Birthdays and Christmas

[SuNuman]

Hi. I just wondered if you would tell me your views on birthdays and Christmas. Type 2s. Do you cheat? If so - just a tiny amount, or are you that focused you do not even buy a cake? X.

 

[SuNuman]

Hi Su, there is no answer to that IMHO. It is highly individual - N=1 - and depends on how important people feel it is to keep control at all times. I don't really like cake but for birthday we have used a keto cake in the past, not this year. Christmas cake or pudding are no loss as I never ate them, mince pies the same. Personally, I do test and analyse my intake but my birthday is in June and I enjoy salad so largely fine. I will have a few cherries and some strawberries then but not on the same day. For Christmas I will have a slice of pannetone well before the day but chose the lowest carb one I can find, test pre and post and adjust other food that day. The bigger issue for me are port, madeira and PX sherry. No idea if any of that helps. I am an outlier on here on many things. I have been non D for 6+ years but am by no means a good example. Just trying to be friendly - don't take my word on anything. I am certain this WOE has to be something you can stick with for life so judicious, well thought out compromises suit many.

Thank you. I think once you have one bite you may fall back into the trap. I understand what you are saying. X

 

[Rachox]

I tend to not go mad, I make sure I get LC treats in for special occasions.
My birthday was 10 days ago, my family know I won’t eat high carb stuff even on my birthday. I got a LC chocolate birthday cake from Deliciously Guilt Free, my daughter bought me some dark chocolate covered Brazils. I ate in a couple of restaurants on the day (on a spa break) both were very accommodating with removing carby things. For example I had a Caesar salad for lunch and they substituted the croutons for little cubes of Brie.
Xmas time I have most of the Xmas lunch, just one tiny roast potato, plenty of meat and veg and not too much gravy and I make a low carb Xmas pudding with cream.
Xmas tea time usually at our house, we have cold cuts, cheese, salad (crisps, bread and crackers for the carb eaters!) then a big sugary trifle for the non Ds, and I make myself a couple of individual lower carb ones.

 

[jaywak]

You will find that the longer you go without the easier it gets , My problem used to be snacking on crisps , biscuits etc but have gone several months without either and now would say I don't even desire them and the health benefits certainly out way the quick boost I got from snacking .

 

[bulkbiker]

Hi. I just wondered if you would tell me your views on birthdays and Christmas. Type 2s. Do you cheat? If so - just a tiny amount, or are you that focused you do not even buy a cake? X.

After a few months I stopped looking at stuff like that as "food" let alone a "treat"!

 

[Rachox]

You will find that the longer you go without the easier it gets

I totally agree, and it’s not just craving the high carb foods which disappears, but I found my tastes have changed. If I try a tiny taste of for instance, a traditional chocolate fudge cake, it tastes sickeningly sweet now

Edit for typo

 

[SuNuman]

You will find that the longer you go without the easier it gets , My problem used to be snacking on crisps , biscuits etc but have gone several months without either and now would say I don't even desire them and the health benefits certainly out way the quick boost I got from snacking .

Yes am hoping to reach this point. X

 

[ianf0ster]

While I can still see most xmas and birthday food as a sort of food, I don't 'cheat' even though I do 'overeat'.
I just do so on my favourite low carb things, like vintage cheese.

 

[MrsA2]

After a few months I stopped looking at stuff like that as "food" let alone a "treat"!

I'm even trying to learn to regard most of them as "poison", or at least an allergen

 

[LaoDan]

I celebrate family birthdays , luckily I don’t get a long spike with cake. Holidays, I dive into the roast, skip the pies and stuff.

 

[bulkbiker]

I'm even trying to learn to regard most of them as "poison", or at least an allergen

Me too but I've been told off in the past for using the "poison" word..

 

[MrsA2]

Me too but I've been told off in the past for using the "poison" word..

Hence the " ".
Now see that I will have to start using " " around allergen too
Maybe we should just use "the thing that cannot be named"

 

[Antje77]

Carbs are not poison, and calling them that is frowned upon on the forum.
Carbs are not an allergen: they can cause high BG's which is a completely different thing from an allergic reaction.
Using the words allergen and allergic can be confusing to new members, which is why it's discouraged to use those on the forum.
If you want to call carbs poison or an allergen for yourself because it helps you stay on track, that's perfectly fine of course.

Anyone wanting to discuss this further will have to start a new thread or take it to PM, it has nothing to do with the topic, which is how we deal with festive meals which are often shared with a group of people.

Further off topic reactions will be removed.

 

[coby]

Hi. I just wondered if you would tell me your views on birthdays and Christmas. Type 2s. Do you cheat? If so - just a tiny amount, or are you that focused you do not even buy a cake? X.

I've not bought or made a cake for at least 10 years as my daughter won't eat it. In fact we don't have mince pies or xmas pud or indeed any rich foods for that same reason! Our only 'luxury' is a full on Christmas dinner. Mum used to come up until two years before she passed away but she was the same ... hated rich foods. Same with birthdays really. I don't celebrate my own but do get a birthday sponge cake for my daughter

 

[SuNuman]

I have to go the same way. I kno I do. Thanks. X

 

[coby]

I have to go the same way. I kno I do. Thanks. X

SuNuman, the first birthday I had following my mother's sudden passing (2018) I laid a table, with a setting for her and I put down a beautiful tablecloth of mum's that she had embroidered in her nursing days. I then made trifles from scratch using low sugar jelly. It was the last time that I had a birthday tea. We lit candles to honour her too. I am one of those people who always bought mum a bouquet of flowers on my birthday, as a thank you for bringing me into the world x

 

[SuNuman]

SuNuman, the first birthday I had following my mother's sudden passing (2018) I laid a table, with a setting for her and I put down a beautiful tablecloth of mum's that she had embroidered in her nursing days. I then made trifles from scratch using low sugar jelly. It was the last time that I had a birthday tea. We lit candles to honour her too. I am one of those people who always bought mum a bouquet of flowers on my birthday, as a thank you for bringing me into the world x

That is so beautiful and very sad. X

 

[coby]

That is so beautiful and very sad. X

Strange, but she never understood my diabetes, or even that it could be serious given free reign. Maybe because it wasn't something she was trained in?

 

[VashtiB]

I'm another who had a birthday recently. My husband organised 2 keto cakes so I could take one in for work and another at home. I had a slice and then cut it up and put the uneaten part into the freezer (obviously my husband also had some).

I have gradually eaten the rest. I keep very low cab- My taste buds have not changed. I find it very easy to carb creep even with keto treats. I think the reason I can get away with it is I'm very low carb so a high carb day for me is still under 20 grams.

All that said for me the lower I go the less I crave- the first few days are by far the hardest.

 

[VashtiB]

Another thing I did was to totally change our Christmas traditions for the first year- no roast but extravagant seafood- lobster, salmon etc. I love these things. I couldn't have really coped with a keto lite version of our usual Christmas. this year though that is the plan- not may be a bit of a mix but some of the old traditions will be back in honour of my late father. I want my kids to have a link with him and my siblings also like it. It involves both pumpkin pie and buche de noel. It also involves pavlova (as an Aussie that's almost assumed).