It's impossible to enter the supermarket or the drugstore these days without having to walk past a giant display of candy. I really like candy corn and those little halloween pumpkins, but I won't be buying any of them this year. I think ONE of those little pumpkins is 6 carbs, if I remember rightly.
Being a holiday that is mainly about the giving out and taking in of candy, Halloween is a holiday that really isn't for type 2 diabetics. So I won't be observing Halloween this year--meaning that it's my husband's responsibility to supervise the trick-or-treating, and I won't be either buying candy or opening the door to trick-or-treaters. Scroogy maybe, but I don't see any need to participate in a game of "let's torture the diabetic."
I wonder whether other people avoid certain foodly holidays? Or if you don't, how you deal with the reality of constant deprivation without falling into a funk?
Candy doesn’t faze me much. I’d probably volunteer to walk ALL the trick-or-treaters all over the neighborhood so that I could have a few pieces of candy, and then burn them off as I’m walking. lol Thanksgiving is a bit more tempting… But I think this year I will make a low carb pumpkin pie and bring it in.
Why must it be “torture the diabetic” come on. I don’t eat the stuff but I love to see all the kids that come to the door . If you don’t want candy around ,try giving out apples or maybe coupons to McDonalds. No need for sour grapes!
Yeah, I find holidays kind of a pain. I haven’t done trick or treat since I stopped eating sugar 16 years ago. I am going with my nephew and his children to a halloween street faire and enjoy taking my great niece trick or treating to the shops. Thanksgiving is pretty much not my thing more because I’m a vegetarian than because I’m a diabetic. My favorite was always the stuffing and last year my friend made some stuffing outside the turkey and made other vegie dishes for her vegetarian friends. I had a small serving of the stuffing with other vegie lower carb items and did fine. Then she gave me a goodie bag to take home and I ate a maindish size serving of the stuffing at home the next day and went through the roof. Sigh. As a diabetic I just don’t care for being a captive audience for a meal anymore so holidays are not my favorite. Last Christmas I was a hostess and that was the most enjoyable for me. My control freak tendencies which I’ve worked hard on over the years are back in full force since my diagnosis…lol
Halloween in a big thing in our neighborhood, and I love seeing all the kids and the pumpkins, etc. I give out candy but make sure I buy stuff I don’t really like, and we don’t open the big bags until it is time to give them out. Easter candy is more tempting to me I must say. But overall, I just find ways to participate in all holidays and life in general, rather than sit on the sidelines b/c of diabetes.
I enjoy Halloween. I like to see the kids dressed up ( since mine are grown and gone. ) I buy candy that I don’t really like, so I am not too tempted to eat any of it. I allow myself to eat 1 mini candy bar of dark chocolate. ( That is my favorite candy.) I feel that I can participate in a fun holiday without feeling deprived.
When I was a kid and we were given apples, we used to throw them back at the house that they had come from! We wouldn’t have been allowed to eat them anyway, since I grew up during the time when everyone feared that someone was going to stick a razor in an apple.
I don’t like halloween to begin with. But I don’t believe it’s “how to torture the diabetic”. I think we can still participate if we want, we just have to be smart about it. If the candy bothers you, don’t buy any, you are right in delegating that responsibility to someone else. Quite frankly, because I don’t like Halloween, we didn’t celebrate it with tricks and treats, we went for dinner, something the kids liked, pizza, where I could order one small piece and a salad. Then we went to the movies, or we rented one. I took my own popcorn (air popped) and the kids and dh would get a snack if they needed it…I didn’t have to worry about checking their candy, there were no costumes to worry about, and actually we came out better financially then buying all that crap. That was BEFORE I was a dx’d.
But there are other holidays that are harder for me to figure out…Thanksgiving, my family works in the food industry, so they don’t want a big meal after fixing food for everyone all day long…so I make vegie lasagna, with salad, bread sticks, and a light dessert. Christmas is harder, because it’s with the folks…so I plan for these …I’ll skip Thanksgiving, Easter , Halloween but Christmas is a must. And New Years, I do the same plan for it, and byof if I have to (Bring Your Own Food)
No one said you couldn’t have a snickers bar, they just recommended it be the snack size not large size.
