How did you manage a Cohen's Christmas?

[thirtyone31]

Hi there

I will be on plan over Christmas and intend to stick with it 100%.

Just a question though, for those who have had a Cohen's Christmas.

Did you eat your usual, everyday food, or did you try and do something a little bit special with your allowances?

Any other tips for making it thru? I am hosting it this year so will be cooking/catering for 10 adults so want to be prepared so I don't get caught out and feel deprived!

Thanks

[danders]

Hey thirtyone, I wasnt on Cohens last Christmas but I will be this year. Im going to try and get a lobster tail - I wouldnt be surprised if everyone envies my lunch! At least we wont have to undo the buttons on our pants and feel stuffed all afternoon.

[jlou]

Hey I started last year on December 5 so Christmas was week 3 for me and I was 100%. Took my own food to MIL's house
I don't eat seafood but if you do I reckon some nice fresh prawns would do the trick. And a juicy nectarine for dessert - cut it into pieces and eat it in a bowl when the others are having dessert.
If you are feeling tempted make an excuse of checking something in the kitchen and leave the room to compose yourself.
Give yourself a mantra like "I will be slim, I am worth it, this is only one day and it is worth it!" and repeat it to yourself.
And visualize how great you will look next
Christmas and how gorgeous you will look in the photos
Next year - I can't wait to have some photos of me with my son on Christmas day where I don't feel embarrassed looking back at the pics.

[Mum Chum]

I found a recipe with turkey breast & did a mango stuffing. (Just for me). Very yum.
Next meal I had prawns, as did the rest of the family. Mine were done sepertely tho so I knew it was legal.
By Christmas, my family were used to me eating different meals to them any way.

[mcpsych]

Just had my usual piece of meat and salad and coke zero
looked at all the dips and chockies
put my halo on and continued

[Annabelle Joy]

I remember being impressed with Debs meal three years ago. It's shown here: http://newyouforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=4497

AJ

[thirtyone31]

Thanks for the replies everyone

I think what I will do is just have my food prepared and ready to go in the fridge, then I can run around doing everything else for our guests and won't have to worry about wanting to grab the first thing I see when I get hungry!

[Kirst]

OH MY just looked at what Deb had (thanks AJ) and sorbet oh YYYUUMMM! Shouldn't be too hard to make I don't reckon and will work a treat for xmas day. Especially with the heat where I am...anything cold on Chrissy day will be awesome!

Organisation is the key I'm thinking....now to go get organised

Kirst

[**Debs**]

I had to share that sorbet with all the kids at the table who decided it looked better than Christmas pud

[jlou]

Debs - Pellegrino ROCKS!!! 2nd only to champagne LOL

Another wayto cope with Christmas is to remove the focus on the food. Lots of folks without the money to have a big feast still have a lovely Christmas with family and friends enjoying the day together. Celebrate family, religion if you are religious and of course - the journey you are on to changing your life!

[Wendym1221]

excuse my ignorance but what is Pellegrino?

[jlou]

Tis what Robbie Williams toasted Take that's recent number one hit with - sparkling water but it isn't your average mineral water - it's from the Italian alps and is truly divine... With a price tag to match

[Wendym1221]

might have to keep an eye out for it to try it out.

[jlou]

It is in a green bottle - San Pellegrino

[**Debs**]

jlou is right.....

Pellegrino is beeeyoootiful

[findingmeagain]

I may have to give that a try!! I am going to roast my own little turkey breast for christmas this year, maybe bake some Cohens friendly veg to go with it....I will have to give the sorbet a go too.

[jlou]

This is a quote from the Brisbane Clinic Newsletter which I hope will help some members struggling with Christmas....

The Christmas excuses campaign has started already.

I'm getting DAILY emails and phone calls from people asking “How much is it going to affect me if I <insert vice here>”. And; “I'm planning to be good, but WHAT IF I get tempted?”

It occurs to me that just THINKING this way is really asking for trouble. You‟re trying to give yourself an excuse to break the programme.

This programme, as we've said before, is really all-or-nothing. You‟re either on it or you aren't. There's no "half way programme‟.

So many people have said “I'll just have a little break over Christmas, maybe a week or so”… I believe this is like taking a year off uni aged 18 and waking up at 30 still without a degree…

Has putting things off and procrastinating really ever worked?

