How do you deal with holidays that involve food traditions that are not healthy?

This will be my first Halloween without eating any candy. Thanksgiving and the December holidays will follow shortly. It feels like I am being left out when my family eats treats and other unhealthy foods, that are part of our traditional celebrations. I won’t give in, but the mental part is hard!

I just remind myself that I'm choosing not to eat "junk" food.

I think sometimes we compare ourselves to alcoholics or drug addicts when we are food addicts. We say things like alcoholics or drug addicts never have to have alcohol or drugs ever again to break their addiction but we have to have food. I know in my case, my addiction was sugar and junk foods and that's probably what got me to my highest weight. Now I try my best to avoid those and so far it's working. I just remind myself I never want to go back there! Whenever someones asks me, "can you eat this on your diet?" I tell them, "I'm not on a diet. I can eat anything I choose to eat...I choose not to eat that."

I think of it like this. How does everything I eat fit into the plan. Am I getting protein from it? Is it high in sugar or carbs? Am I getting any nutritional value from it? If not, it is simply too high a price to pay. Thinking from a money analogy, if a piece of cake cost $100, you would do without it, simply not worth it. The same logic is how I treat those foods high in fat, calories and carbs. Not worth the price my body pays. Need a snack? Find something that provides some benefit to you.

Yes, I agree with all of this. I haven’t had much trouble for months, but it’s holiday traditions that are starting to get to me. It’s sort of like the first Mother’s Day without my mother. I miss her all the time, but it is especially apparent on that day.

So, I refuse to say that I will never have treats again. I’m just very, very, choosy about when and how much of a treat I’ll have. I’m pretty good about avoiding candy but I’m a big baker. Now when I bake cookies I’ll give them all away save 1-2 and have no more than 1 cookie a day if I keep 2. I made a tiramisu when I was home at my parents this summer and I cut myself a piece that was maybe 2 inches long by 1 inch wide (about 1/4 of a slice of everyone else’s). My philosophy is that complete restrictions are bad and can actually make things worse, at least for me. I live alone so I don’t have to worry about others bringing treats in the house. But I’ve found some willpower - I have half a bag of Hershey kisses left from when I baked some peanut butter kiss cookies for a friend (of which I kept one for myself) - that was probably 2 months ago and I haven’t had a single Hershey kiss since - if I’m going to have a piece of chocolate on its own, it needs to be some good gourmet chocolate. Now I won’t be in the country for Thanksgiving but for Christmas I will definitely have a small dessert - this is not a diet, this is how I plan to live the rest of my life! And I make sure to get my protein in to help balance anything I have (and I log everything so I know where I am on macros at all times).

Edited October 3, 20214 yr by Crick

I like this philosophy for some foods. I will eat one of my children’s french fries when they bring home take out, and I’m pretty satisfied with just one. But sweets are a different story for me. My nutritionist and I talked about this before the surgery, how some people are only successful if they completely remove an item because it does not allow a chance for overindulgence. I think I am that way for chocolate and other added sugars.

We did find a frozen custard stand over the summer that had sugar-free custard. I am wondering if there are sugar-free treats, that don’t have a lot of calories? So far I’ve only found a protein bar. Or high protein, low carb, low calorie, no added sugar cookies for the holidays?

Oddly, i didn't have that problem my first year (I had surgery in the summer of 2015). I was so excited about my weight loss and so gung-ho about following my program that I didn't want any of that stuff. I remember on that first Thanksgiving post-op I had some turkey with gravy, about 2 T of sweet potato casserole, some vegetables - and a thing of pumpkin-flavored yogurt for dessert. I was fine with that (can't remember what I had on Christmas, but I was really good at staying away from the "goodies"). Subsequent years I've caved more - but I just try not to overdo it. One cookie. A small piece of cake. I'm not a big candy fan, so that one was easy. So I do allow myself treats on those holidays - but I just have small portions on the holiday itself and don't keep them around my house the whole season - too tempting.

I found that the zero sugar candies at Walmart like Hershey’s and twizzlers tastes almost exactly like the real thing and it is a little better for you. You still have to enjoy it in moderation but for a special occasion it’s a better alternative. Just try a very small portion the first time, and at home, because for Some people the sweetening ingredient (I think it’s malitol) acts like a laxative.

Thank you, I will look for these sugar-free candies! Might be like the sugar-free frozen custard… I don’t necessarily crave it, but would feel left out if everyone else were having it at a special occasion.

Does anyone have a cookie recipe that is bariatric-appropriate? My family always bakes holiday cookies, so I would love to continue this tradition, albeit with something healthy for me.

