The holidays are coming! Socialising with your friends and family, having drinks and eating together.

During this period there is often less structure, there is a lot of delicious (and often unhealthy) food and you cannot always decide for yourself what to eat or drink. As a result, if you have type 2 diabetes, it can be more difficult to control your blood sugar levels.

Therefore, we give you tips on how to keep your blood sugar stable during the holidays and enjoy the festive season to the fullest.

Cook yourself or give recipe tips

Prepare you your own Christmas dinner, then you know exactly what you will eat. For example, put the following on the menu:

🎄 Starter: salmon tartare, carpaccio or stuffed portobello with cream cheese.

🎄 Main course: different vegetables. You can also serve potato croquettes or puffed or gratinated potato with it, but skip these yourself or have just a little bit of them.

🎄 Dessert: Cheeseboard or almond flour cake with warm red fruit.

Are you invited to friends or family for Christmas dinner? Then ask if they take your type 2 diabetes into account and if you can help think about what will be on the menu.

If this does not work, make conscious choices. In any case, try not to eat too many carbohydrates.

Don’t skip meals

Everyone does it from time to time: skip lunch because you are going to eat elaborately in the evening. Don’t do this. Try to keep your normal rhythm. Otherwise, chances are you will be hungry at the end of the day. During Christmas dinner, it will then be much harder to forgo unhealthy dishes or overeat.

Opt for savoury snacks

Christmas biscuits, Christmas cake, Christmas wreaths, toasts and the Dutch snacks “oliebollen” and “appelflappen”: very tasty. But very high in carbohydrates and sugars.

So skip them or don’t eat too many. And always keep a balance. Sometimes you can have a Christmas cake for breakfast, but not a big slice. Make sure the rest of your breakfast consists of savoury snacks and is low in carbohydrates.

With drinks, replace the toasts with cucumber slices. Also delicious with a slice of French cheese. And can you really not resist that “oliebol” on New Year’s Eve? At least enjoy it! Stick to just one and don’t eat it too soon before or after another meal. Your blood sugar level may rise too much.

Keep moving

Exercise is extremely healthy and lowers your blood sugar levels. So don’t just stay indoors during the holidays, get some fresh air outside!

Grab a bike or go for a walk. In the woods, on the beach or just around the block from your house. Do it together and enjoy a delicious and healthy Christmas dinner afterwards.

Drink as little alcohol as possible

Alcohol is also often served at Christmas drinks or Christmas dinner. You don’t necessarily have to say ‘no’ to this, but don’t drink too much. Most alcoholic drinks contain a lot of carbohydrates/sugars (the alcohol-free variants too!). These will raise your sugar level quickly. And if you also eat carbohydrates, the total amount will easily increase and so will your blood sugar.

In addition, alcohol increases the risk of a blood sugar that is too low (=hypo). After a few hours, alcohol has a lowering effect. That sounds interesting, but is undesirable. Therefore, limit your intake of alcohol during the holidays.

Instead, make an alcohol-free and low-carb cocktail. You can find plenty of recipes online. For example, for an alcohol-free mojito or an alcohol-free gin tonic of tonic with 0% sugar, alcohol-free gin and some cucumber strands or sprigs of mint. Serve this in a nice glass and you can still join the rest!

We wish you very happy holidays! 🧑🎄

Kind regards, Clear.bio.