Managing Diabetes During the Holiday Season

Eating Well and Enjoying Christmas With Diabetes

Dec 13, 2008

Managing diabetes can be a challenge at the best of times. You can eat well and manage your diabetes through the holidays. Here are some tips to help you.

Shortbread, stuffing, and potatoes with gravy: this might be a recipe for a delicious Christmas dinner, but it can also be a recipe for blood sugar chaos. Whatever the holiday, you can enjoy yourself and manage your blood sugar.

Eat Moderately

Yes, holidays are times to celebrate with food. However, with an understanding of what foods contain carbohydrates, you can plan your meals accordingly. Prioritize salad over stuffing and dessert so that your body is full of lower carbohydrate food. But do eat some of the stuffing and dessert if you want to. Abstaining from carbohydrates and then eating a lot at once is not good for your blood sugar.

Eating moderately has another advantage. Good blood sugar also means that you will feel better, and that is important over the busy holiday season!

Find Treats That Work

Find other ways to indulge over the holiday season. Look for treats that work for you. Sparkling water, fancy teas and special sauces can all add to a meal without adding a lot of carbohydrates. Nuts and seeds are wonderful sources of protein and healthy fat. Think about your favourite holiday foods and consider which ones of these are lower in carbohydrates, then indulge away!

Eat Wisely

Learn how to count the carbohydrates in foods, and understand that different sorts of food have different amounts of carbohydrates. Calorie King is a wonderful book and web site that has carbohydrate values for all sorts of foods. Understand that even within a food category, carbohydrates vary. For example, if you plan to choose bread to go with your meal, a bread with more air and more fiber will likely have far fewer carbohydrates than a very dense bread or a bread with little fiber.

If you'd like a more advanced understanding of how carbohydrates affect your blood sugar, look at the glycemic index of the foods you eat. You might be surprised by what you find. Some foods impact your blood sugar far more than others. For example, half a cup of potato will move your blood sugar up a lot, and very quickly. Half a cup of squash has the same amount of carbohydrates, but it has a much smaller affect on your blood sugar.

Be Conscious of Your Fat and Protein Intake

While those with diabetes are often counseled to reduce fat intake to reduce the risk of heart disease, good fats like those in almonds and avocados are an excellent way to reduce the blood sugar spike that comes after eating carbohydrates. Fat and protein help slow your body's absorption of the carbohydrates, effectively reducing the glycemic index of your meal. The bottom line: a meal with potatoes and stuffing is going to raise your blood sugar, but if you eat those potatoes and stuffing with some fat and protein, your blood sugar will go up more slowly. If you have type two diabetes, this means that your body will be better able to deal with the carbohydrate intake.

Be Prepared

If you use medication or insulin to control your blood sugar, sometimes you may have low blood sugar. This can be dangerous if it is not controlled, since low blood sugar can cause you to think less clearly. If left untreated, you could become unconscious.

As we eat during the holidays, it is often hard to manage blood sugar levels with unfamiliar foods. Be prepared. Make sure that those near you know what to do in case of low blood sugar. Keep your glucose monitor handy. It is an important tool. Most of all, carry a quick-acting source of sugar like juice, glucose tablets, or jellybeans and know how many to use during a low. If in doubt, follow the rule of 15: take fifteen grams of carbohydrates and check your blood sugar again in 15 minutes.

Exercise, Exercise, Exercise!

We are all going to indulge a little over the holidays. Whether you have type one or type two diabetes, exercise helps keep your blood sugar under control. Do consult your doctor before beginning an exercise program. Also, make sure that you have an understanding of how exercise affects your blood sugar, especially if you use pills or insulin.

Despite the risk of low blood sugar, exercise is a valuable tool in managing your blood sugar. If you manage diabetes without medication or insulin, a brisk walk after a meal will help reduce your blood sugar levels. Even if you manage diabetes with medication, exercise can help reduce your blood sugar, as long as you find the fine balance between high and low blood sugar. Test and test often during exercise.

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The copyright of the article Managing Diabetes During the Holiday Season in Nutrition is owned by Tricia Edgar. Permission to republish Managing Diabetes During the Holiday Season in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.