Holidays Still Happen...
Pretty much everywhere I went today, I heard the same
refrain, “Enjoy the long weekend”, “Have a great holiday”, or some other line
expressing the same sentiment.
Yes, tomorrow is a holiday (at least here in the great U.S. of A) and
that means fireworks, days away from the office, and of course: cookouts. For
some reason, holidays in our society have becoming increasingly focused on two
things: food and commercialism. I guess one could argue that these are 2 sides
of the same coin. Regardless, there’s nothing easy about your first holiday on
a restricted diet.
Before I continue, there is something you should know about
me: I LOVE traditions. So much so that it became a family joke growing up. I’m
a person who likes familiarity and routines. To me, each holiday had specific
actions, rituals, smells, sounds, sights, and yes foods. Without these, it just
wouldn’t be the same. Well, imagine my surprise when Christmas rolled around
and I learned candy canes were no longer an option, when Valentine’s Day came
and 90% of my “To Miss Burke, Love Your #1 Student” treats (apparently I had 20
#1 students that year) ended up in my friends’ kitchens, and of course that
dark day when October arrived and I learned that my relationship with candy corn
was over. Honestly, I can handle a lot but that was just too much. You’re
talking to the girl who used to stock up the day after Halloween. I’ve been
known to have bags left in March. I wish I were kidding…
Now I have yet to confront my first Easter without chocolate
(well I guess technically I did this year but I don’t think it counts since I
was sitting in Urgent Care with hives)…so prayers will certainly be appreciated
come next April :-) The point is holidays will be hard for the first year because there will
inevitably be something else that you can’t have anymore which never crossed
your mind. The good news: this is the perfect opportunity to start new
traditions…and to focus on other aspects of holidays that you may have
overlooked before!
1)
Try to find safe versions of old favorites: A few years ago, my
sister started a new tradition of making homemade macaroni and cheese as a side for Thanksgiving
dinner. She just switched the noodles to gluten-free ones. Easy fix. I used to
make chocolate chip cookies for just about every holiday. Now I just make
egg-free, dairy-free, almond flour chocolate chip cookies. Not too different.
If you haven’t become friends with pinterest yet, you need to. As soon as you
finish reading this…I’m serious.
2)
Food Fades Away…Family Doesn’t: Whether the
major grocery stores and
Butterball want you to believe it, holidays really were not always about the
food. Well, maybe Thanksgiving…that whole learning togrow corn thing was pretty
important. We’ve all seen enough Hallmark
holiday tv specials to know the real value of a holiday is found in the
people with whom you share it. My first gluten-free Christmas still
stands
out
in my mind as one of my favorites. While I normally would spend much of the
afternoon laughing and talking as I helped arrange biscuits on baking sheets or
refilled plates of mozzarella sticks, I instead found myself sitting for hours
next to my grandfather. Instead of running back and forth between the kitchen
and the living room, I just stayed: listening to story after story of
Christmases past and watching as my grandfather took in the sites of Christmas
present. I noticed things I never would have in my normal holiday haste: the
pride on his face as he watched his wife and daughters finish dinner
preparations, the joy in his voice as he spoke about his grandchildren, and the
twinkle in his tear-filled eyes as he watched his great-grandchildren rip open
their presents. It was the first time I understood in a very real,
non-tacky/Hallmark sense that the beauty of a holiday really is in moments like
those. The trays of delicious treats will be a distant memory in no time…but
conversations and time spent next to my grandfather will stay with me for years
to come…until I’m sitting with my own grandchildren telling them the same
stories about a man they’ll never be lucky enough to know. It was the first
time I really saw my new lifestyle as a gift. It may not have happened for you
yet…but I promise you it will.
 |
| Christmas 2011- One of my favorites :-) |
3)
Focus on the Fun: Besides family, holidays are
also all about fun! Granted, a lot of times this fun seems to be intertwined
with food…but there’s no reason it has to be. Or that it has to be tied to a
food you can no longer consume. The running bug bit me about 5 years ago.
Living with 2 Varsity track stars during my senior year at Villanova was enough
to get me going. (Frances and Jill, I bet you didn’t realize your passion would
be so infectious…but look what you started!) Before I knew it, I was signing up
for 5Ks, 10Ks, relay marathons, and even a half-marathon. And each year, there
was a tradition I was excited about: the Pumpkin Pie 5K. (I know, most places
have turkey trots but what can I say, we’re unique in the Pocono/Lehigh Valley
area). Now for a variety of reasons (mostly travel-related) it proved
impossible for me to make it to Bethlehem, PA in time for the Pumpkin Pie 5K.
And with my newfound gluten issues, pumpkin pie waiting for me at the end of a
5K was no longer an incentive, but a recipe for disaster.
So I decided to do what anyone would: start my own 5K. And convince my
family to join me. The beauty is we couldn’t run until all family members had
arrived…which is usually about 1 PM. So suddenly not being able to snack on the
trays and trays of food all morning didn’t seem like a burden…instead it was
part of my strategy. Maybe some people can chow down before a 5K but I am
certainly not one of them. Now of
course every good 5K needs a theme…and some kind of reward at the end. So I settled
on a treat that we had always enjoyed as a family on Thanksgiving, but one
which had taken on new meaning for me in my suddenly limited state: apple
cider. Hence the Burke Family Cider Dash was born. It was a resounding success
(at least I think so) and it made Thanksgiving more about family, fun, and
fitness…rather than just food.
 |
| Just look at those smiles! The family that runs together, stays together...or something like that :-) |
So as
you face your first (insert food here)-free holiday tomorrow, take my advice.
Bring your own safe snack. Make it patriotic (blueberries, strawberries, banana
skewers anyone??). Be careful with the food aspect of the holiday…but most
importantly savor the moments. Take in the beauty of the fireworks, share a
laugh with the grillmaster, have a fireside conversation with a friend while
roasting marshmallows (whether you consume them or give them away), etc.
Whatever you do, remember that each holiday is a gift…don’t waste it by
dwelling on the aspects you can no longer enjoy.
Happy
4th of July!!
In
case strawberry,blueberry, banana skewers aren’t enough to satisfy your sweet
tooth, try bringing these to the BBQ:
Almond Flour Chocolate Chip Cookies:
·
2 cups almond flour (or I used almond
meal…either one)
·
¼ cup coconut oil
·
½ tsp baking soda
·
¼ tsp salt
·
1 tbsp maple syrup (100% pure if you can)
·
1 tsp vanilla
·
as many chocolate chips as you want (for me
that’s a lot!)
o I
used EnjoyLife dairy/soy/gluten free chips…you may need to venture to
WholeFoods or a local organic market to find them
Bake for about 10 minutes at 350
degrees. Pure delciousness. Just make sure to warn anyone that has a nut
allergy since it’s ALMOND flour :-)
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