Diabetes Month Tip of the Workday--part one

I meant to publish this the day after Thanksgiving, but Google apparently did not save my document correctly. I was out of town and too frustrated to fix on Spouse's laptop. Then this morning the cat literally walked over the keyboard and erased what I had written. So here is a twofer for you.

Question

I live in the United States and I did not want to check my blood glucose this morning as I had a pretty carbohydrate heavy day yesterday. I started thinking about all the carbohydrate heavy holidays spanning from Halloween to Valentine's Day, and I want to find a good "halfway" strategy that doesn't involve beating myself up about my eating habits for months on end or devolve into me not caring so I wind up in the emergency room. How can I start to do this?

Answer

Good for you for wanting to do the hard work of truly taking care of yourself both mentally and physically during the holidays.

1. Start with congratulating yourself for wanting to take care of yourself. You might have to do this every morning by journaling or whatever you do to take care of you!
2. Do your homework on your favorite carbohydrate rich holiday foods before your next big family gathering (or before that particular work day when you know you're co-workers are going to bring in certain foods. Websites like calorieking.com can give you a pretty good idea of how much carbohydrate is in what you like to eat. It can also get you started estimating portion sizes which, unless you're a trained chef, is always a challenge and may take a little more measuring.
3. Figure out which carbohydrate foods you “need” to have to have a happy holiday and which foods can live without or don’t really like anyway. Maybe you really "need" your favorite Uncle's cornbread stuffing to have a good day, but you really don't want your other Uncle's mushy corn casserole. If your gatherings are big enough, someone is probably letting "that uncle's" casserole sit by itself anyway.
4. Intentionally pick which days are going to be carbohydrate heavy so you don't mindlessly take in more than you want from from Halloween to Valentine’s Day.
5. If you have trouble with “food pushing” family members (or co-workers), try getting advice from your favorite mental health professional or your favorite culture sharing supportive group of friends on how to safely negotiate challenging family situations and/set boundaries with friends and co-workers. You might need to sneak away or surreptitiously text or call an understanding friend to vent.
6. Have your own snacks and lunch items available at work, even if it means combining what you eat with what is brought.
7. Focus on traditions that don’t involve food (like going for a walk or playing games or try to form some new family traditions or travel. And if you can make that walk about having fun and getting out of the house, and not burning calories, even better! 
8. Experiment with some lower carb versions of your favorite foods to see if there is a worthy substitute.  Preferably on a day that is not before the family gathering if you can help it. I have some pumpkin muffins that I make with coconut flour that are so moist and tasty that even my texture sensitive spouse likes them. And I've also had some low carb baked goods that I've thrown in the trash.  If your exciting food experiment turns out to be not so exciting (or edible), don’t be afraid to be glad you tried, laugh, and move on.  Enjoy the regular item in a smaller amount.
9. Have a plan to donate or freeze leftovers, or even spend some time working at soup kitchen or other charity. A lonely neighbor, or a local homeless shelter or giveaway group might want to have something homemade. Sometimes you might also find that if your cookies (or whatever) are in the freezer you are less likely to eat them. And if you are like me, you might not want to have tempting items in the house anywhere.
10. Have a plan in place for if you do overindulge and your blood sugars are raging out of control. Keep some protein/veggies in the freezer so you can have a carb free meal until everything settles down. Have more test strips on hand to check more often and monitor the situation.