Enjoying the Holidays with a Foot-Healthy Diet
Overindulging on hearty food is a tradition for many during the holiday season. Turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, stuffing—we making your mouth water yet? While we’d never want to get in the way of you feasting on a good meal, you can definitely have too much of a good thing. If you have a condition like diabetes or gout, you need to be especially careful about your diet around the holidays. Remember that your feet are like any other part of your body—what you eat affects them, too!
The holiday table may include plenty of foods that can trigger inflammation throughout the body (including feet) and send your blood sugar spiking upward. Sugar, starch, and refined carbs are at the tippy top of that list, alongside saturated and trans fats. That poses a bit of a problem when it comes to traditional Thanksgiving side dishes—rolls, potatoes, stuffing, green bean casserole, and even mac and cheese aren’t exactly known for being gentle with your blood sugar. Now, you don’t have to utterly deprive yourself. However, picking a couple of your absolute favorites while limiting your portions and complementing with veggies or other healthier side dishes is a good strategy.
If you have gout, things get even more complicated. Gout attacks tend to correlate with a diet high in purines. In addition to all kinds of alcohol, most seafood, and red and organ meats, turkey—especially smothered in gravy—can be a painful trigger. Of course, virtually all meats contain some purines, but if you experience particularly frequent or painful gout attacks you should probably skip the traditional Thanksgiving bird and opt for modest portions of roasted chicken, lean beef, or pork instead.
While it might not be wise to go through four or five helpings of holiday dinner just the way that Momma used to make it, that doesn’t mean you can’t have a great holiday feast! A little bit of advanced planning (and, yes, self-discipline) should go a long way toward helping you enjoy a foot-healthy holiday season.
If, however, you do develop any pain or difficulty with your feet—whether the result of diet or something else entirely—please schedule an appointment right away with the Kansas Foot Center. You can reach our office in Wichita at (866) 222-5177, or leave us a message using our online contact form.