Ho ho ho, diabetics needn't miss out at the dinner table this Christmas, says award-winning writer Lucinda Bruce-Gardyne. It’s normal to overindulge at Christmas, but there are ways to maintain your health.
- Eat regularly including sources of starchy carbs in your meals, such as potatoes.
- Prepare food from scratch so you can control the salt, fat and sugar content, and check food labels to help you buy healthily.
- Go easy on foods with a high saturated fat and sugar content, such as stuffing, turkey skin, Christmas pudding and mince pies.
- Try stuffing the turkey with vegetarian stuffing to avoid eating high-fat sausagemeat. Cook the stuffing in a separate dish to the turkey.
- Use olive oil rather than butter to moisten the turkey and flavour vegetables.
- When you go to parties, take your own healthy snacks along to keep you going.
- If you’ve been drinking alcohol, eat something starchy before going to bed.
- Alternate alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks, and use diet mixers.
- Let people at parties know you are diabetic so they don’t confuse the signs of a hypoglycaemic attack with being drunk.
- Diabetes UK Careline: 0845 120 2960 or click here to visit the website.
- Click here for our tips for allergy sufferers at Christmas.