Ah, the holidays.  Cookies, pies, fudge…all the temptations are there.  This was my first Thanksgiving in a keto-adapted state, and we were hosting my mom and aunt so I knew it could be a struggle for me.

Surprisingly, it was no struggle at all.  First of all, I planned ahead.  I found a low carb pumpkin pie recipe, and made that for a dessert option.  I planned to have green beans with our turkey, even though we would also have mashed potatoes and stuffing.  We skipped bread altogether, and my mom and aunt were totally supportive of all of this.

But we did have cherry pie, which is our absolute favorite.   Jonathan and I took very small pieces, and that was enough.  Needless to say it was the longest a pie has every lasted in our house!

We also didn’t deprive ourselves of mashed potatoes and stuffing, but we controlled our portions – just a small amount of each.  And we rode our bike that morning.

We ate around 3:00 pm, and I did not eat another meal that day so I would have adequate fasting time through the next morning.  The next day I checked my ketosis levels and I was over 1.0 mmol, which definitely surprised me, since we I had eaten more carbs than usual during the meal.  I think limiting the carb portions, exercising, and then fasting from early evening through noon the next day kept my ketosis levels up, though.

The other challenge was my mom’s spaghetti sauce and how to enjoy it without pasta.  She makes the best spaghetti sauce in the world.  So I learned how to make zucchini boats so Jonathan and I could enjoy the spaghetti sauce without the pasta.  I have to say it was a very tasty alternative!

I’ve learned that the keys for me to stay successful with ketosis are  portion control (if I’m eating carbs) rather than complete deprivation, continuing to fast as long as possible through the next day, and staying active, even if it’s just walking (we did a lot of that over the weekend).  Even though I wasn’t able to ride my bike much due to plans with family, I still felt great and I feel a lot more confident about going into the Christmas holiday.