[Kat]

Hello all! As you all know, the food holiday is coming up.
This will be my first thanksgiving with the big D and I'm wondering about food.

I love cranberry sauce from the can, but i'm guessing they don't make a sugar free kind, though i will be looking that up, i just am wondering what you all eat for thanksgiving.
Turkey,
I love gravy with mashed potatoes but they both are really carby so I'm thinking the flaked potatoes that you cook because i've had them before and they are lower carb and they didn't make my blood spike. but gravy? we usually make our own but i guess I'll have to get it from a paket? Or find a lower carb recipe..

So we are having a large family gathering for thankgiving and this year other family are making the food and i won't have any controll of it. So I am thinking I'll just have to pre-make some stuff and bring it...sigh..these are the only times diabetes gets me down really. watching everyone else eat and not have to take a second thought...but no wallowing Kat!

Anyway, I just want to know the meal menu of some of you diabetes vetrans who have had many a thanks givings and have got it down, or something like that. =P

Sorry for the long rant.
Thanks!!!!!!!!! and may everyone here have a wonderful thanksgiving!

[Penny]

Hi Kat. Thanksgiving is hard for me, It is a big holiday for my family, with my birthday usually thrown in the mix. I just eat a little of everything, I even have a sliver of pie and a bite of cake. I just plan on running a little high from it. I usually try to be extra good for the weeks before and after. I do make a few things special for myself. I take my sweet potato out of the pan before I add the brown sugar...put a little spenda and butter and cinnamon on it, so I don't feel too deprived. My family likes the cranberries made from fresh berries......so I cook mine alone and again add a little spenda. I can pass on the mashed potatoes, but if I couldn't, I would have a small serving, even with the gravy. I do love stuffing, and have a few bites of it. Usually my numbers do OK the day I eat it, but the next day I fight to get them down. I try to take a walk or get some kind of exercise right after the meal. I also try to slow down eating even more than normal, so I get full with less. You will work out what you can eat with practice, but for me, it is worth it to run a little high for a couple days.

[poodlebone]

As a Type 1, I just try to guesstimate the carb and fat content as best as I can and bolus appropriately. That means a dual wave bolus spread out for many hours. I test often and make corrections if needed.

[Jill-O]

I'm also on insulin and I will guage the carbs and take the appropriate amount of humalog. I'm not going to pig out, but I am going to eat "regular" food and enjoy it It is my favorite holiday!

[davef]

I'm T2 not using Insulin so things are slightly different for me. But I faced this last Christmas (we don't have Thanksgiving in Ireland).

I avoid things like potatoes, rice, pasta (high carb stuff) but for me Christmas dinner would not be Christmas dinner without roast potatoes. I decided to let myself live a little for Christmas day and dinner. When I looked at the food on the table, really the only problem foods were potatoes and bread sauce. The rest of the food was turkey, baked ham and lots of vegetables. So I ate (probably not as much as past years) my Christmas dinner with potatoes (again probably not as many as before) and enjoyed it. After dinner I had a few squares of 70% Cocoa chocolate. I went for a walk after dinner (which is kind of a Christmas tradition for me anyway) and it all worked out.

So this year I'm doing the same. Sauces may pose your biggest issues, but just have a taste - my philosophy is that it's one day out of the year, enjoy, test and in your case you can correct if necessary.

[yannah]

My numbers rock and I have cut my metformin in half.
so I won't be doing any induldging on turkey day. I am going to eat turkey, veggies and locarb cheesecake. that is all. but I am going to enjoy my family and have a great holiday. I havn't seen my son since July.

[kgm0612]

Every year I tell myself I'm not going to eat like I did last year and have high readings.........but............I ALWAYS do! LOL

So for me..........it's LOTS of insulin!

Karen

[art]

My kids are treating my wife and I to 3 days at Kiowa Island in South Carolina including a thanksgiving day buffet at some outrageous cost. You better believe I'm getting my money's worth. Well their money.

First off is protein. Lots of it. Turkey, Roast Beef. Ham.
I'll have some mashed potatoes. Not a bunch but maybe 3 or 4 ounces. Gravy?? Oh Lord, YES!!!
Baked sweet potato yes. Candied sweet potatoes nope, sorry.
Stuffing? A little.

Dessert,? None.
Unless they just happen to have a wonderful sugar free dessert bar.
The Paris Hotel in Las Vegas does.

I'm a type 2 on oral meds but I always have insulin on hand.

So, I'll eat what I think is reasonable and maybe a little more.
Test and adjust if necessary.

Enjoy the family. Thanksgiving is the last real holiday we have.

Art

[enigmalady777]

I'm preparing the meal for my family - one of those "precooked" dinner deals from the local supermarket deli department.

Although the dinner deal comes with mashed potatoes and gravy, I won't eat any of it. I'm not a big mashed potato fan anyway, and I don't care for gravy so I won't miss it. What I will have a hard time "controling myself" over is the stuffing! I LOVE stuffing. And Pumpkin Pie. YUM. And Yams. Yum.

So in order to make sure I don't overdo it, I will have a small serving of baked yams (I bake them myself and do not add any brown sugar or marshmallows, etc), a small serving of stuffing, a small slice of Pumpkin Pie, lots of mashed cauliflower that I will make, lots of steamed asparagus and a moderate amount of turkey.

I'll dose my insulin accordingly since even with small amounts of "forbidden foods", my carb intake will probably be higher than usual.

[Scrabblechick]

I made cranberry sauce with Splenda and it is pretty tasty. Easy, and yes, you can make your own cranberry sauce! It really is so easy. Splenda, water, cranberries, add heat and there you are!

I made it through a family get-together yesterday relatively unscathed, but I plan to sort of take the day off on Thursday. I'm going to eat what I feel like eating--not pig out--but if I want a small piece of pie, I'm eating it. And I do plan to eat dressing until I pop. LOL. However, I will also take a nice walk, weather permitting, or at least do my DVD aerobics. Something. And we're doing a much lower sugar version of pecan pie this year, so I can have a little of that. Looking forward to it.

[Penny]

Has amyone tried the Splenda brown suar? I have sweet pototo about once a week anyway, I just bake it, add a little spenda, butter and cinnamon. I was just wondering if the Spenda brown sugar would make it more like what the rest of the family eats and how it works with the BS.

[poodlebone]

Originally Posted by Penny

Has amyone tried the Splenda brown suar? I have sweet pototo about once a week anyway, I just bake it, add a little spenda, butter and cinnamon. I was just wondering if the Spenda brown sugar would make it more like what the rest of the family eats and how it works with the BS.

Splenda brown sugar is a mix of Splenda & brown sugar! The package says that each measure is twice as sweet as regular sugar. So, a tablespoon of the Splenda brown sugar would be as sweet as 2 tablespoons of plain brown sugar. The volume is almost 100% sugar because the Splenda takes up practically no space. That's why they say if a recipe calls for 1 cup of sugar, use 1/2 cup of the Splenda mix.

Sooooooo.... it does work well in most recipes but since it's 50% sugar, it will raise your BG! I always have to remember to cut the volume in half when following a recipe. I've forgotten and made things that were a little too sweet.

[Kat]

Thank you all so much for sharing your experiences! I will let you know how it went!This helps alot =)