In my fam with the bday and anniversaries and holidays we ramp it up in late Oct and do not stop til end of Jan. It took me five years to sort it out so I don't come out of that sprint gaining weight!
1) Do not bake. Ever. No cookies, cakes, bars, whatever. Other people can bake and I do not need to immerse myself in trigger foods at my house.
2) Combine celebrations. Rather than individual parties, go for the "birthday of the month" gathering. Then it's only one bday cake out to trip me up rather than 3 of them 3 weekends on a row!
3) Pick the one special thing -- be it the turkey, or the stuffing, or the duck or punch or finger food or dessert whatever to sample that someone ELSE made.
4) Bring EXTRA on plan things to the potlucks so even if everyone samples like crazy there's enough "safe food" for me. Even if I have to pack some away in a lunchbox.
5) Lie. When pressed to have something I do not want by the "food=love" people, I gush over how sweet they are and how yummy it looks and how I wish I could. But I can't because I'm diabetic/high cholesterol/full already/ feeling sick/drank too much -- whatever it is they will swallow so they leave me alone. It depends on the social gathering which I use.
6) Socialize, even if I have to fake it. Or go play with kids. Anything but be the wallflower hanging around the food table. This one stinks, because I tend toward the shy end of things.
7) Bring stuff to do to share -- games, coloring, whatever. Not just for my kid but for ME. Esp at Christmas -- having some holiday crafts helps keep the kids sane as well as me sane and away from the eats.
8) Say NO to some invites. Write a nice note of thanks and just stay home. Then we enjoy the ones we say yes to much more.
HTH!
A.
Last edited by astrophe; 07-19-2011 at 10:32 AM.
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