[Sojodave]

Post here if you are going to stay low carb on Thanksgiving. My Dr. appointment for my A1C and Cholesterol is the Tuesday after Thanksgiving, so I refuse to give into the carb holiday.

Stay strong in front of your relatives that you never see, and stay away from the stuffing, rolls, mashed potatoes, beets, candy yams, pumpkin pie, peacan pie, lemon meringue pie, and any other high-carb pie.

post here if your going to STAY LOW CARB STRONG!:boxing:

 

[jademuffin]

Yep, grabbing the turkey leg and retiring to a corner of the room, growling at interlopers who dare to approach with stuffing....

But we will probally end up bringing home 2 leftover pies. Luckily, neither type will tempt me.

 

[Shanny]

Well, I don't like to see it set up as a competition, because our individual management styles are absolutely not a competition. I think each of us will do the best we can, and that's what I intend to do. But I don't have a competitive bone in my body, so don't expect me to start duking it out.

I do, however, understand and condone your resolve to keep on the straight & narrow, having blood drawn five days later. Years ago when we were celebrating our 25th anniversary, we spent a three-day weekend carb-loading like there was no tomorrow (we'd both been in ketosis right up to that weekend). I had a blood draw three days later. Nothing much was affected except triglycerides, and those rose by about 300%!

 

[grammaB]

I am lc/hf/k strong every day, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Birthday, whatever holiday, doesn't temp me to stray. I value my health too much. But I agree with Shanny, it isn't a competition, we all have different goals and tolerances and if some can indulge more than others w/out harm, well more power to them!

 

[Xenon]

I *did* stay Low Carb during Thanksgiving... which is the second Monday in October in Canada. I cooked a turkey breast roast, and ate it over the next several days.

 

[Born on the 4th]

Having turkey, mashed cauliflower with sour cream, butter and cheese, green peas, and cranberry/ s/f orange jello. I am so happy my daughter understands and asked me what would work for me.

 

[vrbalthezr]

I cook the Thanksgiving meal and this year going with whole turkey, green beans with real bacon throughout, pureed cauliflower with butter, cornbread stuffing for the BH and guest, store bought rolls and gravy for same and homemade gravy for me (unless it turns out good enough to serve). I looked at a lot of pie recipes and even though they were relatively low carb they still had a lot of artificial sweeteners and tons of calories. It's not just carbs but total calorie overload (which I usually do on Thanksgiving). I will miss the old green bean casserole with breadcrumb and cheese topping and the scalloped potato casserole and the pies but - oh well - time to move on!

 

[Janknitz]

I am going to mostly stay on plan, but this is the ONE time during the year for bread stuffing and I'm going to have a small serving as a planned indulgence. I'm not a big Thanksgiving person. I don't like turkey, I can live without mashed potatoes, marshmallow sweet potatoes, pumpkin or pecan pie, etc, but I love stuffing (and not a low carb substitute!)

Here's how I handle my planned indulgences:
I eat well during the day leading up to the indulgence meal--no fasting or eating less in anticipation. The idea is to eat a little just for pleasure and not be super hungry so I'm tempted to binge.

I will eat a hearty and mostly low carb meal. That means I need to eat some turkey (meh), I will eat the veggies with plenty of fat, and I make some sugar free cranberry sauce just for me (regular for the rest of the family). We often make chopped chicken liver as an appetizer while the turkey is cooking, and I can eat all I want of that. Then I will have a reasonable serving of stuffing and enjoy the heck out of it. I will also make a flourless chocolate cake with erithrytol sweetener so I can enjoy a treat and my kids will eat that too, along with their pumpkin pie. And that's it. Indulgence over. No guilt.

I MAY have consequences--when I eat wheat I get pettichiae (bleeding under the skin) on my forearms (long story). I may get a GI response from the Metformin. I don't anticipate a huge spike in my BG, as I will be eating all that other fat and protein, but we'll see. I may temporarily gain a pound or two. But this is once a year, then I get on with my life, no big deal. This will be my 4th year on LCHF during Thanksgiving, and I've survived them all without losing LCHF momentum.

We don't celebrate Christmas, so I don't need to worry about that day or the holiday indulgences as they won't be around me. I will probably eat a potato latke or two during Hanukkah, but we generally make them ahead, freeze them and reheat them so they may have an element of resistant starch (I like mine with the sugar free cranberry sauce I make on Thanksgiving instead of apple sauce and this year I'll use coconut yogurt instead of sour cream). And I make zucchini latkes for myself, too. I can totally live without a jelly doughnut.

