The average North American consumes approximately 4000- 5000 calories on Thanksgiving. When I look at the below dinner plate it makes me ill. Come on, do we need this much food in our stomachs at one sitting?.. how about seconds, anyone? 
Please share your suggestions (recipes and whatnot) on making Thanksgiving day a slightly bit more Diabetic friendly holiday?
Stick to eating the protein stuff like turkey…try to get all desserts made with sucralose…and dual wave, baby, dual-wave :-).
Sigh…Thanksgiving IS in a few weeks, isn’t it. I’ve learned, to seriously take a look at what foods I actually REALLY like. It is so easy just to throw every dish on your plate because it 'all is so good!" Once I get to my seat and start eating I realize that I put a lot on my plate that I didn’t really care for. Now I try (and I repeat, try…) to pick the dishes that really are my favorites, the ones that I only get when Grandma/Aunt/whoever makes once a year. There’s no need for me to eat a bunch of mashed potatoes when I can eat them anytime, or have those cookies that I actually don’t care for when Great Aunt Carol’s pudding next to it on the table. So, I try to just eat my really favorite favorite foods. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. But I try…
-Elizabeth
I have yet to experience a Diabetic thanksgiving. This year will be my first, so anything could happen.
157 grams anyone?
And it doesn’t include the pies, wine, and sleeping afterward!
I’ll eat the turkey and beans. About 1 tablespoon of the dressing. And a bite of my husband’s pie. We will have tests all around, one hour after eating!
What works for me is to do the cooking because I cook what I like: Turkey with homemade bread stuffing, cranberry-raspberry sauce in the can, green beans, real potatoes made with stock instead of milk and butter, gravy made with stock and a small amount of milk and whole wheat flour for thickening, and lime gelatin with pineapple for dessert. The next thing to do is to eat in moderation, moderation, moderation…plus combo bolus!
I have already been looking at my recipes to “tweak” them if needed as hubby and I are in the middle of losing weight as well as me being a diabetic. I have managed to come in at around 1400 calories for dinner and dessert. I will not be making stuffing as I decided I would rather have rolls (I only make them at the holidays) and the girls don’t eat it. I will not put any sauce on the vegetables just steam them ( I usually make cider green beans and tart cranberry glazed carrots). I will modify my potatoes to be lower cal and fat, and I will only make enough for dinner. I will only make apple and pumpkin pies ( I usually would make a chocolate pie and cheesecake as well). All desserts and cranberry sauce will be made with a sweetner. If I walk before dinner and after dinner it should help with my numbers as I am a T2 on oral meds, even if I have that second piece of pie (which is figured into the total for dinner).
I’m very choosy about what I eat on Thanksgiving. I’m the crazy one with the measuring cups getting the actual serving size (or as close to it) as I can. Seconds? Never. No processed food and I try to eat more veggies and fruit. Its not easy! And the old dual wave bolus is my friend!
Treat it like any other normal diabetic day 
I understand where you’re coming from Danny (although Thanksgiving is not a festival here in the UK – Christmas/New Year are the big blow outs, then Easter but to a far lesser degree). As far as I’m concerned I enjoy all the traditional fare of a British Christmas, but it’s not as if I spend the whole twelve days of Christmas grazing and boozing all the time. I don’t go much on cakes and pastries – it’s not as if I have cravings for them – and I never snack between meals, but at Christmas time I won’t forego the traditional Christmas pudding as the dessert item after the turkey and a slice of Genoa cake with the evening meal. Shop bought cakes and puddings come with all the nutritional information and so I can weigh things on my electronic scales and inject accordingly. Since Christmas comes but once a year I’m happy to enjoy the special food that’s on offer. In reality it’s not that different from eating out in restaurants (in many ways restaurants are worse because there are no electronic scales and there’s no way of knowing exactly what’s gone into a dish, unless you happen to be an experienced chef), which is something a lot of people, including diabetics, do quite naturally. So if you’re particularly worried about these annual festivals, you might do well to think twice about ever eating out at a restaurant, café, snack bar or burger joint as well.
when I have thanksgiving I don’t have a whole lot anyway.
It’s my first Thanksgiving also. I’m not sure how I will do.
