NO GUILT MONSTERS ALLOWED

This Christmas season I am proposing a change of tradition.  Since Ray and I have been married we have had an Open House on Christmas Eve to celebrate with our friends.  This year we will still entertain but it will be at a dear friend’s home rather than in our own since our home is so small.

The big change will be the way we eat this holiday.  I am going to make a point of serving healthier food this year.  Two months ago we decided to adopt a new way of eating.  We also decided to adopt a new attitude about it.  We are not dieting and hopefully never will find the need to diet again.  In fact, I think that thinking “diet” is almost guaranteed to produce a formula for failure.  It is strange the way the human mind works.  When we are told we can’t have something that “something” immediately becomes a craving that haunts us day and night.  Simply by saying the word “diet” we set ourselves up for cravings and those cravings set us up to fail. 

Twenty-three years ago I had what I hope will be the last alcoholic drink that will ever cross my lips.  When I went through the initial detox process then got through 30 days of treatment I walked out of the hospital knowing that drinking was now a choice for me.  I didn’t ever have to take at drink again if I followed a few simple guidelines. All the support and help I needed to stay sober was just a phone call away.  My point is, a great deal of the obsession to drink was removed when I realized that I now had the power to choose something different.  Every time I choose not to take that first drink I became a little stronger.  Of course, getting sober is not quite that simple.  The thing that kept me choosing not to drink was the new life and lifestyle I was living and the reward of that lifestyle. 

I am overweight and it has gotten to be a serious health concern.  I spent months researching how to change my eating habits and my thinking about how and what I ate.  When I found the Glycemic Index it fit into the myriad of requirements I must meet.  I am an insulin dependent diabetic who uses an insulin pump.  I do not count calories to determine my insulin need now, I count carbohydrates instead.  The GI way of eating fit like a glove because it is measured and rated strictly in carbs.  The GI eating plan is well understood by my doctors and is strongly accepted by them.  There are many guide books to help you understand what this system is and why it works.  Maybe the best part of all is its two main advantages.  It is simple to use and it TASTES GOOD!  My husband and I have been using this way of eating for about two months now and the results have been good.  We are both losing weight slowly, but the doctor and the nutritionist both say it is best to lose it slowly because it is more likely to stay gone when you do it slowly. 

We have also developed an attitude of flexibility both toward our eating and our attitude about this whole thing.  It is nearly impossible to do any eating program absolutely perfectly all the time.  But it is possible to make decisions about when and where we will eat “forbidden fruit”.  When we look at it this way “breaking the rules” is a measured calculated process—not an unforgivable guilt trip that makes us feel so bad we just give up trying.   It is okay to periodically have a candy bar or an ice cream or even go out to dinner.   We also eat reasonable amounts of food rather than just "pig-out!"  I believe the trick is to eat enough to enjoy the break but not over eat.  By doing this we are able to enjoy the things we like in a reasonable amount, there is no guilt involved and there is no reason not to return back to our new “normal” as soon as the specific event is finished. Of course this also involves calculating the additional need for a one time insulin bolus. Theoretically this means we should not even have an insulin spike.  Unfortunately theory and reality do not always match up quite so perfectly when it comes to diabetes and the human body but it should come a lot closer and cause a lot fewer problems. 

This brings me back to the discussion about what should we do for Christmas?  Ray and I both love good food and I love to cook.  It is a tradition in our home and one that would break my heart to give up.  So the solution to this seems to me to be—set up a parameter of time that we will allow “forbidden treats” and an amount that we will allow in our home.  I believe we can supplement the buffet on Christmas Eve with a lot of healthy food as well as the special favorites that we love at Christmas.  If I am careful with the menu and the amount of food I make for the Open House there will not be a lot of leftovers to tempt us.  I can also bring what is left over into work and it will be out of the house.  I propose that we have our holiday foods from December 23—December 27.  Another short period may be given for New Years Eve for a few hours.  On 1 January the house will be purged of the forbidden foods and we will return to GI eating.