What do you eat at Thanksgiving?

@marsiey Moderation is the key! It's okay to indulge a bit, in my humble opinion, but we need to be mindful that it could be a challenge to indulge then get back on track. If you're like me, and find that might be too much to ask myself to do, then don't indulge at all. Modify the usual meal to fit you.

Here are a few links to look at:
From DaVita [a dialysis company]: https://davita.com/diet-nutrition/articles/a-feast-for-giving-thanks/
From the National Kidney Foundation: https://www.kidney.org/news-stories/thanksgiving-feast-fit-people-kidney-disease
Again from the National Kidney Foundation: https://www.kidney.org/news-stories/healthy-kidneys-happy-thanksgiving-5-delicious-recipes-to-try
Will you take a look at these?
Ginger

@gingerw , thanks for the links to these articles. Since it's just the 2 of us, I'm not going to cook and we'll just have the Lean Cuisine turkey meal and have corn and green beans also. I found Kings Hawaiian rolls @75 mg per roll. Now j just need to figure out dessert.

@marsiey I've found that ground turkey can be a huge help. You can make a loaf and have slices or I'm doing ground with a white sauce this year in a casserole with vegetables and dressing on the bottom.

We have a 23 lb turkey (only a bit of which I will eat), gravy, mashed potatoes, seared brussels sprouts, corn casserole, sourdough gluten-free vegetarian stuffing, mixed fruit, and pumpkin and apple pies. Other spices will be substituted for salt, pies will be low sugar, and no processed foods. The GF bread is made with no salt and minor sugar. Juggling the CKD and FODMAP/GF diets is a bit of a pain.

I have to count carbs due to diabetes and follow a renal diet due to stage 3 CKD. We had an early Thanksgiving meal with my oldest daughter’s family 2 weeks ago because my granddaughter was performing in a high school musical. (She had the lead female role and she is only a freshman!) On 11/30 we will gather at my youngest daughter’s home for a late Thanksgiving lunch before another granddaughter has to head back to college. (She is a college freshman.) My kids and grandkids mean everything to me. I made / will make whatever my daughters asked me to contribute.
For whatever it’s worth this is what I’m doing on the actual Thanksgiving Day (it is just my husband & me): Cornish hens, stuffing, mashed potatoes & gravy, cranberries, mashed rutabagas, crescent rolls and ice cream for my husband’s dessert.
I will do the Cornish Hens on a fabulous appliance called a Nu-Wave. The stuffing is left over from my oldest daughter’s meal. She asked me to fix it then. The leftovers are in my freezer and just need to be reheated. Mashed potatoes are easy to do and the gravy is canned. The rutabagas are a tradition in my husband’s family. They are high in potassium but I only do it once a year. The cranberries are canned. I mix one jelled & one whole berry together. They are high in carbs but I only do that once or twice a year. It is easier than cooking the berries over the stove and adding sugar. My youngest daughter requested that I bring it on the 30th. (She also asked me to bring a green bean / corn casserole.) My husband requested the crescent rolls. I get the pop out ones compliments of my friend the Pillsbury Dough Boy. I took King’s Hawaiian Rolls to my oldest daughter’s event and they were gone in a flash. I took pumpkin pie to my oldest daughter’s dinner (my son in law’s request). I bought a bakery pie from a mom and pop grocery that I’m fond of and they also had mini pie tarts so I took a package of them too. I ate 1 of them then and plan to abstain from dessert on T day and on the 30th.
That is how I role. I will make, buy and / or contribute stuff for a big family meal. It is satisfying to see other’s enjoy things. Then I can more easily control myself to eat what and how much I should. My Dr. told me long ago to NOT deprive myself of good things but to limit portion size to a bite or teaspoon of something. Eat it slowly and savor it, then be done with it. It helps to share food with others and eliminates the stress of feeling wasteful. The main thing is that if you end up overindulging, at least enjoy it; then get back on the wagon as soon as possible.

It's also only my husband and myself for Thanksgiving. We don't eat huge amounts either and watch ourselves with my being on a strict renal diet. The thing we do is to purchase a Lean Cuisine turkey meal. It's delicious and the right amount. We add a dinner roll (1 each) thankfully these come in a 4 pack now for those of us who don't have large gatherings. We also add a small amount of cranberry sauce as a side. It feels like Thanksgiving with this meal. I also purchase two each of them so we can have the second meal the same day again and it's like leftovers. That way you have the right portions, amounts and no huge piles of food left over. Let us know what you decide to do.

@happilyalive, since we just found about my husband's CKD right before Thanksgiving, I was pretty bummed because Thanksgiving and the feast was always my favorite holiday, so it felt like with all the restrictions, all the joy of food was being eliminated. We had the Lean Cuisine turkey meals, with some corn and green beans, and each had a Hawaiian roll. That way, like you said, at least we knew the nutritional numbers. I like your suggestions of buying 2 meals each--one for "leftovers". However, I felt it was among the worst holidays ever because I really missed the feast.
Since then I have been researching and buying cookbooks for CKD. Margaret's response mentioned a turkey loaf, and I just found a very good recipe that even my picky husband liked, so I know I can make that in the future also. But nothing compares to a nice Butterball turkey with lots of stuffing, gravy and mashed potatoes! Now all I want to do is sit the holidays out. Hopefully as I learn more and find good recipes it will feel better.

Wow, I totally felt all of your frustration in your post and totally agree. I do miss both entertaining and feasting. I can no longer do that but am discovering many recipes but have a lot to still attempt to make and try. Some, I made and then tossed immediately into the trash can. A few others we have had multiple times. If you ever want someone to share recipes with then I'm here. The best meatloaf I've ever made, ate or enjoyed is a CKD recipe. At first glance a person would totally think, "Yuck" but after one bite then we were hooked. Now, it's our favorite one. The turkey loaf you mentioned sounded good but I have no clue of the recipe. This year I'm thinking that I'll totally slack off on crafting and mainly experiment on cooking. Also, may I ask what stage your husband's CKD is at? I look forward to learning more from you. Thank you immensely for sharing. May I ask the name of the cookbook that the turkey loaf was in and who was the book written by? I would love to go and purchase it. Thanks a bundle and let's cook on. 🙂 Merry Christmas.