First D Thanksgiving

Hi everyone - we are working on the menus for Thursday and I am curious to see if anyone has any dessert recipes that would be good to bring to a family party.  I found recipes for flourless chocolate cake and low carb pumpkin pie on the dlife website that I am going to try today to see how they taste :). 

This is my daughter's first Thanksgiving after diagnosis and I don't want her to feel too "different".  Any tips on other good low carb items to add to the menu?  Our doctor said to just let her eat what she wants for dinner and dose her for it but we obviously don't want to go too far.

Hope everyone has a wonderful holiday! 

how about letting her have the same dessert as everyone else?

as a kid and even now, i eat the same stuff everyone else does..i just take extra units of insulin.

nothing makes a kid feel "different" than knowing they are eating something that "normal" people don't have to eat...like low carb pumpkin pie..

[quote user="Batts"].

nothing makes a kid feel "different" than knowing they are eating something that "normal" people don't have to eat...like low carb pumpkin pie..

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Agreed.  My strategy would be to let her eat all of the "normal" stuff, but in smaller portions than others might have.  Just keep it reasonable and dose for it.  And have fun!

I agree that I usually just eat the normal meal (Currently having a laugh at the thought of my MIL's panic attack if I didn't lolol). But, all the protein and fat in Thanksgiving meals can slow the absorption of carbs, so I'd also just make sure to test her frequently after. If she's going to spike, it may be later than usual. Often for me, I end up low after Thanksgiving b/c I dose for all those carbs and then the fat slows down their absorption...

If you want to cut down on carbs, what if you served desserts in the kitchen (i.e., not out on the table) so everyone got a smaller amount? Then, she'd just be one of the bunch and everyone would be healthier?

Fist thanksgiving??? man what do i eaty??

I always ate small portions of the "normal stuff" growing up and just took extra insulin.  When my mother was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes however, she started making an Equal pumpkin pie, since she controls diabetes with diet and exercise alone.  My entire family eats this pie and our guests don't even notice the difference!  It might be a nice compromise. 

http://www.equal.com/recipes/Pies.aspx?RecipeID=198

as someone who has to eat gluten free, i can tell you that flourless chocolate cake is delicious (but not typically low carb). 

i agree with everyone else - eat the regular food. take insulin. what's thanksgiving without unnecessarily stuffing your face then passing out afterwards?

Usually for holidays i just cheat a lil, i mean i count carbs but i rly just kinda eat whatever and just deal with having kinda high bgs for a lil bit. My advice eat alot of turkey!!! :)

[quote user="mpatton"]

Our doctor said to just let her eat what she wants for dinner and dose her for it.

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The doctor is wise.  Excellent advice.  After the meal, just check and correct if needed.

[quote user="C"]

i can tell you that flourless chocolate cake is delicious (but not typically low carb). 

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Good point to remember -- just b/c you leave out an ingredient like sugar, the dessert can still have lots of carbs.

I'm with everyone else.  This is the only time of year I get my aunt's pumpkin pie and my grandma's cranberry salad, and I'm not about to skip it!  Just remind her that her sugars may be high later.  Some things are worth it, though!

I take extra insulin and eat whatever I want.  I can correct later if I have to or have a another piece of apple pie if I'm getting low.

Happy Thanksgiving

I am making sure Ri has a full insulin pen tomorrow before we go up to the in laws lol. She can eat whatever and as much as she wants as long as I know the carbs in it. Which my mother in law is pretty good at keeping track of when she makes her baked goods. This is our first D turkey day too.

The flourless chocolate cake recipe I found on the d life website is not low carb but its much lower than other desserts - it has 15 carbs per serving.  I was trying to make the low carb pumpkin pie just to have it and see how it is.  I wasn't going to advertise to anyone that it was low carb and see if anyone noticed a difference.

We are still on syringes for insulin so I am still not 100% comfortable with how you dose for a larger meal and dessert later on.  Do you dose for dessert when you do it for dinner even if they are having dessert about an hour later?

