According to diabetes.org, over 37.3 million Americans have been diagnosed with diabetes. Therefore, the odds that you will host one or more friends with diabetes at your holiday party are fairly high. I was diagnosed with diabetes in 2016, and over the past six years I’ve been invited to a lot of gatherings and looked around in dismay at the buffet, thinking to myself, “What can I have?”
Diabetics literally crave the carbs and sugar that we are not supposed to have. A little sugar makes us crave a little more, and then a little more, and then a lot more.
Problem Foods
Even if you’re not diabetic, you probably know that a good alternative for sugary foods is to offer a sugar-free desert, like my Sugar-Free Cheesecake with Almond Crust.
What you may not realize, however, is that all those carbs on your menu also wreak havoc on our blood sugar levels. Some holiday favorites that can cause us issues include mashed potatoes, baked potatoes, potato salad, potato chips. Okay, so almost any potato. Pasta will make us feel awful as well, as much as we may love macaroni and cheese dish. Another starch that we must limit is corn.
We can have the green bean casserole, though, right? Well, yes. Within reason. Consider the ingredients and keep in mind that a can of cream of anything contains sugar. So does that dinner roll, the cranberry sauce, the baked beans, the glaze that you put on the ham, and even the turkey gravy, if you didn’t make it from scratch.
Diabetics should be counting carbs as well as sugar, and nearly everything at a typical holiday party or Christmas gathering includes carbs. And, all of those carbs add up to a very sick friend of family member.
Healthy Options
Well, then, what can we have? First, let me say that it’s the holiday, we’re going to eat the dressing, even though it’s full of carbs. However, having a few low carb sides can help us not to “carb out” entirely! A veggie platter is great. Steamed veggies are even better, in my opinion. Seasonings on steamed veggies are fine. Butter or olive oil are healthier fats that provide flavor. Cheese won’t shoot our sugar up either.
A fruit platter is good, but not as great as one might think. Some fruits are more diabetic friendly than others. There is less sugar in berries: strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, etc., so make sure that your platter includes some of those and not just the more sugary melons, grapes, bananas, and pineapples.
A baked sweet potato (that isn’t loaded down with brown sugar and marshmallows), is a nice alternative to all of the other potato dishes. An alternative to regular brown sugar that you may want to have on hand, if you’re not too deterred by price is monk fruit golden brown sugar. I like Lakanto’s Monk Fruit products.
Deviled eggs — especially if made with Duke’s mayonnaise! Please don’t use Miracle Whip. Compare the sugar and carbs on these labels to see why.
Diabetics literally crave the carbs and sugar that we are not supposed to have. A little sugar makes us crave a little more, and then a little more, and then a lot more. When you include sides at your gatherings that our diabetic nutritionists have given the green light, it eases our stress, makes us feel less guilty, and – most importantly – makes us feel less lethargic and sick an hour after the meal. It also keeps us from feeling left out!
