Festive diet with an ostomy
Mrs T and I will be celebrating our 18th Christmas together this year, and as we are planning our Christmas Day menus it gave us cause to think about how our requirements and tastes have changed over the years. A traditional family dinner is a must, of course, but now that I struggle to digest certain vegetables, and Mrs T doesn’t eat meat, our menu for the last few years is somewhat different.
Christmas breakfast
We usually start our day with a light breakfast comprising of things we both enjoy; croissants, scrambled egg and smoked salmon are delicious accompanied by a glass of Buck’s Fizz and a tea or coffee. Nothing there gives me any potential problems and it’s lovely to start the day with a little bit of decadence.
The main event
Then, the main event. There are some compromises we as individuals are not prepared to make: turkey for me and Christmas pudding (homemade of course) for Mrs T. So, my menu might look something like this: roast turkey, Yorkshire puddings, sage and onion stuffing, roast potatoes, duchesse potatoes, sprouts, cauliflower, carrots and peas, all smothered with proper gravy and accompanied by cranberry sauce. Mrs T usually tries out a new plant-based main, last year she made a mushroom wellington that looked and tasted stunning – sadly mushrooms are another thing I avoid these days so I’ll take her word for it!
Are there any compromises as an ostomate?
So what compromises have we made there? One thing we always used to have was spiced red cabbage with our Christmas dinner, but I have struggled with this for years as it is never soft enough. Cooking for ostomates means that vegetables must be well cooked – and by that I mean soft. The cauliflower has to be just the florets with no stalk and along with the sprouts cooked until soft, but to jazz up the carrots we always have Vichy carrots. Vichy carrots are simply carrots that are cooked in a little water, sugar, and butter until they soften and start to caramelise. The butter and sugar mixture coats each piece of carrot with a delicious glaze that perfectly complements the natural sweetness of the carrot. Many ostomates struggle with peas, but I have found that petit pois are absolutely fine for me so we choose those whenever possible. At the end of the day, we accept that is perfectly okay to have plain vegetables that haven’t had some extras added for festive effect, even though Christmas recipes may be encouraging us to experiment with more exciting flavours.
You may wonder why pigs in blankets aren’t on my menu- the truth is that the bacon is difficult for me to eat and any sausages in skins are also difficult, so I may well just include a skinless pork chipolata to my plate if there’s a spare one in the freezer! One more thing to note is that the cranberry sauce is also a smooth version, any chunky sauces or condiments are a no-go really. But ultimately all the fantastic taste is there – its just the texture that has to be compromised.
Pudding
So then comes the pudding. Dried fruits and nuts are notoriously bad for ostomates to digest and anything with these traditional Christmas ingredients i gave up many years ago, its just not worth it. In the past I have suffered a partial blockage after eating either a slice of pudding or a mince pie – it was painful in the extreme. I was lucky it cleared on its own but it could have been far more serious; definitely not worth taking a further risk here. Nonetheless I do love a steamed pud with buckets of custard, so I look out for a syrupy or caramel version that I can enjoy without worrying.
It’s so much easier these days to find fun and festive alternatives to traditional Christmas food – it really is not worth risking your health just for the sake of sticking to the usual things. Why not try a chocolate Yule log or a Madeira Christmas cake instead? Both can be iced, frosted and decorated to make an awesome centrepiece and you can relax knowing that you’re far less likely to suffer after enjoying a slice or two. It’s also worth looking out for a panettone, with chocolate chips… I often substitute choc chips for dried fruit in baking, it really works.
So whatever you’re planning to include on your festive food list this year, I hope you enjoy a very happy and healthy Christmas and New Year. Take care all.