The holiday season’s busy pace and easy access to unhealthy food can make these merry times dreary for diabetics.  

“Sometimes you have to attend parties and gatherings, and you find food that you are not supposed to eat.  You end up taking a little of everything and then soon enough your sugar level gets too high,” said Roberto Moldonedo, 68, of Highland Park, who has battled diabetes since his youth.    

Lewis Landsberg, dean emeritus at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, said that to get through the next months diabetics will “require a little more discipline.”  He added that “the holidays are hard for everybody, but it’s harder for people who need to stay on an appropriate eating regiment.”

For people with diabetes, the most important thing is weight control and carbohydrate restriction Landsberg said.

However, the words "control" and "restriction" seem to disappear with the first sight of pecan pie.  

This is why Kelly Devine, a registered dietitian and founder of  the Chicago nutritional consulting firm, Devine Nutrition, stressed the importance of planning ahead.

“In the holiday season people are on the run and stressed out even more.  They pick up quick, easy foods that are low in fiber, but big on carbohydrates and high in sugar,” she said.

Devine explained that all carbohydrates eventually turn into sugar, however, foods low in fiber are digested faster.  This is why it is better to have whole wheat bread loaded with fiber that will slow down digestion than white bread that will be quickly turned into sugar, subsequently raising glucose levels.

Fast food restaurants and holiday parties tend to only offer refined carbs that can be “detrimental to a diabetics diet,” Devine said.  “If you are diabetic and you are not picking up the right foods it will lead to an increase in weight gain and blood sugars.”

She suggested that throughout the holidays it is important for diabetics to bring healthy snacks while running errands or attending a holiday concert.  Ideally this involves pairing a fruit with a protein, such as nuts, light yogurt or low-fat cheeses.  

Instead of three large meals, Devine said opting for five to six small meals of fiber and lean protein because diabetics will not overeat at the holiday meal. She said this also great advice to follow if you are interested in losing weight.  

But when it comes to that big holiday meal, substitution is the key word. She recommended:

--Make candied sweet potatoes a diabetic friendly dish by using zero calorie sweeteners, such as Splenda or Stevia, instead of sugar. 

--Switch white bread rolls for wheat rolls.

--Use Sprite Zero in your holiday punch instead of Sprite.

Dessert can taste all that much sweeter when sinking your teeth in a 150-calorie dessert vs. the typical 500-calorie splurge.  You can make a pumpkin pie using Splenda (see recipe), or if you are strapped for time, head to a local Bakers Square where you can buy a sugar-free apple pie for $10.49 before tax.

On your holiday table, there should be at least one low-calorie vegetable dish, which can be a salad, or steamed broccoli seasoned with black pepper. Steaming or using Smart Balance butter in your vegetable dishes, instead of using real butter is a sure way to win against the battle of the bulge and maintain a stable sugar level.

Finally, make sure you are compensating your holiday meals by exercising. “It will offset the calories diabetics take on in the holiday meal,” Devine said. “Exercise is integral for diabetics; actually ‘mandatory’ is what I tell my patients."   

Exercise burns off excess sugar in the body and if a diabetic exercises constantly it will typically lower blood sugars.

This is especially important if a diabetic is overweight, because “weight loss relieves insulin resistance,” said Landsberg, who is also director of the Northwestern Comprehensive Center on Obesity, and has studied the spike in obesity and the correlating increase in Type 2 diabetes.  

Devine suggested working out at least four to six days a week usually for 30 minutes to an hour.  However, she stressed the importance of keeping active during the remainder of the day. Keeping a pedometer is helpful for tracking the number of miles a person tallies, which should be four to five miles, or 10,000 steps per day.

Moldonedo has been ramping up his exercise, which consists of 18 holes of golf and time on the elliptical trainer, in preparation for the holidays.  His biggest challenge this season will be at the holiday table, where he shares he will “load up on the turkey and watch the carbohydrates.”

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