Going home for the holidays. Need tips to stay on track.

why not help her cook? make some suggestions for just as tasty substitutions? my mom, i love her but she was so clueless. even though shes been dieting ever since i could remember and beyond. and i still had to teach her, like 20 times what a carb was and why it was a carb, things like that.

i also started helping her make some of the meals. but also just remember balancing what you eat. and you can treat yourself, maybe just suggest you all going for a nice brisk walk after?? you know, things like that.

also, i always just have like a little spoonful of the potatoes, a little spoonful of stuffing, etc. lots of water. of course, i end up drinking a bunch of wine. but i only see my family once every so often. plus i end up having 3!!!! thanksgivings. (parents are divorced - mom's then dad's and then my long term boyfriend and i go to his families). ha ha it gets to be alot but i am a pro by now.

Hi all,

We're headed up to see my family for Thanksgiving for a week. Love my mom and her food, but hers isn't the healthiest cooking. What's more, she feels the need to make decadent desserts every day that we're there, and gets offended (and quite pushy!) when we don't indulge. Even if I'm keeping small portions, she begs me to eat more. It's just her way: Food=love. Would really love to hear your suggestions on how to stay on track there. I'm not overweight, so telling her I'd like to stick to an eating plan frustrates her more. How do I politely let her know to back off a bit?

Thanks!

Im sorry... family or no family... you DONT have to eat as much as she keeps pushing on you. Explain to your mother ahead of time that you are making a willful decision to watch what you eat and that is a personal preference you plan on sticking with. If your mother cant respect that, then do you really need to go to her house for the holidays and stuff your face because "mom keeps pushing it" ?

The first time I moved out of my parents home, I made a promise to myself that I would never eat her cooking again. She was a "clean-your-plate' mother and when you pair that up with having diabetes go untreated as a child growing up, it created more health problems for me. Very unhealthy, my mother is, and her cooking is even worse... She has suffered a heart attack and a stroke, smokes like a train and I lost count on the number of prescriptions she is taking.

The times I have visited and they are starting to cook dinner, I cut my visit short and leave for home. The number of times they push me to stay and have dinner is rediculous. I had to put my foot down and tell my mother 'NO means NO"... I told her that the foods she chooses to eat, most of it I cannot ever have - it makes me medically sick and I need to take care of my health. I need you to understand this is important to me and that even 'this one time' can make me extremely sick.

Mom or anyone, regardess of relation... Its my terms.... not theirs.