Hey everyone. So I’m in a bit of a conundrum. I’ve been strict keto for the past 6 weeks and love this way of life. I cant imagine changing. So far my husband is supportive but hes trying to lose weight by dropping calories so while I’m cooking keto every night for myself, hes in the kitchen cooking low cal food and my 12 year old cooks grilled cheese or ramen. Some nights she tries my keto but shes super stubborn and picky. For thanksgiving I announced that since I’m cooking, im making keto especially since my parents are coming who are also keto. Immediately my daughter announced shes going to her dads for Thanksgiving and my husband proclaimed hes picking up thanksgiving from Bob Evan’s since it’s his night off from his diet and doesn’t understand why I dont do the same. I asked them to at least try it and they are adamant. I love cooking and look forward to big family holidays every year I just dont want to ruin thanksgiving for everyone. What do you guys think I should do?
Thanksgiving...to keto or not to keto
As a side note since most people are probably going to say to cook multiple dishes, with carbs and without I am
- Cooking a turkey
- Making butternut squash casserole with candied pecan topping
- Smoked gouda and bacon mashed cauliflower
- Roasted brussel sprouts with bacon
- Zucchini and squash au gratin
- Keto dinner rolls
- Homemade cranberry sauce
- Pumpkin cheesecake
- Chocolate mousse trifle with keto brownies
- Oh I forgot sage sausage stuffing with fox hill croutons. I tried Carl’s recipe and it was delish
As is I am cooking for 3 days straight there is no way I can do any more
Given your menu, it sounds like they’ve got ZERO excuses for not eating it. You can’t make people do things, or stop them doing things. If they want it “ruined” then that’s up to them, it’s not like you’re only offering them spam wrapped in bacon fried in lard. (Shame @Baytowvin isn’t here, he’d love that. Come to think of it, I might try it…)
But you’re six weeks in, just on the cusp (probably) of switching to fat burning, and I’d be utterly disinclined to endanger that because other people refuse to cooperate in any way, despite your obvious best efforts.
OTOH, I did suggest car bombs as a possible solution the other week, so what do I know?
Haha! I like your style. Agreed I cant force them to eat my food but I can make them enjoy it if they do. Keto is flipping delicious. Sticking to my guns on this one
I am hosting this year also…26 people and my menu looks similar to yours…I have sent my menu and invited anyone to bring their “favorite traditional dish” if they feel they will be missing out.
They would be crazy not to eat that. Delish!!Absolutely! Thanksgiving at my house y’all! I’m thinking at this rate there’ll be plenty lol. I think my husband will cave…especially when he sees all the effort going in but I’m really racking my mind about how to keep my kid home for thanksgiving. Shes old enough where she can make her own decision about who’s house where wants to go to for holidays. Maybe I’ll try doing some trial efforts of what I’m going to make over the next couple of weeks and have her as a taste tester. That way she’ll realize it’s not diet food but “real” food.
Your menu looks delicious! My opinion might be unpopular but if you are worried about ‘ruining’ the holiday I don’t think it is unreasonable to have a non Keto dish for the others. I happen to like cauliflower mash but most people don’t.
Hope you have a fantastic holiday. 
Maybe I will put hubby in charge of the mashed potatoes if he wants them. He enjoys cooking as well…and a cook off. We will see who has the most leftovers…that would be fun
If it were me, the only thing I would maybe compromise on is maybe add a side of mashed potatoes and green beans. I don’t know what your standard thanksgiving looks like.
My mom mentioned the other day that she’s going to have to figure out some Keto friendly foods for my brother and me. I told her not to worry about it. Her standard menu is turkey, mashed potatoes, green beans, sweet potato soufflé, cranberry sauce, stuffing, rolls and deviled eggs. I plan to eat the turkey, deviled eggs (I bring them, so I will make them so I can eat them), green beans and sweet potato soufflé. The soufflé is not Keto, but she’s going to use truvia to cut down the sugar a bit. It’s my favorite holiday dish and I will have zero guilt for enjoying a little serving lol. The rest is all I usually eat when I go down anyway, minus a roll-no big deal for me not to eat one.
But regarding your menu, I personally don’t like cauliflower, Brussel sprouts, or zucchini, so Keto or not I wouldn’t eat those things lol. And my stubborn husband and daughters (12 and 10) wouldn’t touch those dishes with a 10 foot pole and they aren’t Keto. So I make potatoes and veggies they’re willing to eat as well. I would love for us to all eat the same, but they’re all of the age of free will and as stubborn as mules. It’s just not going to happen until they’re good and ready. So I make things for them too. Good luck!!!
I will be over! Quite frankly there isn’t much difference from my normal thanksgiving. I have a sister in law that went vegetarian and me on keto. My husband doing what your husband is doing. High blood pressure people diabetic people at my thanksgiving and at Christmas. If they want something special they need to let me know. I will make some keto things that I can eat especially for deasert. I think that you will find that they will all be there they love you.
Can you cook some things that are Keto and then a few things that aren’t? Turkey is definitely Keto. Dressing/stuffing isn’t but perhaps you can make a non keto version and another that is keto (use Keto bread). Don’t know what your traditions are. Maybe we should start a Thanksgiving thread w/ keto recipes, if there isn’t one already.
