Diabetes and Christmas: 9 tips for living and surviving the festive season

By Cristiano Antonino On Dec 24, 2022

The festive season is an opportunity to meet family, friends and acquaintances and to sit down in front of a laid table

For the diabetic patient, it is necessary that meals during the holidays are experienced with serenity, but with due caution, to ward off the risk of worsening one’s state of health.

Festive season and Christmas holidays, here are some rules for managing diabetes:

Distinguish between holidays and non-holidays

It is important to limit large and very elaborate lunches to festive days only, and to avoid eating the same way and in the same quantities throughout the Christmas period.

On non ‘festive’ days, it is good to favour a healthy diet, which does not contain fat and sugar in the same quantities as festive lunches.

Don’t skip meals and don’t fast

It is necessary to maintain a balanced diet even on non-holiday days without skipping meals to ‘compensate’ for the calories ingested, but above all without fasting.

It is also essential not to skip breakfast so that the diabetic patient does not arrive at the next meal so hungry as to overindulge.

Planned snacks are also useful to avoid prolonged fasting and consequent binge eating: for example, eating 20 to 30 grams of dried fruit, as it is very calorific.

Watch your portions

The motto should be: ‘a little of everything, but with care’. This way you can vary what you eat and keep your blood sugar at bay. Meals should always consist of a:

cereal portion, such as bread, pasta and rice, preferably wholemeal;
preferably lean protein source, such as blue fish and white meat;
portion of vegetables.

Vegetables, an ally for satiety

Thanks to its richness in fibre, vegetables can stimulate the feeling of satiety early on.

You can increase your consumption of them during the holidays to avoid overindulging in calories during meals and reduce blood sugar peaks.

Another useful method to avoid binge eating and get the feeling of satiety sooner at the end of a meal is to chew slowly.

Alcohol, few and only at meals

During the holidays, we are inclined to consume more alcohol during and away from meals.

This habit is especially wrong for the diabetic patient, who must minimise, if not eliminate, the amount of wine and spirits he or she consumes.

It is possible to make a toast on feast days, but only at mealtimes.

Sugar, a sweet danger

During the festive season, home-made sweets, but especially industrial ones, are the stars of our tables.

The advice is to consume them only on holidays, in limited portions and preferably at the end of a meal.

This is even more true for patients on insulin therapy: ingesting sugar at mealtimes allows insulin to be adjusted and increased to counteract the rise in blood sugar levels and thus to make corrections in therapy.

For those not on insulin therapy, it is good to remember that the consumption of sweets should lead the patient to limit the consumption of other carbohydrates during the day.

Attention to cooking methods

It is always good for the diabetic patient in particular to favour healthy cooking methods, such as steaming, grilling and baking. In all cases, avoid adding any kind of seasoning.

It is important to avoid frying and all additions of oil, butter and margarine.