I was just wondering what all of you are doing for the holiday and how you are going to deal with food for the holiday. How do you deal with the questions you inevitably get from friends/relatives about the WOE? Do you selectively cheat on purpose for the occasion or are you going "cold turkey"? Heeee Heeee

Just curious.
Thanks.

I am vigilantly searching out low carb recipes that will be good. I'm trying my choices out with my mom next week. That way, I'll have good options. My SIL also does Atkins, though not in a wholly dedicated way so there's two of us on this woe. My fam has seen the big changes in both her and I so they are impressed, curious, and very respectful of how we eat. The parents keep talking about giving it a go as well.

So here's my plan right now:

Turkey - 0
Cranberry sauce (cooking cranberries in s/f grape syrup) - 2
Pumpkin nut bake - 4.5
(http://atkins.com/food/recipes/all/S...nNut_Bake.html)
Pumpkin cheesecake - 6
(http://atkins.com/food/recipes/all/P...heesecake.html)

Realistically, that's plenty of food for me. And it puts me at 12.5 grams for the whole meal - not bad! If it's not enough, there's always veggies to nosh on and if I really want to try something else, then I've made my own promises. I will not eat anything with white flour or sugar in it. No rolls or candied yams. I may have a bite of stuffing if I really think I have to. But it won't be devastating and we never really HAVE to, do we?

Well from a Thanksgiving pro - ha ha - we have already had Thanksgiving here in Canada, here's what I did.

Invited to SIL's place - she was making turkey etc. I figured there would be veggies I could eat (I was wrong)....but I did suggest that I bring a dessert (no pies for us - dh also lc).

So I made a vat of chocolate sf mousse to bring along. I should have also made a salad.

Had one glass of wine....lots of turkey - unfortunately the side dishes were: peas, corn, mashed potatoes and stuffing, and cranberry sauce. A bit of a dilemma: So I had a ton of turkey and a tablespoon of peas, corn and stuffing. Made those last a long time while eating the turkey.

It was fine - I certainly was not hungry but it would have been nice to have broccoli or green beans or ?? The mousse was a big hit (some of them had it on top of their pumpkin pie)...dh and I had some and that did fill us up!

So try and plan ahead if you can - best plan if you are not cooking is to offer to bring something that you know is lc friendly.....and use your mouth - not only for eating but for saying NO THANK YOU!

Froufie

I've been wondering what to do for thanksgiving also! Would it be wrong to just give in for a day and eat whatever I want? Would it set me wayyyyyyyyyy back or just a little?????
I am doing so very well right now, I hate to do anything that would create major cravings, but if I was able to get right back on plan the next day surely it wouldn't be too bad....right???
I'm new to this, on week 2 of induction and to my knowledge I haven't messed up at all. I am down about 10 pounds!!! So it is definately working.
Any thoughts on whether or not to give in to temptation would be appreciated!!

Michelle
S/W 235
C/W 224

I hate to even say this...One would think there would be at least one friend or relative who could support my husband and my effort, but the sad truth is, there is no one. Imagine talking to a brick wall. It's this bad. So although we both have a lot to be thankful for, we will not be celebrating it with others. Bringing an additional dish is not allowed and causes extreme problems, and just eating turkey without tasting all the other dishes is not allowed either. We've tried every angle on this matter, and it's easier to hear, "I wish you to could have come." I've even thought of saying I am a diabetic, but my husband's true heart problems don't matter to them either. So I don't mean to sound like doom and gloom, we do fine with this...and we know what we have to do. We will cook a turkey, vegetables, and our own appetizers, low carb hamburger bun for a roll, butter, and a little wine and the Atkins cheesecake for desert, and most importantly, not feel sick the next day with the bonus of not gaining weight. Barbie

Star- I anxiously anticipate the results of your experiments and appreciate your time and enthusiasm. I am not sure how you do it. You are certainly a role model yet human too so you make it achievable. As always, you're the best! ( El baby-o is trying to type the same to you too! but he's not the greatest typer)

Froufy- Sounds like you did fantastic! Totally predictable about the side dishes. Can I get a recipe for the mousse? That sounds fantastic! Maybe I shouldn't get it. LOL!

Barbie- My experience so far has been much closer to yours. It's been not as strong but subtle sabotage. Tons of attitude with scorn. "Why can't you have that?" Scoff, scoff! " A little bit won't hurt you, there's just a 1/2 cup flour in it, it can't be THAT bad!" That kind of stuff. My mom is actually fixing us mexican food for Thanksgiving at her house the weekend before. Big taco salads you can make yourself. Then we'll do our own thing at home that thursday. Thanks for your help, guys.

Ok, so here's the first food update:

I tried making cranberry sauce with a mixture of grape and vanilla sf syrup this weekend. It did not go well. It looked perfect, and a little taste of it was good. But when I let it cool a little and ate some with turkey. It was not good. It had way too much funky aftertaste and was pastey. Blech!

