The holidays can be such a joyful, but also stressful, time of year. Between stress snacking, holiday parties and heavy drinking, this time of year can also take a toll on your waistline and your health. Especially for those who have chronic health conditions, such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, gout and kidney disease.
When you are living with chronic health conditions, it can be difficult to indulge during the holidays, since flare ups tend to put your life at risk. But just because you cannot throw caution to the wind during the holidays, there’s no reason that having healthy holidays has to be boring. On the contrary, there are great modifications you can make to some of your favorite holiday recipes in order to keep your health in mind.
Dessert for Diabetics: Swap Apple Pie For Apple Crisp
Living with diabetes means that you always have to be aware of what you are putting into your body in order to better manage your insulin levels. Dessert can be an especially tricky food for diabetics, but just because it presents a challenge, doesn’t make it impossible to enjoy.
This delicious apple crisp recipe is a friendly food for diabetics and comprehensive nutritional information to help you manage your diabetes this holiday season.
Heart Healthy Holidays: Swap A Christmas Ham For Chicken
If you’re living with cardiovascular disease or are at risk of developing cardiovascular disease, there’s a good chance your physician has instructed you to lower your cholesterol intake. Making the effort to choose more heart healthy foods during the holidays can not only help you take care of your heart, but they can also help you avoid packing on extra pounds.
Consider replacing your holiday ham, which can be high in cholesterol, with this delicious recipe for chicken thighs cooked in red wine, plums and garlic.
Gout: Swap Biscuits With Hearty Soup
Too much bread or alcohol can create problems for those living with gout, so the holidays can create many food challenges for sufferers of gout. It’s typical to fill up on rolls or biscuits early in your meal during the holidays, but that will only add to your joint inflammation in the long run.
Instead of filling up on bread, try starting with a hearty soup instead. This festive holiday recipe for curried carrot, sweet potato and ginger soup will not only help to sate your appetite while you’re waiting for the main course, it will also prevent flare ups of your gout since it is very low in purine.
Kidney Disease: Swap Boxed Stuffing For Homemade
Stuffing is an essential recipe during the holiday season, but the store bought mixes can be high in sodium, which can be deadly for those living with kidney disease. When you are living with kidney disease, physicians recommend steering clear of sodium since it can cause further deterioration of renal function.
In order to have healthy holidays when living with kidney disease this season, replace store bought stuffing with this delicious (and low sodium!) apple walnut wheat stuffing.
Have Healthy Holidays This Season
Having a chronic health condition shouldn’t prevent you from enjoying happy and healthy holidays this season. Of course, diet and nutrition is only one component of staying healthy through the holidays this year. A medical alert device is a discreet, affordable and travel-friendly way to stay connected to help should you experience an emergency. All of the Medical Guardian medical alert devices have the capability of traveling with you to see family for the holidays, ensuring that you can remain safe no matter where you choose to celebrate this year.