Personally, I think that if I didn't allow myself the very occasional and careful "indulgence" I'd have a lot harder time sticking to LCHF in the long term. I tend to rebel against strictness. Because I know I can have a little flexibility, it stays doable for me.

 

[skipcody]

Great question. LCHF Is pretty new to me and other then Halloween this is my first holiday. I am extremely carb intolerant and I have been coming up with a game plan. My wife wants me to skip a day but I am not convinced. Since I do most of the cooking I can control what is in what and know what to stay away from. Turkey, gravy, and a couple of casseroles will be fine. The rest the family can dig into. I am feeling really confidant that I will do ok!

 

[Janknitz]

Oh, btw, I've never been much of a gravy fan, but last night I made this chicken recipe in my pressure cooker: Slow Cooker Roast Chicken And Gravy | Award-Winning Paleo Recipes | Nom Nom Paleo® It's delicious and there's enough gravy (NO starches) left over for thanksgiving dinner.

 

[Shalynne]

Family isn't amassing in droves 'til Christmas, and that's a Definite Maybe. Sooooo, nobody's cooking.

We've got reservations at a local place known for its Thanksgiving buffet, for which I am truly thankful. Somehow I find it a lot easier to avoid temptation at a buffet, than at an extended family meal in someone's home.

 

[Shanny]

We won't know 'til we get there, and I think perhaps we might even get a vote about where we spend the day. My ex will celebrate his 70th birthday on Thanksgiving Day, but neither of my sons have positive plans to be there, so we might actually spend the day with our daughter-in-law's family, which will be nice, because we've never met her brother & his family. (if you hadn't already suspected as much, my ex is kind of a turd, so nobody seems too excited about spending the day with him ). Ah me - airing the dirty laundry in public . . . :tape2:

 

[gotsomeold]

I don't think this is a competition. More like cheer leading. Everyone will do what they think best and test to make sure.

Not only will I stay LC (hard ot get the HF part when visiting, will wait to get home for that) on Thursday, but Saturday we leave for a cruise of the Seine. I am already in talks with the chef to make sure I have plenty of LCHF to eat on board.

 

[macksvicky]

I'm taking off work tomorrow to start cooking. I'll be making 2 versions of almost everything. I cheat and then I get physically ill from too many carbs so it's much better for me to just do a little extra cooking and then get to eat a modified version of whatever everybody is eating. Luckily everyone so far really likes the LCHF deserts I make so no extra work there

 

[Eh562300]

I'm going to stay strong. 50 grams of carb per day, but 1500 calories instead of 1200.

The food is not a big part of Thanksgiving for us anyway this year -- we are vegetarians with no plans to visit family for the meal part of Thanksgiving. We will all make gratitude lists, use the special dishes that only come out two days a year (Thanksgiving and Christmas), and we will give thanks that our family is together.

We usually have fun decorating the table and making it elegant.

On the competition point -- one of my kids - the shy kid -- was warned never to go to a certain school because it is so competitive and kids are ranked daily and made to change seats based on their standing. We put her there anyway and she absolutely loved it and blossomed because she usually made it to one of the highest ranks. Then the girl style bullying started because of this and we pulled her out when the school would not address it. I guess the point of this is that some people thrive on competition and others hate it. I see this as a cheerleading thread, not a competitive thread.

 

[vrbalthezr]

Definitely a cheerleading and support thread!

 

[Rivmage]

I actually have no idea what I'm doing for Thanksgiving. I'm going to do my best not to 'cheat' but, some of my favorite foods are available on Thanksgiving and I only get them once a year.

Scott

 

[Sojodave]

Stay strong Rivmage

 

[silvertiger]

I'm one of the people who can't completely cut out carbs. That being said, bread seems to really make me sick now, and there were lots of low carb options. I did have a slice of Mom's apple pie for dessert. So overall, a pretty successful meal.

 

[jademuffin]

I actually have no idea what I'm doing for Thanksgiving. I'm going to do my best not to 'cheat' but, some of my favorite foods are available on Thanksgiving and I only get them once a year.

Scott

Start small. Eat your known LC food first (like a turkey leg). Then if you indulge, do so in smaller portions (which should be easier, since you did just eat a turkey leg). I realize I'm made of willpower, but also my favorite foods will not be available.