The good news is that my dear Jennalyn found the answer. Steel's spiced cranberry sauce. Made with splenda, no sugar alcohols, and only 3.5 grams of carb per 5 tablespoons. It's yummy! For those of you who don't have a low carb store near you that carries Steel's, here's their website.

http://www2.theworldataclick.com/010...pingCartID=182

More updates to come!

I am not going to worry about the carbs that day. I am going to enjoy myself and hopefully eat more veggies to fill up. And I'm going to have a piece of my butternut squash pie YUM~

Everything is going to be taken out of my house that very day so there is no left overs (except turkey) for me to be tempted the next day.

no biggie

I'm getting a lot of good ideas here from all. Jamie, Sorry you go through that too with family, but at the same time, I'm glad I'm not alone. Your taco salad has given me the thought of turkey tacos and salads for this 15 pound Turkey hen we bought yesterday. and turkey pizza, turkey soup, turkey omlette...That's a lot of left overs for two people. LOL

Thanks again for the support, ideas and understanding. I consider myself a stronge person, but even at age 45, somehow, the family can make me feel weak during the holidays. Eat! Eat! LOL

Leens, I can't wait for the day I can not eat it the next day and many after that. I can go have a roast beef sandwich out and leave it at that, but the holidays...I'm just not there yet. I'm glad you can do that.

I'm thinking of making a little stuffing out of low carb breads and a little celery and seasonings to go with our dinner. My problem will be with portion control with it all.

Michelle, I've given in for holidays, but if you're like me, it's not only the weight, but the feeling ill and having my body all wacked out from eating carbs. I've thought I could handle pie and ice cream, but get the worst stomach problems I could imagine.

Froufy, Is your choc. Mousse listed somewhere here at 3FC's? Low carb? It sounds good!

Star, I'm thinking of trying some mashed up raspberries and/or strawberries instead of cranberry sauce, but now will not try to doctor it up. LOL~Barbie~

Hi again,

yes the lc mousse is on this site - check the desserts area - very simply and easy and YUMMY!

As for the Steel's spiced cranberry sauce - it's okay - not great, but will do in a pinch. DH liked it more than I did - but BEWARE OF THE DEVILISH SUGAR ALCOHOLS...the stuff has it - so you might want to be close to the washroom!

Froufy

I'm debating about what to do for Thanksgiving... I want to stay on track, but I wonder if I'll be too tempted to resist and rationalize that Thanksgiving is only one day a year?? I'm not tempted by mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, etc. I'm really not a fan of any of it. The sweet stuff is what gets me -- sweet potato casserole and pecan pie.

Fortunately, my family is very supportive and will help me out in anyway to stay on track. It's me that's the weak one!! If anything, I might have a piece of pecan pie (I love the stuff!!!). I'm not sure... Even just one piece scares me! I'll just see how it goes. If I eat it, I'll try not to beat myself up too bad.

Jina

I am making 7 Layer Salad with romaine lettuce, fozen peas, vidalia onions, green pepper, bacon, tomato, and my famous dressing made this year with Splenda, and sharp cheddar cheese on top. A portion of my salad and some Turkey should do me for the meal. I will bring my book in case everyone else is still bingeing at the table.

My SIL is going to make me sugar free jello with Redi-Whip if I want dessert. I probably won't have it cause I find anything sweet makes me crave more sweets but it is nice to have the options.

Another thing I can do why people are eating is instead of concentrating on why it's unfair that I am more sensitive to sugar and breads I am going to try to wrote notes to say why I am thankful for them and give them to them.

I think we sometimes lose its not just about the food, it's about our blessings.

Miss Chris

Thanksgiving is interesting. Usually I don't eat all that much anyhow - and last year I didn't get to eat at all!! I had a 7 month old at the time who decided that she had to take her nap NOW (due to eating delays and such) and by the time I got her settled in and asleep, my (almost full) plate had been cleared and the dishes were almost done. So, I didn't get much in the way of dinner last year.

This year we will most likely be at my dad's house for dinner. Good and bad points to that - the good is that he is an excellent chef, there is no other family so it's very quiet, and I can tell him I'm low-carbing and he'll "get it." The bad is that he usually has these great hors d'oeuvres that I might want to snack on. Usually no dessert is necessary...

I do not plan to live in fear of healthy high-fiber carbs. Been thinking about this all weekend long and will make another post on it - but good grief, sweet potatoes (as long as they aren't candied) are extremely good for you so I may have some.

Not snubbing my nose at Atkins at all... just thinking that it is very possible to eat moderately, not pigging out just because it's Thanksgiving dinner. I won't have any stuffing or mashers, but I will probably have some gravy on my turkey. I think the key to Atkins is to eat moderately anyhow.

I hate turkey leftovers so that's not an issue for me either... now Pumpkin Pie leftovers won't last long.

Okay, off my soap box now.... and Christmas is a whole 'nother story.