Recently I wrote a series of blog posts discussing the ketogenic diet [1], Paleo diet [2], and carnivore diet [3] (I’ve discussed the AIP diet [4] in the past and so I didn’t include it as part of this series). When I was dealing with Graves’ disease in 2008/2009 I followed a restrictive diet during Thanksgiving and the rest of the holiday season. And many of my patients with hyperthyroidism/Graves’ disease and hypothyroidism/Hashimoto’s also avoid certain foods during this time of year (as well as other times). It’s never fun to restrict foods, especially during the holiday season, although keep in mind that even if you’re following one of the diets mentioned above, you can still enjoy the holidays while eating whole, healthy foods.
The truth is that there will always be reasons you can come up with to stray from whatever diet you’re following. There are birthdays, anniversaries, other holidays (i.e. Valentine’s day), summer cookouts, etc. No matter what time of year you’re trying to follow a strict diet it isn’t easy. And I realize that not everyone reading this will be following a specific diet, but the goal of this blog post is to give some encouragement to those who are following a restrictive diet.
Whether you are following a strict diet or plan on indulging more than you probably should, I want to wish you a Happy Thanksgiving!!!