2 minutes ago, Esi said:

Thank you, I will look for these sugar-free candies! Might be like the sugar-free frozen custard… I don’t necessarily crave it, but would feel left out if everyone else were having it at a special occasion.

Does anyone have a cookie recipe that is bariatric-appropriate? My family always bakes holiday Cookies, so I would love to continue this tradition, albeit with something healthy for me.

If you don’t get an answer here. I would ask this cookie question on the food before and after page. Lots of bakers on there that know about swerve and almond flour and all that. In fact. I may ask it myself if COVID permits me to go to cookie day with my family this year.

Edited October 3, 20214 yr by ShoppGirl

Thanks! I skimmed the food forum, I only saw one recipe for cookies in the last few years, but I may need to look more carefully.

Online, it seems a lot of “bariatric friendly” cookie recipes actually have sugar, brown sugar, or syrup. I did find the one below, which looks promising!

https://weighinradio.com/blog/recipie/bariatric-baking-hermit-cookies/

I think it is just the tradition of putting a recipe together with my daughter, and smelling it come out of the oven, which will be so appreciated if I can do it in a healthy way…less chance of straying.

12 hours ago, Esi said:

Thanks! I skimmed the food forum, I only saw one recipe for Cookies in the last few years, but I may need to look more carefully.

Online, it seems a lot of “bariatric friendly” cookie recipes actually have sugar, brown sugar, or Syrup. I did find the one below, which looks promising!

https://weighinradio.com/blog/recipie/bariatric-baking-hermit-cookies/

I think it is just the tradition of putting a recipe together with my daughter, and smelling it come out of the oven, which will be so appreciated if I can do it in a healthy way…less chance of straying.

Hummmm..I’ve never used truvia. I’ve used Splenda and swerve (I’m partial to Splenda). Let me know how they turn out if you decide to bake them.

On 10/3/2021 at 10:26 AM, Esi said:

I like this philosophy for some foods. I will eat one of my children’s french fries when they bring home take out, and I’m pretty satisfied with just one. But sweets are a different story for me. My nutritionist and I talked about this before the surgery, how some people are only successful if they completely remove an item because it does not allow a chance for overindulgence. I think I am that way for chocolate and other added sugars.

We did find a frozen custard stand over the summer that had sugar-free custard. I am wondering if there are sugar-free treats, that don’t have a lot of calories? So far I’ve only found a Protein Bar. Or high Protein, low carb, low calorie, no added sugar Cookies for the holidays?

If you look in the candy isle at the grocery stores or Target you will see Russel Stover has a whole line of sugar free candy, as well as Hershey now has sugar free reeses peanut butter cups and other candy bars...

On 10/3/2021 at 3:10 PM, Esi said:

Thank you, I will look for these sugar-free candies! Might be like the sugar-free frozen custard… I don’t necessarily crave it, but would feel left out if everyone else were having it at a special occasion.

Does anyone have a cookie recipe that is bariatric-appropriate? My family always bakes holiday Cookies, so I would love to continue this tradition, albeit with something healthy for me.

You can make meringues with powdered swerve (a sugar substitute). At their core it’s just the 2 ingredients- egg whites and sugar (or sugar substitute) but adding cream of tartar helps with stability.

2 egg whites
1/2-1 cup powdered sugar substitute
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
1/2-1tsp extract (like vanilla, almond, or maple)

Beat egg whites and cream of tartar in a mixer until soft to medium peaks. Gradually add in sugar until smooth, glossy stiff peaks form (hold beaters or whisk attachment upside down and the mixture not slump over). Gently fold in extract. Bake on parchment paper or silicone mat at 225 for about 40 minutes until lightly browned. Either remove from oven and let cool completely or leave in oven to cool before trying to remove from parchment or mat. Out of the oven makes for a slightly chewier cookie whereas in the oven keeps the residual heat and makes a crispier cookie. Store in an air tight container away from heat or moisture.

On 10/4/2021 at 8:45 AM, ShoppGirl said:

Hummmm..I’ve never used truvia. I’ve used Splenda and swerve (I’m partial to Splenda). Let me know how they turn out if you decide to bake them.

Thank you! I had never heard of swerve until this post. I only use Stevia, but had not baked with an artificial sweetener. It sounds like they are not interchangeable?

4 minutes ago, Esi said:

Thank you! I had never heard of swerve until this post. I only use Stevia, but had not baked with an artificial sweetener. It sounds like they are not interchangeable?

Swerve is one that measures cup for cup the same as sugar but I find it to be extremely sweet. Like to sweep in my opinion. It’s too sweet in my opinion. I am holding on to it hoping as I get a little further out it won’t be too sweet.

Edited October 5, 20214 yr by ShoppGirl