Since so many are struggling with this dilemma this holiday, I thought everyone might like to read this article in the latest Low Carb Luxury online magazine:

http://www.lowcarbluxury.com/newsle...4-no24-pg4.html

Subscribe! It's free, and very good.

Happy Holidays to everyone! And to all a good weight.

Thank you for posting that!!!!!!
It was a true inspiration. I'm even a little misty!

Thanks very much!
I signed up for the magazine too, it looks fantastic!!

Jenn

heh, in the other window I had just opened my issue of LowCarb luxury at the same time as waiting for this page to load

I'm definetly going to treat. I have plans for a white chocolate, chocolate chip cheesecake for my b-day Tuesday.

The only catch is it is going to be a LC cheesecake that's sugar free (the white chocoalte comes from DaVinccis) and the chocoalte chips are unsweetened carob chips (I'll try one and if they are nasty don't use them)

I never get why people have to go for an all or nothing addatude. I can have all my holiday treats, while staying LC just by doing a little baking and planning. I've found a recipe for almost everything. There's a coconut shortbread cookie I plan to try when my coconut gets in (which should be today).

Ladybelle,
It is not that we have an "all or nothing" attitude, it is just that temptations are there when we are away of our safe kitchens. If I am planning my holiday feasts for home, I am doing the whole LC thing all the way. But when we are invited somewhere else, then we are away from our "safe little world" and that is when we have to make an effort to not cheat. You yourself have said in other posts that sometimes you feel tempted to taste the free samples from the grocery store bakery. Well, imagine that multiplied by the loads!!

As for me, I will "treat" but not "cheat" by making low-carb desserts to bring with me to parties and dinners and by carrying a couple Endulge candy bars in my purse for those occasions where the treats are being offered right and left and temptation kicks in!

latin girl, I'm not saying I'm not occasionaly tempted, though fo rme it's usually curiosity about something new I want to see how it tastes.

The all or nothing remark was more for the people who announce they are going to have all out binges and gorges for multiple days just because it's a holiday. They don't happen on temptation, they find it and bring it home.

And the kitchen isn't always safe. Thanks to well meaning santas at schools, bosses and so on we have about 10 different kind sof holiday treats ranging from different cookies to fudge and pretzals coated in many ways. They just havn't tempted me Tonight I'm going to an art show at my son's preschool. While I was picking him up they were already laying out the plates of goodies.

I plan on making lc treats for myself, and regular for those not lc-ing.

My big "thing" is that a few people have already posted that they lose control when they're baking for others, because they "have to". Yes, our families and friends love the homemade treats, and we feel good making others happy... but if you can't do it without blowing your plan, who's needs come first?
People won't die of you choose not to love them with food. If you love yourself, you'll put yourself first. If I decide when the time comes that I can't trust myself around teh "regular" treats....guess what? EVERYBODY is getting sugarfree pie...

What great timing for this article. I just finished making 4 batches of pretzels with Hersheys hugs melted on top (320 total), 4 dozen Russian Tea cakes and 2 dozen orange balls for after the Sunday school program at church this Sunday plus 2 batches of Church Window cookies for my 2 daughters' holiday party at school tomorrow. While my family was quite happy to sample for "quality assurance", I haven't had a single one.
I don't think I could have done that a couple of years ago (who am I kidding...I would have had to make a couple of extra batches because of my "quality sampling"), but this year even the chocolate from the Hugs smelled sickeningly sweet to me and I wasn't terribly tempted. I admit, the Russian Tea Cakes were hard to resist, but now that they're made and put away, they're not calling to me like they would have a few years ago.
Of course, I did have some sugar-free chocolate in the house so I would have another option just in case I was tempted, but the bag is still unopened.
Tomorrow is our Christmas potluck breakfast at work. I'm bringing...scrambled eggs mixed with sausage and covered in cheese.

Ladybelle, thanks for clarifying that. I now understand what you were saying before. I guess I'm kind of "sensitive" since I have this party tomorrow and I'm afraid of myself! I am afraid that I'm not going to be strong enough...
I also have goodies in my kitchen. Somebody gave us a basket of nuts and dried fruit. I will have to hide it or at least keep it away from the counter.

My DD will be starting a cookie recipe this year that my sister has always made.. She will be making crescent cookies and they are not low carb. My DD will start this tradition. I have so many Christmas tins to fill and I plan to do so with Lc and regular desserts. Im going to make SF peanut Butter balls/chocolate covered. Im also going to do a lc carrot cake. Rocky Road fudge/brownies and crescent cookies are snacks for everyone else. I havent decided whether I want to do a pecan pie or cheesecake, and whether or not its going to be low carb.

I have yet to read the article but I will. I made the low carb cheesecake because of cookies and candies that were given to me as gifts from students/ not family or coworkers. When I want something sweet, I have no excuse to eat that chocolate truffle because I have the wonderful cheesecake. BUT one truffel has only 8 grams of carbs so if I decide to include one in my diet for the day, I count that with the other carbs. I never, deliberately, cheat without knowing how bad my cheat is.

See the problem with this strategy is that it means one has to be good at baking and cooking. I've got two really good LC cookbooks but everything I make is either too sweet or too dry and just doesn't taste the same at all. So going sugar free over Christmas is a lot easier for ppl who can bake LC. I've yet to taste a really nice LC baked product. LC choc is great but even store bought LC baked goods don't taste as nice.

It would be a lot easier to go sf over Christmas if the substitutes were just as good as LC choc.

Therefore some people like myself choose to indulge for a very defined, limited amount of time.

i make sugar cookies and butter-press cookies for my kids. i made them earlier and resisted all temptation, but this second batch and the holidays got the best of me.....i will say this, though....i didn't eat the whole batch by myself....i ate a few because i really wanted to....not like in the past--when i just ate one after another because they were there. i woke up today, put them right into the freezer to stay fresh for the kids--and got right back on track. i hope that this new found control can stay with me!

I'm glad I dont have to do any regular baking this year, that temptation would be tough to deal with. As for surviving holiday parties, I've managed to either eat first or bring some SF candies with me so I dont feel like I'm missing out. My new favorites are Russel Stover Butter Nut Toffee Bars.. soo very good. Tastes like Almond Roca.

Life doesnt always work out how you plan it though so at times you can find yourself starving with no good choices around or in a social situation where it might be seen as rude to not eat something. In cases like that I dont consider it a "cheat" because it wasnt like you *wanted* to go off the diet for a meal. When I think of it like that its easier to pull myself back from one bad meal and go right back to low carb.