Gotta say that plate of food makes me feel queasy.
I stay with the turkey & veggies. I have a great low carb pumpkin cheesecake recipe with a pecan nut crust that’s killer. Will have to find it to post it. It’s pretty light & around 6-7 carbs for a real size piece.
Braised red cabbage is delicious, colorful & festive. Slice red cabbage fairly thin. Rinse, leaving water on it. Heat olive oil in a heavy skillet (one that has a lid) & add cabbage. Sautee it. When the cabbage is cooked a bit (not mushy), add either cider vinegar or dry red wine (or combo of both is better), chopped fresh garlic, salt & fresh ground pepper & a little artificial sweetener (I use a stevia), Stir & cover until it’s cooked to the texture you like. It has a sweet & sour taste. Sorry, don’t know the quantities for the wine or vinegar because I just toss it in.
Cranberry sauce: fresh cranberries boiled in water until the skins pop, drain water, add orange extract, maple extract & Fiberfit liquid splenda. If you like cranberry sauce more gel-like, add agar-agar flakes. Refigerate. Yummy.
Judith has a low carb stuffing made from high fiber wholegrain crackers. Hope she posts it.
I usually cook most of the side dishes for Thanksgiving, so I can control what goes into them. If we have a big enough group, then I get to make carb-rich dishes like bread-based stuffing and mashed potatoes for those who expect the traditional dishes and extra lower-carb dishes like chestnut-sausage stuffing and green beans. I’m going to make apple pie for my husband (I can’t find a good recipe for apple pie that doesn’t use added sugar) and a pumpkin pie with splenda for me.
Hook up an IV with insulin.
I was just looking for a brown bag turkey receipe! Ha Ha!
I like Elizabeth’s suggestion about doing “triage” on the foods that are regular versus the ones that are special or unique. I think consciousness is the key in general. I’ve been eating Thanksgiving dinner, going out to restaurants, etc for 60 years, only with diabetes in the mix for two. Recently I went to a tacqueria with friends and ordered what I always do, a vegie burrito and a Negro Modelo. At home I would never do that! I finally recognized I no longer can eat tacqueria burritos, let alone burritos and beer! (At home I skip the rice, use low carb tortillas, etc) I still have to pay extra attention when I am out to eat and like eating at other people’s houses even less becase of the desire to be polite and not make waves while eating on other people’s schedules and menus, and talking at the same time. So stopping to think about I put on my plate is what I need to do. I think it’s easier for insulin dependent diabetics as we have to measure carbs to bolus.
I think the whole philsophy of Thanksgiving that you have to gorge yourself is very unhealthy anyway, so breaking that pattern and having a plate of reasonable foods at reasonable portions is being a role model for others. Then we can get on with the real business of the holiday which is feeling gratitude and enjoying the closeness of family and friends.
To those of you struggling with giving up sweets or carb heavy foods, it does get easier! When I cut out sugar it was a struggle and now I don’t even feel any temptation after 15 years. In my early days I had a good friend who would often make me a cappuchino or a cheese plate so I had something to do when everyone else was eating their sugar desserts. It really helped!
I run a 10k in the morning (Detroit Turkey Trot)… By the time dinner is ready around 4pm the blood sugars start crashing so Im able to eat the majority of foods without insulin. I usually only take 2-5 units of insulin with the entire meal on turkey day
We have a family tradition of sliding down this huge hill in a nearby park on big pieces of cardboard. Climbing the hill is a real sugar buster. I know it sounds pretty weird, but we still have little kids around for the holidays and we all get a big kick out of it. It’s a great activity after the big meal.
As a vegan, there is very little available for me on T-day. Last year I left the table hungry eventhough I brought a Tofurkey with vegan stuffing. I have made vegan versions of sweet potato pies that turned out tasting the same as the conventional recipes. It is easy to change many recipes to a vegan version which will also totally cut out the cholesteral for any of you watching all of your ABCs. (A1C, Blood Pressure and Cholesterol). Skip those boring white rolls. I never added gravy even when I was a meat eater. Add fresh cranberries to that overly sweet store bought cranberry sauce or make your own with stevia. If you love eveything, take a bit of everything, meaning use portion control. You can bake sweet potatoes instead of making candied yams.