How To Host A Diabetic

Does one of your Thanksgiving guests require a special diet? Take these steps and they’ll have even more to appreciate.

- Jill Buchner

THE THANKSGIVING TABLE may be full of harvest goodies, but it’s also a bounty of carbohydrates, from stung to mashed potatoes to pumpkin pie, which break down into glucose. For diabetes suerers, those foods can lead to dangerously high blood sugar. Here’s how to make sure your dinner satisfies both their palates and their health needs.

Give your guest space. “When someone is living with a chronic health condition, they can get self-conscious about how people perceive their self-management,” says Sally Ho, a certified diabetes educator and registered dietitian at Motivate Nutrition in Edmonton. While some people feel comfortable testing their blood sugar in a group or giving themselves insulin at the table, others don’t. Direct them to a private space where they can take care of those needs.