BariatricEating.com Health & Nutrition
Enjoy Holiday Eating without Looking Like It!
by Linda Farnsworth
How many New Year’s resolutions containing the word ‘diet’ will you have to make this coming year? Do you have the situation under control where you can navigate the mine fields of holiday eating while still fitting into your skinny jeans? Will you be depressed because you can’t eat the same foods as everyone else, or will you give in and live the coming weeks filled with guilt and regret while wearing sweat pants?
Too many high fat cheese balls, brown sugar glazed nuts, or high carb Santa cookies can undo months of hard work. Thankfully there is a way to never feel deprived and not feel punished by saying no to everything passed your way. There is hope that you won’t be reduced to pouting in the corner as the whole room enjoys the goodies.
Our culture puts an exclamation point on every event with food. There’s nothing wrong with that until you are a bariatric post op who is struggling to get to goal or to stay there. Too often we simply throw up our hands and look to tomorrow as the day to ‘get back on track’ and take a nose dive into the dip.
I hate feeling guilty about eating. In my fat past all it ever led to was more eating and I wound up wearing too many of those episodes on my hips. I finally found a better way; one where I could eat fabulous foods without derailing my progress.
Traditions are for keeping; fixing some of the favorites for Holiday meals is essential in providing a season that everybody will enjoy and reflect on fondly. Remember that you are the one who changed their life with surgery and committed to an eating-style change. Fix the buttery mashed potatoes and Grammas’ cornbread stuffing if that’s what you’ve always done - but also adds absolutely scrumptious healthy dishes that will bring New Tradition to your festive table.
You will not feel deprived when you are able to eat moist turkey or ham, perfectly seasoned vegetables, a few crisp greens, and a sugar-free version of cranberry sauce that is head and shoulders above anything you could buy. Give your guests the fragrant, yeasty rolls, but make sure to pass along the basket and instead opt for bites of silky smooth caramel sweet potatoes, laced with sugar-free DaVinci syrup and topped with crisp pecans.
You can still create the desserts that mean so much to those you cook for but don’t make the mistake of thinking that you’ll never taste anything decadent again. The old-fashioned pumpkin pie with the mound of vanilla-scented whipped cream are just as comforting when made sugar-free, and in our BariatricEating.com recipe gallery we’ve proven that there is hardly a cookie, bar, or cake recipe that can’t be made weight loss surgery friendly. I’ve created the most silky, scrumptious sugar-free dark chocolate truffles you’ve ever tasted and we’ve got a recipe for sugar-free peanut brittle that will knock your socks off!
This year, instead of dreading the parties, potlucks, and other food-centered gatherings - cook and take dishes and goodies that you know to be safe for you. This special section has featured great food to take to take with you. So this season partake, enjoy, mingle, laugh, and LIVE life the way it was meant to be and do it all free from fear of food!
Linda Farnsworth is a four year RNY post-op who works to maintain an incredible 208 pound weight loss.
Linda, who is an amazing home cook, is Food Stylist & Creative Director for BariatricEating.com.
Her husband and daughter have also had bariatric procedures and enjoy life at goal weight.
