To my fellow diabetics who celebrated Thanksgiving?

Question

Mashed potatoes, stuffing, sweet potatoes with marshmallows and brown sugar, hot rolls and pumpkin pie... So how did you do? Were you able to keep your blood sugar in an acceptable range throughout the day?

7doggzzmoma's,
Thanks for asking. I ate anything I wanted. At one point I was up to 188 mg/ dl, but now I am back down to a cool 94. I have the luxury of being on the insulin pump though, so that's kind of cheating.

ml88b,
That snicker bar salad sounds delicious!

Answer 1

I was worried about it but made food everyone else likes, and that worked for me, made pumpkin not pecan pie, ate stuffing not potatoes, went easy on extra---now its the leftover desserts that are the problem and their going to work with my husband at least the cookies, the key lime bars I'll freeze and see if I can be prudent. Diabetes really has changed me.

Answer 2

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Answer 3

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Answer 4

Hi Anita.

I have Diabetes Type 1. I keep my A1c levels between 5.3% and 5.7%, which is, in effect, keeping my body in a non-diabetic state. This lowers the risks of serious complications by 84%.

So, how do I manage Thanksgiving? Easy — I eat anything I want. Or let me put it this way — I eat a serving of anything I want. I don't make a pig of myself, at least no more than I do just from eating such a meal.

If I ate more than a serving of all the foods, I would feel sick to my stomach, whether I had Diabetes or not. I also eat pumpkin pie with whipped cream for dessert.

It is definitely a day of eating, that's for sure. Fortunately, I have permission from my Endocrinologist to adjust my own insulin during the day. Normally I would take 35 units of NovoLog asparte before a meal. Before my Thanksgiving day meal, however, I take 50 units. This keeps my glucose levels under under control. A while later, when I feel ready to eat dessert, I give myself a small amount more of insulin, to handle the pumpkin pie.

Much later, in the evening, we all eat turkey sandwiches. I handle that just as I would any other meal. All in all, I do not have any problems on Thanksgiving. It is a myth that people who have Diabetes must do without certain foods. It's more about how much you eat & how you manage what you eat.

I make sure that I test a lot. That is the only way to know how I am doing throughout the day. At bedtime, I take a baseline insulin (Lantus glargine, 75 units), which is a slow-acting insulin that keeps my levels around 90 for 24 hours. I never adjust this insulin, as it is my baseline.

During the day, however, before meals & if my numbers start creeping up, I take NovoLog asparte. This is the insulin that I may adjust, depending upon what I am about to eat, whether it is a small or large amount, and depending upon what is in the food I am about to eat, i.e., large or small amounts of carbs.

So, I have a very happy Thanksgiving, making sure I test a lot & adjust my insulins accordingly.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

Answer 5

Dinner was at 5:30. Included were: probably a half pound of Weber barbecued turkey (thigh & breast), 3/4 cup mashed taters/gravy, a half cup of ambrosia salad (complete with marshmallows and mandarin orange), dinner roll, and a generous piece of pumpkin pie made with Splenda and topped with a large dollop of Cool Whip. At 8:00 pm, my BG was 109. (Right after a 3 mile long brisk walk with my two boys).

Normally, I only measure in the morning. I'm a well controlled NIDDM (T2) and rarely measure more than once. The only time I measure more often is when something in my routine changes, or I feel particularly lousy. With fibromyalgia, that happens all too frequently, unfortunately. The fibro tends to raise the BG during flare ups and there's nothing I can do about it except walk more... even when I don't feel like it. Compared to the alternatives, though, I have lots to be thankful for, so I keep on fighting the good fight.

Answer 6

It's difficult for Diabetics during the holidays. Carbs, sugary desserts it's a mine field.
My parents are both diabetic, so WHen I manek dinner, I have to be very careful. However, There are lots of things you can do.
First, I cut the sugar in my pumpkin pie. I make it with about half the sugar called for in the recipie and I find that it actually tastes better. It has a wonderful custard flavor that way. I do the same with the apple pie.
I make smaller quantities of mashed potatos. One small potato per person. I have a mini muffin pan and put the stuffing in the little cups "Stuffin' Muffins!" which controls the portions. I also make a lot of vegetables and don't do things like green bean casserole.
I don't do cakes, cookies or stuff like that, nor do I make appetizers. Also, my parents watch their sugar intake for days before. For the Sweet potatos, instead of lots of sugar and molasses, I use orange juice to sweeten them. Then a little dark brown sugar. They are the worst offenders on the table.
We don't eat a big breakfast before hand either, we serve the turkey by about 1 pm, so they can eat lightly for breakfast then pig out a little for lunch.
And, they tend to watch what they eat. I love to cook and particularly bake. So it's tough for me, but I know it's good for me, too. They say if you want to lose weight, eat like a diabetic!
ALso, I make a really good turkey!

Answer 7

I ate just about everything we had for dinner, but in moderation. I think the only things I didn't eat were the pecan pie and the asparagus casserole. My mom brought some sugar-free pumpkin pie, which actually quite good. As you mentioned, having the pump does make such occasions somewhat easier to deal with, especially since it was the only meal I chose to eat today. :)

Answer 8

I forgot I was diabetic today:)

mashed potatoes, stuffing, corn, cheesy other veggies, 1 slice of white bread, 2 slices of banana bread, milk, lefse, snicker bar salad(granny smith apples, mini snicker bars, and cool whip), turkey, apple pie...i think thats it

blood sugar was 166 before i started eating
couple hours ago it was 298....guess i had over 10 carbs:)

I guess I wont do that again....at least until Christmas:)

EDIT: I forgot to mention that I had gravy with my mashed potatoes..lol

Answer 9

I had one tiny taste of the mashed potatoes, one of the sweet potato casserole, one of the stuffing, and a slice of the pecan pie!! Along with the serving of turkey and the one of asparagus of course. No hot Roll!!

I kept the glucose in the neighbor hood of max 150 and 2 hours later back to 115!!

I am on lantus and Metformin. So I have to eat very carefully.

Answer 10

i ate breakfast but no lunch because i knew i would be eating my dinner around 4:30 i haven't checked my sugars yet but i hope they aren't to bad i only had half cup of mashed potatoes with a couple of tablespoons of gravy and a little over half cup of stuffing and 1 roll haven't had my pie yet but i am using sf cool whip. how'd you do?