My Top 7 Tips to Help You Enjoy Celebrations With Food Restrictions and Goals - Elaine Watkins

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Parties, family gatherings, holiday celebrations, and get-togethers with friends can be enjoyable times to laugh and celebrate and catch-up on what’s been going on with everybody. But they can also present challenges that could end up with you feeling lousy in the aftermath. Save yourself the misery by considering my top 7 tips to help you enjoy celebrations with food restrictions and goals.

Every situation is different, but I imagine even adding one of these can make a difference and save you from difficulty.

I know in my situation, immediately after getting my “no more gluten” directive from my doctor, I sorta froze.

Since I didn’t really know where gluten was, other than bread and pasta, I mostly stopped eating anything that I didn’t make until I got a better understanding of where problem ingredients hide out. Then I created a plan that I could easily stick with, no matter what the circumstances, to avoid problems.

A Quick Look at My 7 Tips to Help You Enjoy Celebrations With Food Restrictions and Goals

Navigating a food restriction can vary, depending upon what you’re trying to avoid And how common it is used as a hidden ingredient. While I initially only dealt with a gluten restriction, my family experiences problems with other foods too. With our combined challenges, I have found that these seven tips are commonly helpful:

Plan ahead
Eat before you go
Bring healthy food options
Get your food early
Carry snacks with you
Opt out or replace
Plan for when you can’t prepare

Of course, every celebration is a little different and not every one of these tips will always apply, but consider these as helpful tips that you can apply when and where appropriate to avoid difficulty, discomfort, and regret.

Plan Ahead

An early but important piece of my journey wasn’t actually tied to particular celebration.

It drove me crazy when I would be out with friends, we would end up a some restaurant, and I wouldn’t have a clue as to what was safe for me.

Sipping on a hot herbal tea while a friend chows down on a gourmet burger and fries isn’t a problem for me, but being limited to an herbal tea if I was actually hungry is a problem.

So I decided to do some research.

I started pulling up the online menus of our favorite restaurants and drink shops in my area and picked out at least one meal or drink that appeared safe as my “go-to” choice the next time I stopped by. If I had questions, I simply called or stopped by during a slow time and asked. This enabled me to find out what was truly safe for me, without feeling awkward or embarrassed And it enabled the restaurant representative to really answer my questions without the pressure and freedom to find out if they didn’t know.

When it comes to catered celebrations or celebrations and gatherings at restaurants, I’ve already got that information in my head, so ordering is quick and easy.

Eat Before You Go

This is a pretty straight-forward strategy that can really help you get enough to eat, particularly for potluck-type celebrations and gatherings and there’s potential for you to have limited or no options at the celebration.

You comfortably fill up on safe and nourishing food and avoid hunger during most celebratory gatherings, but this strategy can also set you up to deliberately schedule in time to calmly eat in a way that will support digestion and absorption and lower your stress level before jumping in to all the excitement.

Bring Healthy Food Options

Whether its a big crock pot full of pinto beans minus the flour (for thickening), a beautiful relish tray with lots of veggies and your favorite and safe homemade dip, or chicken skewers that you’ve marinated in a tasty coconut aminos blend,

I typically want to get a bit creative on occasions like potlucks, but there’s definitely something to be said for a basic, filling, delicious dish that everyone will recognize and enjoy too. Some of the options I’ve taken to gatherings include:

roasted, seasoned pecans and cashews, like this one, with lots of flavor options
crockpot filled with beans like these or these
fresh fruit and/or veggie trays with yummy dips
lots of baked options like cookies like these, muffins and breads often loaded with nuts and seeds to be more filling
potatoes like these or these since potatoes are usually a quickly disappearing option
hummus like these or these with veggies and crackers maybe including these

Every gathering is different, but I usually aim to bring food that would be yummy and easy to transport and serve, but also filling if it ends up being the only option we can eat.

Get Your Food Early

Depending upon how the food is served during your gathering, by seeking to choose and serve up your portion early helps you avoid:

missing out on the food that’s safe to eat
possible mixing in of unsafe ingredients due to switched serving utensils, drips, and more

Something that has also helped in several situations for me personally has been to called ahead of the celebration, talk to the organizer, and see if you can get an idea about what food and drink options will be served. Of course, depending upon the celebration, this might perfectly fit into that phone conversation that’s already going to happen when they call to invite you or you call to RSVP.

Carry Snacks With You

Whether you choose to stash them in your purse or keep them in your car, it’s probably always wise to keep a healthy, travel-friendly snack available for when a need arises.

I can simply say this one tip alone has saved me So Many Times, too many to count.

Definitely consider options that are filling and nutritious, to keep you satisfied for a while. Something as simple and filling as an apple with a little almond butter and cinnamon is one of my personal favorites, but even simpler are health sweet and savory snacks.

You can check out my Curry Honey Cashews or my Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies as simple, homemade recipes that are both filling and travel-friendly.

A few other ideas that you might be interested in are:

There are other options out there with clean ingredients that will keep you satiated, but these three are the ones I’m most familiar with that also have Subscribe and Save order options that can cut the cost a bit.

Opt Out or Replace Your Celebratory Sweet or Drink

Every situation is different, so I can say this has worked out in a variety of ways for me personally. In the past, I’ve:

held but not eaten servings of cake and alcohol
chosen alternate options that were safe for me
brought similar but alternative options that were safe for me

I don’t know what your comfort-level is stuff like this. I do know, though, that asking myself this simple question helps in making decisions in group settings:

Am I okay with making a choice that I know will make me sick?

I hate feeling crummy. I hate being sick, fatigued, nauseated, and experiencing all the other crummy symptoms I get after eating something I shouldn’t have. The cost is too great. So if I get into a spot where I’m asking myself this question, my answer is pretty much 100% NO.

If you’re faced with the same dilemma, let me just say you’re not alone. Let’s just pause here and celebrate protecting our healthy futures together.

Plan for When You Can’t Prepare

Sometimes celebrations or gatherings can be very spontaneous or suddenly change. Definitely a situation where you might get caught unsure of the food options. Aside from the speed research on the restaurant online menu, what else can you do?

check out some of the other tips shared earlier that might still carry you through this type of situation
opt for food options that limit potential risks (for me that would include excluding gravies/sauces, cheeses)
create your own (salads are almost always easiest for me to make safe after I ask to exclude problem toppings + add my own dressing)
create a meal from the side dishes and other areas that might be more easily controllable

We often bring our own homemade creamer or salad dressing, so we can enjoy a nice cup of coffee or a delicious salad and without problem chemicals, hormones, and more.

If it’s a spontaneous gathering at someone’s home, don’t forget you can pick up something on the way, including ingredients to build alongside the host/hostess as they prepare and lay everything out. It’s always fun to work with friends and family as you create a delicious meal.

NOTE: We get 4 ounce bottles of Sweet Leaf Stevia regularly at our home. These bottles (or something similar) are great to recycle as your travel bottle for homemade salad dressing. Choose something that fits perfectly in your purse, and you’re good to go.

You’ve Got This

You can totally do celebrations without the discomfort caused by eating and drinking what you know will cause problems.

Hopefully these 7 tips to help you enjoy celebrations even with food restrictions can be useful to you in at least most of what you might experience.

With just a little early information gathering and a plan that fits your needs without a whole lot of burden, you’re sure to be a success.

My guess is the family and friends you might be with for the celebration, even if they don’t understand And even if there are some that might give you a hard time, wouldn’t want you to knowingly do something that will make you suffer. And who knows? Maybe you’ll even help someone discover something about themselves in the process.