Newly Diagnosed Diabetic coming for Xmas!!

babiebeany

My mum's just been told she has diabetes and although she has been told that she can control it by altering her intake of certain foods, I'm not sure what to serve her for Xmas dinner now.

We usually do soup, turkey with all trimmings and xmas pud totally traditional xmas, what do I need to change for her??

Any ideas gratefully received.

anguk

You really don't need to change anything for her, she can eat the same food as everyone else. She may have less carbohydrates like potato etc and just have more veg and perhaps just a small portion of pud but diabetics don't really need a special diet it's more about healthy eating.

My OH is an insulin dependant diabetic and he'll have our normal Christmas dinner.

squeaky

Some of these threads might be of help too. If I remember rightly some have links to useful sites and mention a book or two:-

Healthy eating:
- 5 a day?
- Chocolate cake for diabetics
- Healthy eating for weight loss
- I have no idea what to cook!
- Iron rich recipes?
- Low cost meals
- Low fat vegetarian ideas please?
- Low salt diet
- No wheat
- Omg...all This Home Cooking Is Making Me Fat!!
- Nutritionaly good meals for the Freezer?
- Sausages
- Student cooking (and shopping)
- Sugar Free cake recipe
- Treats for diabetics?

morganlefay

I'm sure Squeaky's long list has it covered, but I'm like your Mum - have had it for about 5 years tho this month I had to start on insulin. The thing I hate is being a nuisance, and being made to feel odd. If you have access to any GI diet cookbook, that sort of eating is wonderful for us - slightly less meat, more veg, fewer sugary things, and including more pulses - beans, peas etc. But the fact is that Xmas is a special occasion and really your Mum can actually eat more or less anything (tho not loads of sugary drinks, sweets etc) she wants to, in moderation, and if she does something 'naughty' on one day a year it won't harm her. The management of how diabetics eat has got much less regimented and inflexible of late, and in any case most of us are trying to eat more healthily overall. If your Mum hasn't already found them the Diabetes UK websits has a range of excellent cookbooks (from baking to everyday snacks) which make stuff we can all eat without feeling like lepers !
Avoid chocolates and stuff which say 'For Diabetics' - better to have one real one than lots of these, which are mainly nasty. Don't panic - your Mum can have as much turkey and stuff as she wants (just fewer roasties, perhaps) and hopefully her diabetes won't ruin your Xmas, because it really shouldn't ! Good luck...:beer:

babiebeany

Thanks so much for your replies, my panic is now over!! Sensible eating seems to be the key - phew.

I usually bake a few things for xmas, so I have just been and got a recipes for health book from the library, and I'll make some things from there. I will make sure we have a good choice of veg that she likes on offer.

What about drinks - can anyone suggest something suitable?

anguk

babiebeany wrote:

What about drinks - can anyone suggest something suitable?

Alcohol is pretty much like anything else for diabetics it's fine in moderation, just try and avoid anything really sweet like liquers or sweet wine. My OH doesn't drink now but when he did he always stuck to dry white wine. There's some good advice about Diabetes and Alcohol on the Diabetes UK website:
http://www.diabetes.org.uk/Guide-to-diabetes/Recipes__food/Alcohol_and_diabetes/

There's also advice for newly diagnosed diabetics:
http://www.diabetes.org.uk/Guide-to-diabetes/Newly_Diagnosed/

CFC

PS - just make sure your mum has an alternative to Xmas pudding and custard - perhaps offer your guests a choice of xmas pud or fruit salad in fruit juice? Come to think of it, quite a few people might prefer a fruit salad after a heavy dins...

Dumyat

diabetics are advised just to eat healthily these days. the diet is not so strict. we tell our patients a little cheating at christmas etc is ok just avoid the very sweet things. watch the alcohol but a few drinks is ok.
as long as they get back on the healthy eating straight after.

mardatha

AM still at a loss as to what to cook for him now he's diabetic. Anybody got any ideas for a nice special xmas dinner ? We are currently living on boring salads.
Also, what do French / Italian people use on their salads ? They seem to taste much better than mine !

zippychick

Cooking for a diabetic

Xmas hamper for a diabetic

Diabetic coming for xmas

Might any of these help Maradatha? Good luck!

anguk

You don't need to do anything different for Christmas and you definately don't need to live on salads!

Diabetics no longer have to have a special diet, they just need a normal healthy diet. Keep it low fat, low sugar, anything in moderation and watch the portion sizes. When my OH was first diagnosed 25 years ago it was a nightmare, you were meant to weigh everything, have 1 potato or a slice of bread, only special diabetic chocolate (which tastes vile and gives you the squits). Thankfully now as more research has been done advice has changed.

My OH just eats what we normally eat, except he'll have less carbs, so for Christmas dinner he'll still have turkey with all the trimmings but only have a small amount of potato. For pudding you can still have a Christmas pud but keep the portion small, the same with fruit cake. I often make my OH a trifle using sugar free jelly, custard made with Birds custard powder (use skimmed milk & substitute the sugar with granulated sweetener) and just a little bit of cream on the top.

It's easier if you cook from scratch, I just make everything as I normally would but use low-fat products & granulated sweetener. Even something like rice pudding is still delicious made with skimmed milk & granulated sweetener.

Have you seen a dietician yet? They will tell you the same as me, don't buy any special diabetic food, just eat a healthy diet and everything in moderation.

There's some excellent advice about diabetic diets, recipes and adapting recipes on the Diabetes UK website:
http://www.diabetes.org.uk/Guide-to-diabetes/Food_and_recipes/

Here's some main meal ideas to save you living on salads:
http://www.diabetes.org.uk/Guide-to-diabetes/Food_and_recipes/Recipes/Recipes_Listing/?page=1

There's even a recipe for Christmas pudding!
http://www.diabetes.org.uk/Guide-to-diabetes/Food_and_recipes/Recipes/Christmas_pudding/?nt=1

Or how about Christmas style profiteroles with mincemeat?
http://www.diabetes.org.uk/Guide-to-diabetes/Food_and_recipes/Recipes/Christmas-style_profiteroles_with_mincemeat/?nt=1