One other really important thing to keep in mind is that this is just ONE Christmas. There's another one next year. Promise. Maintaining your programme strictly over this ONE Christmas will ensure that you maintain the momentum to finish the programme and thus possibly give you an additional 10 or 20 Christmases at the end of your life that you can eat whatever you want at.

I‟ve had a number of calls saying “… But we‟re going to a Friend's house for Christmas and I don‟t want to offend them”. It's really quite easy. Ring before hand. Explain you're on a restricted eating plan, written for you by a Doctor, which you HAVE to follow, and you'll bring your own dinner and would it be Ok for the host to put your dinner on a plate for you. Just think if the “Shoe was on the other foot”. If your friend rang YOU and asked for you to support her in her health (and weight loss) and could she cater for herself, SURELY you wouldn‟t be offended? After all, your friend is coming to your house because she enjoys your COMPANY, not for the food. (If it truly IS for the food then maybe you need to reassess your friends as well as your eating habits).

Being of European Descent, I understand the concept of “But my mum/aunty/grandma, etc will be offended…”. Really, if you ring before hand and explain, and stick to your guns, they can‟t be offended. So long as you make it clear you are doing this for your health, how could they complain? If they really don‟t understand, DON‟T GO.

A few things to keep in mind (some reiterating above thoughts):
o This is only ONE Christmas. You can do what you like next year.
o Christmas is for spending time with family, not eating.
o Stop using food as entertainment. Have a fun day without it revolving around food.
o Friends are not real friends if they sabotage your health.

Alcohol is the biggest bain of our phone calls this time of year. The number of calls we get asking “Is it OK if I JUST HAVE ONE drink?”.
NO IT'S NOT!

If it's not on the programme, it's NOT ON THE PROGRAMME!

We believe that ONE DRINK will cost you about 3-4Kg weight loss for the month.
(Must admit, sometimes I wonder whether the people asking are trying to convince me it‟s OK or themselves!)

So, if you would have otherwise lost 8kg in the month, ONE DRINK will alter that to 4/5Kg. (If you did have “just one drink” in a month and still lost 7kg, just think, it could have been 10)

Keep in mind, Deviating is a slippery slope. Saying “I'll have a week off and get RIGHT BACK onto it” is sort of like deferring uni “just for a year” at 18 and then waking up at 40 still with no degree…

A lot of people have asked me “How did you stay so strong. How did you stay on the programme for a WHOLE YEAR without deviating?” Want to know the secret? I‟ll tell, but shhh… It's fairly easy to understand: I was TERRIFIED. When I started I weighed 166kg. That takes some skill to get to, you have to understand. I was unwell. Seriously. All weight related. I knew that if I didn‟t do this, my weight would keep climbing until either I died, or there was a film crew outside my house filming as the fire department sawed the side out of the house to rescue me… That‟s pretty much it. Sheer terror. I was scared that just ONE little <whatever> would send me down the slippery slope to throwing the programme in and I felt I owed it to myself (and my kids) to not give up. I think that people who think it‟s OK to “have a bit of this or that” as they go through are simply kidding themselves.

Oh, and one last thought ESPECIALLY for all the Mums reading this… When you were pregnant you stopped drinking for the whole duration, didn't you? Don't you think it's important to potentially give your children their parent for an extra 10 years, just by giving up drinking for a relatively short time?

Obesity is a killer. We've all danced with the devil. Now it's time to reclaim our health, our family and our lives.

Have a great Christmas everyone.

[Wendym1221]

how is the sorbet made?

[Joy]

Wow, thanks everyone for some great tips. I was wondering how I was going to cope with Christmas this year. But thanks to this forum it is now very clear to me as to what needs to be done! the anxiousness that was building up inside of me has now turned to pure determination and that in itself I think will be my BEST Christmas present this year!

I was not feeling very Chrismasy, I think out of fear of weakness, thanks everyone for restoring my belief in myself. I think this was one of my greatest challenges since I have been on this programme. Now I am not afraid of celebrating this day and am looking forward to take this challenge head on

[Happy Barb]

I too have found this thread very helpful, as I have been wondering how to cope but plan on staying to my food. Think I will buy Christmas cake for Hubby this year, as he got 3 made last year, and that way it won't tempt me.