Surviving the Holidays with Diabetes

Surviving the Holidays with Diabetes
By Amy Tenderich of www.DiabetesMine.com


The winter holidays are here again, and ‘tis the season for making merry – mostly by way of overeating and drinking, it seems. For those living diabetes, who are struggling to maintain a healthy balance all year round, this season can be especially rough.

It seems that everyone is pushing rich food on you, and the cold weather makes it harder to get out and exercise. Many of us are traveling as well, which interrupts our usual routine and brings new challenges. And visiting with relatives can be... shall we say... trying at times, as they often make bothersome comments about our diabetes care.

What do you do about all of this? Panic? Or just close your eyes and brace yourself for “a few bad months”? Here’s hoping that there is some healthy middle ground.

I don’t pretend to have a magic solution, but I’ve compiled a list of some things I’ve focused on in past years that have really helped:

For Holiday Buffets:
• Make sure you don’t go to parties hungry. Have a snack before you leave home, and try chewing some flavorful gum before you to fill your plate

• Also, before you hit the buffet, make a mental priority list: which foods can you skip, which are semi-tempting, and which ones really make you drool – as in you know you will eat them no matter what happens

• Take a very small helping of only your absolute favorite foods (the drool category), and then go find a quiet corner in which to savor them

• When everyone else is indulging in that third plate of food, decline politely, and then remind your self – or even politely mention out loud – how many grams of fat and carbohydrates you’ve just avoided (this has the added advantage of putting others off goading you to eat more ☺ )

• Then move away from the buffet table. Standing too close is an invitation to keep grazing

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For Exercise:

• Others need to be active at this time of year too. Start pestering all your friends about joining you for walks or some kind of “group workout” (it’s also harder to blow off something planned with other people)

• If it’s too cold to go out, think about walking laps around your workplace or the shopping mall, and taking the stairs whenever and wherever you can

• Or turn up the music in your living room and just dance around. Research studies show that any kind of activity – even fidgeting – is better than sitting still

• Try especially to squeeze in a walk or workout on the day of a holiday party or dinner – the activity helps offset any negative effects of the food you’ll eat

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For Traveling:
• When packing, be sure to bring along your own snacks, and backups of everything, including an extra glucose meter and test strips

• Be sure to also have a copy of all your diabetes medication prescriptions

• Always wear medical alert jewelry; you never know when you might end up alone and unable to speak up for yourself

• If you’re flying, pack all your essentials in your carry-on bag, that way you’ll be OK even if your luggage doesn’t arrive with you

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For Pesky Relatives who act like the “Diabetes Police”:
• Touch base your best allies in advance (your mother, brother or best friend?) to remind them that you really don’t need any “diabetes police” during holiday celebrations

• Work on training your brightest smile to “kill ’em with kindness”

• Say “thank you for your concern,” and then change the subject or walk away if necessary

• Try not to get too mad. Let’s face it, the only person you can really change is yourself, so try to “reframe your attitude” to make the most of the situation

There’s no easy answer to deflecting the onslaught of pumpkin pie, mashed potatoes, gingerbread men, egg nog, and candy treats that’s coming at us this time of year. We all struggle to keep a balanced diabetes routine through this busy, cold, and food-centric season. But last year at my site DiabetesMine.com, I did gather a bunch of Holiday Survival suggestions from the community and compiled them in an eBook (online booklet you can easily download), here:
http://tinyurl.com/diabetesmine-nuggets-ebook

There are many great tips from many wonderful people walking in our shoes.

Amy Tenderich
This article can be found here.

Until next time I hope all is well in your own little piece of the world.