The Newsy Neighbour Magazine
December Issue #110
By Vicki Myhre of Jenericay Wellness & Footcare
…JiNGle BeLLs….JinGLe
BEllS…JinGlE ALL the WaY….OH WHaT FuN…..It IS To RiDe….In A One HoRSe OPeN
SlEiGH…………….
Hello! You caught us in the spirit, singing our songs and
kicking up our heels! Larry here! Happy December. As you can tell, Roger and I
LOVE Christmas Tunes. We sing a wee bit off key, but we sing our hearts and
souls out anyways, as everyone should…
We are very close to being ready for
Christmas, our presents are wrapped and under our tree (our UPSIDE DOWN TREE!).
Our meals are planned, our Sugar-Free Christmas Cookies
are in the freezer. If you missed Novembers issue and need the recipes, you can
look back online!
We have done so well with our Fitbit,
our ten thousand steps per day, our diet control and living a healthy
lifestyle. We were a bit frightened to go into this delicious Christmas Season
unprepared, so we have done some research on HOW TO
DO CHRISTMAS AS A GOOD DIABETIC. There are some things that we would
love to share with you.
First, please let me say this (and
this is REAL
folks, like it or not) “Those of us who have the opportunity
to indulge a bit at Christmas are going to take the chance, so let’s accept that and make some
adjustments accordingly, without giving ourselves permission to go off the
rails and be crazy bad.” No matter what type of diabetes you
have, Type 1 or Type 2, or no diabetes at all, you can offset a reasonable
excessive intake with increased exercise.
The recommendation that I am finding
out there, therefore, is to deliberately take on a bit more exercise. I read
today that just 15 minutes extra around the block every day – at a reasonable pace
– will help your diabetic control through this holiday season.
Commit yourself to a food plan
It’s very easy to get carried away by
what’s on the table. To reduce the chance of this happening, plan how much you
intend to eat and make a point of sticking to it. If you’re not cooking, find
out what will be served in advance. It’s best to make this plan at a time when
you’re not hungry, as hunger can distort your judgement.
Don’t forget to factor in that alcohol contains
high calorie content and also causes sugar levels to fluctuate. Plan how much
or whether you will drink and stick to this, too. It’s a good idea to let you
your family know in advance of the Christmas meal so they won’t offer you
anything you’ve planned not to have.
Avoid feeling hungry for too long
It’s a well drilled family that gets the Christmas meal
to the table on time. If the meal is taking longer to prepare, it can lead to
an unusually long period of hunger and anticipation. Say you actually wanted to
overeat, the best way would be to make yourself very hungry before eating. One
way to avoid being so ravenous is to break the delay. Protein and/or
non-starchy vegetable based pre-meal snacks are a good choice as they are
filling and slowly broken down.
Have a glass of water before eating
Having a glass of water before you start your meal
is an easy and effective way of reducing your food intake; it makes you feel
full earlier on, thus reducing your appetite.
Base your meal on non-starchy vegetables
Vegetables are
the staple of sensible eating. Make sure that vegetables account for a good
percentage of your plate.
Eat gradually
Eating with the family is a nice
occasion but if you’re a fast eater, it can make things more difficult. If
others are still eating, you may be tempted to have another helping. Eating
slowly will help with this and will also allow you to savour and better enjoy
the food you’re eating.
Don’t feel guilty about turning offers down
Any food you eat is going to end up in your blood
stream and on your body, so don’t feel shy about turning food down. Feeling
stuffed can be quite unpleasant by itself and it’s also worth bearing in mind
that the body’s natural reaction to having to digest a particularly large meal
is to release extra sugar into the bloodstream.
Go easy on the puddings and sauces
One can be forgiven for indulging every once in a
while, but if you’re a pudding/sauce person, Christmas can be something of a
trial of restraint. If you cannot resist them, make
sure you stick to (at most) one and keep the serving sensible, remembering that
sweet dishes are very fast absorbed. Once again, apply the rule about eating
gradually.
After and between meals put foods away or under
cover
Remember the classic Christmas cracker joke about a
‘sea food’ diet – “I see food and I eat it”? Food left out and exposed grabs
the eye, therefore grabbing the attention of the mind and this can all too
easily lead to ‘small’ indulgences. A couple of mince pies will typically have
over 500 calories, a quarter of a woman’s daily energy, and a fifth of a man’s;
not forgetting the 70 plus grams of fast acting carbohydrates. Apply the
rule ‘out of sight, out of mind’ and this can help to avoid between meal
snacking.
Walk away from the craving
If temptation is proving a taxing task and hard to
avoid, it can help to literally walk away from the craving. A 20 minute walk in
the crisp air should be enough to increase endorphins and serotonin which can
help to overcome cravings.
Test your blood where possible
If you self-test, commit yourself to testing your blood sugar more
regularly, over the Christmas period, to catch those blood sugar fluctuations
early.
That, my friends, is a whole lot of
seriousness. But, if you commit to it, and plan ahead, Christmas is going to be
divine!
I hear Roger in the other room…can
you hear him…
I’M DrEAmINg of A WHiTe
ChRIstMAs….Just LIKe the ONeS I UsED to KNOW…….
What a guy!!
We all wish you a Very Merry
Christmas full of joy and love.
SEE YOU NEXT YEAR!
Until next
month,
Make your Footprints Count.
Larry
and Roger
Written by:
Vicki L Myhre CPOD (I) CMP PFRP
Jenericay Wellness and Footcare
Internationally Certified Podologist
Registered
through the Canadian Examining Board of Health Practitioners
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