I get around the candy part by buying stuff for the neighborhood kids that doesn’t tempt me. We’re now the people who give the crappy candy when before it was Snickers, Milky Ways,Hershey’s nuggets.
Honestly, I don’t feel deprived at Halloween. I don’t celebrate Christmas, so no problem there. Thanksgiving is fine sticking to turkey & vegetables.
For Christmas we went to my friend’s house, and her husband’s Polish. Luckily for us they made all kinds of naughty food that was naughty in protein and fat, and really had hardly any carbs in it. lol Yay me. hehe
I am type 2 and I enjoy all holidays to let this “d” beat you down is not the answer. I always give out the candy at my house and we buy things that I like reeses peanutbutter cups. You don’t have to eat the whole bag it is one day in 90 (A1C) and it won’t hurt to participate. My last A1C was 5.7 in July, the one in March was 5.5 and the one before that was 5.9. Life is too short just don’t over do it.
i don’t celebrate halloween, but that candy corn is BEAUTIFUL! i allow myself one or two candy sessions during this time of year and just count them out and cover them. easter is hard, with the cadbury eggs…but i do allow myself one.
i have noticed summer cookouts are really hard for me. potato salad. corn on the cob. beer.
actually, any family meal kind of does me in. i’m really glad i don’t have a big family…lol
Haha! I am going through the SAME thing. I love Halloween. Its my favorite holiday (and I am 41!). All the other holidays I could care less about. THIS Is the fun one.
I am having my candy issues too. Last year I had some nice gourmet suckers etc. This year now that I am DX - well, I have to forgo the stuff I really want. I am currently looking into some options. If I can’t have the stuff I really crave, I will get some what I call, “milder” subs.
Since I am a vegan, my candy choices, at least at regular stores are limited anyhow. I also avoid artifical colors etc so it is different to find natural candy that is not full of sugar.
That said, I vehemently avoid Thanksgiving and I think you can guess why. Ever since I became a veg 20 years ago, Thanksgiving is a holiday I could do without. Holiday that revolve around food pigouts don’t really interested me. I love Halloween because I get to put on a costume!
My mom bought some of those candy corns and caramel apple and I admit I snuck a candy corn piece a few times. I was scared to eat it - all sugar - but I nibbled on it slowly - yum. It got rid of the craving though! I figured my body could handle one little piece and everything was fine.
I won’t give up on my quest to enjoy just a little bit of candy this year - even if I have to cut it in half and have little nibbles off and on. As long as I don’t pig out, I think a teeny bit isn’t going to kill me. I just have to use control.
The no apples and apple cidar thing is killing me too. Grrr…
LOL! - I know everyone HATED getting the apples and raisins. But hey, we were kids - we wanted the real candy!
yes, than after a while, if you got an apple trick or treating, mom would throw it out. I was a little kid when that whole razer apple thing was going on. Only eat thing that are wrapped.
I am half Polish so holidays no matter what they are had Polish sausage and saurkaurt included. Seems a bit out of place at Thanksgiving sitting next to the trad Turkey!
I bought the McDonald coupons one year that I gave with a candy bar and they did not go over too well with the kids. One little girl took it out of her bucket, showed it to her mother with this nasty little voice “what is this.”
I always buy candy for the kids. I always wait until the last minute to buy it. When I was working, I would take any leftovers to work to make sure it was not hanging around. Now my sister brings her little boy usually about when Trick or Treat is over and she takes the leftovers home with her. Thanksgiving, Christmas & Easter, I just enjoy a big meal with my family – I test and shoot up a lot! There are only a couple days a year I do that so figure it won’t kill me.
I remember I would get a McDonalds gift certificates everyonce and while in my trick or treat bag. They were usually like a dollar - I thought that was the most expensive thing I got. I remember once I got a fancy pen that had candy it in. I would get temp tatoos, cracker jack and little toys - loved the houses that gave me money too! hehe. I always remember which houses gave out the good stuff and would hit those first before they ran out and I made sure my mom didn’t give out crappy candy or fruit because I didn’t want the neighborhood kids to think our house was cheap.
