Diabetic Christmas

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  • This topic has 19 replies, 9 voices, and was last updated 14 years ago by Anonymous.
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    • #5989
      Annette A
      Participant

      It’s getting close to that time of year again (you may have noticed the incessant perfume advertising). In the past I’ve always had a few problems juggling food and drink/insulin/stress/exercise (or lack of), but I’m hoping the pump will help all that tremendously. But are there any tried and tested tips for keeping on an evenish keel over the festive season? Or tales of woe?

    • #7634
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      Well i just have 1 bad day of being naughty on christmas day. I live on my own and have found the best way to not eat things i shouldnt have is not to buy them. The only issue for me is my parents visit at christmas. They allways say i wont buy anything sweet this year but i hate people not eating something because im diabetic; i hate the idea of lording it over them. So i just have 1 really bad day and then spend boxing day trying to restore my blood sugar to a semi acceptable level.

    • #7635
      Cecile
      Participant

      For me, the festive season is pretty plain sailing – maybe thanks to an aversion to baked goods that involve “humiliated grapes” (mince pies, fruit cake, steamed pudding). And the seasonal thing down here that I would willingly consume by the ton, and is supposed to have a GI of over 70 – watermelon – has thankfully never caused my BGs to spike accordingly. The main threat on Christmas day itself is Mother’s mammary trifle (containing the pointy, sawed-off tops of chocolate cakes baked in the preceding months)…last year she flamboyantly added maraschino cherries: those hyperglycaemia-inducing balls are now forbidden fruits – tip: keep your trifle same-sex (while ignoring the sexual implications of “nuts”) ;)

    • #7636
      Hairy Gnome
      Participant

      One of the few benefits of being an atheist is that I don’t celebrate Christmas, so no dietary problems for me! Happy Winter Solstice! Pmsl! :D

    • #7637
      Stephen
      Participant

      @teloz I celebrate Christmas as an atheist like all non Christians. Purely for the greed / gluttony factor! :)

      (Edit) and of course for the loving and giving and family and all that mushy stuff ;)

    • #7639
      Annette A
      Participant

      Ah, you’re just a grumpy old man, @teloz :-)
      The Christian bit isnt a problem for me – my side of the family are all (to a greater or lesser extent) religious (I’m not), so that side of the festivities is lots of carols and church services and the old fashioned satsumas and monkey nuts in stockings (add your own innuendo here) – even vaguely healthy! Its my husband’s side and our friends who like to indulge in the traditional gluttonfest – I stopped with the drinking lots some time ago, but I’m a sucker for nibbles, pretzels, nuts, etc – and grazing does little for the bgs.

    • #7641
      Tim
      Keymaster

      Ahh, Christmas for me equals consuming my own bodyweight in port and Stilton – nectar of the gods!

    • #7642
      Hairy Gnome
      Participant

      Paradoxically, although I don’t get involved with the religious side of Christmas there are aspects of the season that I find particularly wonderful. It’s not so much the ‘peace on Earth, goodwill to all men’ bit, I try to live like that all year, it’s the music. I could ramble on for ages, but for me the epitome of Christmas is the sound of a cathedral choir singing one of the old favourites. Hark The Herald Angels Sing, the congregation filling the cathedral with a sound like rolling thunder, then the ineffable purity of a soaring treble descant rises through the air and echoes between the ancient rafters. It literally brings tears to my eyes. So beautiful… How is it that something so pure can exist in this sad world?

      PS: Sorry I didn’t mention diabetes @Tim:)

    • #7643
      Tim
      Keymaster

      @teloz – I concur. Christmas doesn’t start until Christmas Eve and the carol service from King’s College chapel at Cambridge.

    • #7648
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      I’m another atheist who celebrates Christmas – but as a family gluttony fest! Sadly my Granddad was a priest, and my parents are hippyligious so there’s a fair bit of that side thrown in, but I can happily ignore that and wait for my chocolate log with cream, ice-cream and clotted cream… Yeah. I know. But it’s just one (three) days a year! We always take big family walks anyway – you can’t eat enough food otherwise! :D

      I also say Christmas doesn’t start til Christmas eve, but that’s largely cause I’m single and living alone – so no decorations or anything til I visit the parents!

    • #7649
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      This will be my first Christmas sans pancreas and I’ve got no idea what to do. On the best tradition(sic) I’m gonna wing it and see how it goes. Time to buy shares in insulin manufacturers methinks ha ha.

    • #7650
      Tim
      Keymaster

      @rohan – when I was single and living alone I had a tiny glass Christmas tree that sat on my coffee table – it cheered the place up no end ;-)

    • #7660
      Annette A
      Participant

      My husband asked yesterday, if they did Diabetic advent calenders (ie not ones with disgusting ‘diabetic chocolate’ in them, but edible ones), would it be better to just have the carb content of the chocolate on the inside of the doors, or to have ‘healthy’ alternatives – nuts, dried fruit, etc. I’d go for the carb counted chocs myself (after all, they’re so twiddly, those sweets, they’d have little effect), but if you really wanted to do the whole advent thing, what would you chose?.

    • #7661
      Annette A
      Participant

      (With apologies to anyone with a musical ear)
      Ding dong, Blood sugars are high
      Reach for the insuli-in
      Ding dong, Chocs and mi-ince pies
      Send levels up to heav-en
      Sweets and crisps and sausage rolls, and pretzels here and there, and beer and wine and port, mince pies and christmas cake, and christmas pudding too-oo-ooo
      Conspire to wreck contro-ol
      Trifles, made with naughty cakes, and nuts and cherries too, or chocolate decorations, pinched from off the tree, or out of the sele-ction box
      Mean one (?) day without contro-ol.

    • #7667
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      Have just discovered the perfect Christmas food- mulled wine! The sugar seems to perfectly counterbalance the alcohol, so no booze induced hypos, or mixer induced highs! Just keep a glass to hand at all times to maintain perfect control! :)

    • #7670
      Cecile
      Participant

      @annette: The advent calender from my youth was an uninhabitable one (long since devoured by silver-fish), so I don’t really expect any of them to harbour sweetmeats; it would be nice if each day could sing a diabetic carol, though – we’ve already got Ding Dong (I tried modifying 12 Days of Christmas, got no further than “cartridge in a pear tree” and “ladies-a-lanc{ett}ing”)…if we generate enough of them, we can get @tim to sing them – I’m sure he’d be capable of a soaring countertenor, if you rip off the infusion set at the right moment :D

      @hils: Doesn’t the alcohol fly away when you heat it up? Or do you sniff up the fumes?

    • #7672
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      Didn’t seem to (i did get a little rosy cheeked and *ahem* festive…)- but if the alcohol content was reduced maybe that explains why I didn’t get the usual ‘wine slump’… I didn’t really think about it, being overcome with diabetic joy at having beaten the system!

    • #7673
      Cecile
      Participant

      You haven’t experienced the same when drinking sugary fortifieds (sherry, port, muscadel)?

    • #7674
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      TBH I’m not really a big port drinker! (makes me think of 19th century fops for some reason…) Perhaps some experimentation is in order?

    • #7675
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      Well, whatever the reasons for it, sounds like my christmas is going to be fuelled by mulled wine and port! Excellent… :)

      Although my screwed up knee looks to be shortening my traditional ‘appetising’ walks :(

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