Awesome menu @Rei1216!
Very few folks would object to awesome tasting food that just happens to be LCHF.
I’m afraid you’re preaching to the choir, here. All of us would love to come over if your family bows out. 
Don’t I know it! 
God, that’s tough. Slap a grilled cheese on the griddle, I guess.
If you figure something else out, let me know, okay? 
I think this is a great plan. I hope it works!
And so you shouldn’t. Honestly, Thanksgiving is TURKEY, as long as you have that, everything else is fair game, I think. Look, like @juice said, it’s not like you’re offering them fired, bacon-wrapped spam (that does sound good), that’s an amazing menu! You may be right, after seeing all the work your doing, maybe your husband will capitulate.
So, the more I think about this, and the more I type, the more angry I get. When I read the title of your thread, I thought I was about to recommend something like, “go ahead and have a traditional thanksgiving, don’t feel guilty and beat yourself up over it.” But after reading your menu and all the work your planning, it’s obvious you’re coming from a position of love. And you’re struggling with whether to eat keto or not, BECAUSE you love them that much!
It’s not like you’re a vegan and feeding everyone tofu turkey. Rachel, I’d say stick to your plan, and hope for the best. I know I would appreciate the effort, and I hope they will too.
I’ll be at my in-laws, probably with the traditional fare, dreaming about your roasted brussel sprouts with bacon, zucchini and squash au gratin, keto dinner rolls, homemade cranberry sauce, and pumpkin cheesecake. 
I found Thanksgiving quite easy to adapt to Keto, and it was loved by all in attendance when I did it. A favorite was the faux sweet potato casserole made with butternut squash and cauliflower.
I have a 12 year old daughter as well, who also subsides on “carbage”. Her go-to’s are ramen noodles and cereal. If anything is labeled “Keto” she’s probably going to scoff at it. So I try not to label food as Keto vs Non-Keto.
That food looks great. I’m fasting today and just reading the list made me hungry!
You could tell that that you have listened to them and won’t be cooking keto after all, but then cook everything on that list and see if they notice that it is actually keto!!
Last year I was about 9 weeks into a keto way of eating at Thanksgiving. I was at my sister’s house for the holiday and I ended up compromising a little.
I didn’t eat all day (wasn’t hungry, didn’t want to be snacking all day until the meal which is usually how it goes, my sister puts out lots of appetizers). One of my nephews brought in a charcuterie board, but I had already made my plan and didn’t eat any of it.
I made cauliflower mash the day before (but my niece ate it all since she thought it was leftovers and fair game!). So I just didn’t have any mash.
I ate mostly keto, with the following exceptions: some cranberry sauce, some non-keto gravy, my stuffing (which is my mom’s recipe and the most important part of Thanksgiving for me), candied yams (again- my moms recipe, NO marshmallows), and some tastes of several pies. I kept my eating to a 90 minute window. I didn’t eat any of the leftovers (a major accomplishment for me)! I was back in ketosis when I checked the next morning. I was very stunned… and happy! It made it easy to resist the leftovers.
So my plan is to be more keto this year. Last year I was having a cheat/ treat meal once a month. It really helped me when I was just starting out. Anything that tempted me to go off plan, I could just say “not today”, if I still want this at the end of the month, I can have it for my treat meal. It worked for me and I went right back on plan the next morning.
I started keto mid-September 2017. I had a treat meal at week 5 for my sisters birthday in October, and a cheat meal at Thanksgiving and Christmas. I had an egg roll and dessert on my birthday in April. Nothing since. So I’m going to do my best to make Thanksgiving and Christmas completely keto this year!
The gravy will be easy to modify (konjac flour/glucomannan powder instead of cornstarch). I’m making a recipe for cranberries which uses xylitol (the only low carb sweetener that doesn’t crystallize after a day or so. BE AWARE, xylitol is very toxic for dogs in even tiny amounts). I am auditioning some low carb bread recipes so I can try modifying my mom’s stuffing, but if they don’t work out, I’m gonna be eating it anyway. That dressing IS thanksgiving and my childhood and my mom… for me and I’ve never tasted anything else like it. I’m going to try making the candied yams with Sukrin Gold and butter instead of brown sugar (or maybe xylitol and a bit of molasses). I’ll modify my keto cheesecake recipe to make it into a pumpkin cheesecake. I also have a recipe for a keto pecan pie to try and I’ll make some keto rolls. (FYI- Several of these recipes are from Carrie Brown’s Keto for the Holidays cookbook. I bought it the digital version, the format turned out very wonky in the Kindle app on my phone/ iPad. Still, her cookbooks are among my most treasured keto possessions. In the future, I’ll probably be buying the paperback versions of her cookbooks).
I honestly think most of my family wouldn’t feel deprived by any of the recipes I’m going to make this next year, with the possible exception of my mom’s stuffing recipe. I should note, however, that 3 of my sisters, a brother-in-law and 3 nieces are now eating ketogenically. I come from a very big family. So, while we are far from the majority, we are a growing minority!
I say, make your plan and stick to it! You seem to be coming from a generous, loving place. Hopefully that will carry you through the holidays. And in the end, you’ve gotta be happy with your decisions and you have to live with the health and body you create with your food choices.
Good luck!