 

 

I agree with everyone, eat the regular food. As far as dessert goes, I wouldn't dose for that with the dinner for a few reasons. First of all, an hour is a long time and second, who knows, maybe it will be longer. Once you give the dose, there is no turning back. Therefore, if you are using syringes, I would have the dose already drawn, then when you or whoever gets up to serve dessert, give the dose. 

Holidays are pretty tough to balance the needs as a diabetic and the desire to enjoy the holidays. Don't worry if you screw up a little, it won't be the end of the world. 

I say this in kindness, but I really don't understand a post such as yours.  Especially coming from the mother of a diabetic child. 

It doesn't matter how much of anything you eat as long as you calculate the carbs and give the insulin accordingly.  Sure we have carb goals for my daughter, but we also know our ratio is 30g carbs - 1 unit of insulin.  So what difference does it make where it's "low carb pumpkin pie" or not?  I'm trying to understand the logic.

My daughter's been diabetic now for almost 2 years.  My Dad's wife still makes comments like "well I planned chocolate cake for dessert, but maybe I'll make Brookie a fruit bowl instead?"  I tell you my blood pressure shoots through the roof.  First I have to explain (yet again) that for diabetics, all carbs are created equally.  It doesn't matter if she eats a banana or a slice of cake, all the same, we need to account and give insulin.  Ugh!!!

I'lll echo the others.  Happy Thanksgiving, enjoy all the food you like :-)

[quote user="mpatton"]

The flourless chocolate cake recipe I found on the d life website is not low carb but its much lower than other desserts - it has 15 carbs per serving.  I was trying to make the low carb pumpkin pie just to have it and see how it is.  I wasn't going to advertise to anyone that it was low carb and see if anyone noticed a difference.

We are still on syringes for insulin so I am still not 100% comfortable with how you dose for a larger meal and dessert later on.  Do you dose for dessert when you do it for dinner even if they are having dessert about an hour later?[/quote]

i'm on syringes (16yrs) and i take the desert dose after the meal UNLESS there won't be any time between. t takes 5-15mins to kick in, so i usually think about how much i ate last thanksgiving, test, bolus (with a correction if needed) and then fill my plate. i usually give myself an extra unit or two for my dinner bolus to make up for not knowing the excatly # of carbs in what i'm eating and not taking food by "portion" size...i just cram as much mashed potatoe on the plate as i can fit haha.

after dinner, depending on what dessert i decide to have, i bolus for the dessert then eat.

In the spirit of kindness, I am attempting to not take offense to the tone of your post.

Every doctor prescribes different methods for maintenance of this lovely disease.  As my daughter was diagnosed only 3 months ago, I am sure our practitioners have advised different approaches to the holidays.  My daughter has averaged 45 - 60 carbs a meal for the last three months and I am still LEARNING on how to handle higher numbers.  We have not had a reason to vary our routine very often so this is all new to us.  I posted my forum as this is our first thanksgiving and was looking for some advice on carb counts and recipes, and SUPPORT, which I have received from the other members of this forum.  I was not looking for reproach to the "mother of a diabetic child" and do not appreciate your judgment.  This is why I hesitated to join this forum to begin with and will rethink posting in the future.  Have a lovely holiday and be thankful not judgmental.

[quote user="mpatton"]

We are still on syringes for insulin so I am still not 100% comfortable with how you dose for a larger meal and dessert later on.  Do you dose for dessert when you do it for dinner even if they are having dessert about an hour later?

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Hi mpatton,

I'm not sure anyone addressed this specific question you had.  The timing of insulin would typically be within a few minutes of eating the food you've dosed for - otherwise she may drop too low before the food can take effect.  So, this would mean two seperate injections in this scenario.

I hope you'll stick with us.  There's a lot to learn, and this can be a great place to get the kinds of information you won't find many other places.  We're full of supportive, compassionate people here at Juvenation - promise!  :)

Happy Thanksgiving, and I hope you'll let us know how the insulin strategy works out!

Kim

This is my first Thanksgiving with diabetes too. I'm glad everyone seems to eat the regular food because that is what I have been planning to do. My question is does everyone actually carb count or do you just give yourself a bigger bolus from the start without actually counting everything?