*Disclaimer: All content and information in this blog is for informational and educational purposes only. Always consult your health care provider before making any adjustments to your exercise routine or diabetes management.

It’s no secret that the holiday season can be difficult to navigate, especially living with type one diabetes. Not only are your food choices different, but so can your environment, stress levels, sleep quality and daily routine. When living with a condition where you’re told “diabetes thrives off of routine”, this can feel.. pretty overwhelming. Inside this blog post we’re hitting you with the exact strategies we give to our Keeping it 100 clients for an interruption-free holiday.

Stop Restricting, Start Food Pairing

It’s always easy to think that living with diabetes means we shouldn’t eat certain foods, especially around the holidays. Mashed potatoes, mac and cheese, desserts.. they can all feel difficult to bolus for. The reality? You can slow down the spike by utilizing food pairing. Food pairing combines high glycemic foods, which spike blood sugars quicker, with low glycemic foods that slow down the blood sugar spike. When in doubt, you can combine sources of protein, fat and fiber onto your plate for an easy, balanced meal

Check out an example of a PFF holiday meal!

Ask for Help

One of the single most complicated parts about holiday meals is the unknown carb counts, especially when everyone is bringing a different plate. What I’ve found over the years is that family and friends want to help you in any way possible, and asking them to send over recipes in advance is one simple way to do that! Now how can you use the recipes they send to make your life easier? This is where apps like MyFitnessPal can come in handy.

• Step 1: Ask your family to send over the link to any recipes they may be using. 
• Step 2: Copy and paste the link into the “Import Recipes” option in MyFitnessPal
• Step 3: Match the ingredients and insert serving size
• Step 4: Save

Now, you have better carb counts for making informed decisions during your holiday!

Don’t Show Up Hungry:

Walking into the holiday with hungry-brain can lead to reactive decision making. Reactive decisions = reactive blood sugars. Going all day without eating can mean you’re less likely to plate your food, carb count, or put intention into your bolusing decisions. Walk into the holiday as you would any other day – mindfully! Eat your PFF breakfast, lunch and snacks so you can still enjoy the holiday meal while being able to feel confident in your bolusing.

To learn more about our approach for the holidays check out Keeping it 100 Radio Episode 74: Keeping it 100 Over the Holidays: Managing Blood Sugars without Restriction this Holiday Season.

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