Enjoy the Holidays fare without doing yourself in.

For people living with a chronic illness, the holidays or special time. It means you've made it through another year. But every year we get to look forward to being around incredible holiday meals be it Thanksgiving Christmas and in some cases new years.
Unless you been specifically told not to eat a certain item by your doctor it's okay to indulge in these meals  just remember moderation is the key. You can have that big spoonful of mashed potatoes, but don't put any extra butter on it and stay away from extra salt. Enjoy the gravy on the turkey,  it is only once a year.

If you're lucky enough to have somebody cooking your food who is carbohydrate conscious, you might find wild rice pilaf, plain baked sweet potatoes or roasted sweet potatoes on the table. These items are on the low glycemic index for carbohydrates and are much better for you then mashed potatoes and white rice.

For those of you dealing with kidney failure,  you still have to watch your phosphorus, potassium, and sodium. If your like me, you can look online and see what exactly is in what....or you can go to a GREAT website called myfitnesspal. This is a free calorie counting website that has the nutritional breakdown of just about everything you could possibly think of. Even fast food restaurants. http://www.myfitnesspal.com/

If you're on a liquid restriction make sure that on these holidays the liquids you take in, you enjoy and remember, a glass of red wine is not always a bad thing.

Just remember the holidays are about being with family and friends, and for those of us living with or surviving with chronic illness, it's a day to celebrate surviving another year. So go ahead and satisfy your taste buds. Enjoy..... it is a celebration after all.

Happy Holidays!

Red