low-fat cheese product available at places such as Sundance and other health-oriented food stores) I add a quarter-cup of rinsed and chopped stuffed green olives and/or chopped black olives, minced garlic, a lot of black pepper and a tablespoon or two of grated sap sago cheese. This cheese is very strong and parmesan can be substituted for it. For an even lower fat deal, the olives can be omitted and you can just use chopped sweet red peppers and lots of seasonings in the quark. I let this "mellow" for a day or two. It also keeps very well.

Quark is a yoghurt-cheese product that has 2.5 g fat per 1/2 cup 2 gm of which is saturated fat, so it is a pretty good cheese alternative for someone like me who is a cheese nut. Low sodium too, only 75g to a half cup! 1/2 cup of plain quark has only 4 g carbs, so I sometimes just use the seasoned stuff for a sandwich filling. It does have 11g of protein.

For me it has excellent staying power too. It is great on Finn-Crisp, Bran-a-Crisp or Rye Crisp or for those who dont do gluten, they stuff celery sticks or long slices of green and red pepper beautifully. For a nice dip, "dilute" this with plain yoghurt, but increase the seasonings according to your taste. It does not need salt at all since it is so tangy.

* The average person gains 5 to 10 pounds over the holidays. You can watch your weight & still enjoy the festivities:

*Plan plan plan!- Before each event where there will be food, make a plan.

Eat light several days before the event. & eat lighter that day- but dont skip meals or youll set yourself up for a hunger induced binge.

* Plan what youll eat at the event. If its a potluck or buffet, walk up and down the serving line without a plate, mentally planning which foods to take. If its a sit down dinner, think about portion size. Modify traditional recipes to
*lighten* them up.

* Bring your low fat foods to the event- Whatever is your favorite, but something you know wont send your bgs soaring.

* Continue exercising during the holiday season- dont wait till January or next spring. Walking is great- helps relieve stress & curb appetite, as well as burn calories.

* Eat or drink low-calorie fillers- clear soups, V-8 juice, mineral water w/ lime- theyll take the edge off your appetite.

* Limit alcohol- its high in calories (5 oz eggnog w/ rum has 245), but more importantly, it increases appetite and decreases control.

* Create some new family traditions, that dont involve food.

So there you have it! For folks doing diet & exercise for control, the holidays are more challenging- but just keeping the whole juggling act in balance applies to all types (not just diabetics!). So keep those water glasses full & walking shoes ready to go!

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