“The absolute best thing to do is to start with open communication to get a lay of the land, and you do that by asking your guests about their food sensitivities,” says Barbara Olendzki, RD, MPH, the director of the Center for Applied Nutrition at the UMass Chan Medical School in Worcester, Massachusetts. Indeed, there’s a good chance that someone in your friend group has a digestive disorder. Roughly 60 to 70 million Americans suffer from a digestive disease, according to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. And a study published in April 2020 in Gastroenterology concluded that nearly 40 percent of the world population suffered from functional gastrointestinal disorders, which is a dysfunction in the gut-brain interaction — that is, the communication between the emotional and cognitive centers of the brain that affects intestinal function.
Find Out What Your Friends Can’t Eat
Given the prevalence of tummy troubles, it’s sage advice to take the pulse of the dietary dos and don’ts in your friend group before you end up having to chuck an entire dish of scalloped potatoes. “As a host, you want to invite that information so both you and your guests have a better time,” says Olendzki. She notes that once you know what your friends can’t eat, it’s often very easy to accommodate them. Friends with an IBD like Crohn’s disease may tolerate and enjoy a roasted veggie salad, honeyed Brussels sprouts, or garlicky green beans as a potential side dish. Those dishes are all healthy, delicious, and high in healthy dietary fiber. But some of those dishes may not work for friends with IBS whose symptoms are triggered by certain carbohydrates or cruciferous vegetables. Your friend with IBS may be on a low-FODMAP diet, which eliminates potentially problematic foods and is recommended for the treatment of IBS by the American College of Gastroenterology in its clinical guidelines. That often means avoiding Brussels sprouts, onions, and garlic. “Onions and garlic are often in abundance in Thanksgiving dishes, but there are workarounds for your friends with IBS,” says Megan Miller, RD, a clinical dietitian in the clinical nutrition department at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City. “One great tip is to use garlic-infused olive oil to get that garlic flavor.” To get onion flavor without using onions, try scallions or chives, suggests Jennifer Navaroli, RD, of Gastro Health in Acton, Massachusetts. She says the low-FODMAP diet may be tricky to understand for the uninitiated, and recommends using the simple Monash University FODMAP app to identify acceptable foods and recipes for your guests with IBS.
Swap Out Wheat and Dairy for Alternatives
Many dishes like gravy with mashed potatoes or pumpkin pie are made with wheat, dairy, or both, and may be problematic for your guests, especially if they suffer from celiac disease or lactose intolerance. “We’ve come a really long way in not only wheat and dairy replacements, but also the sheer number of delicious recipes available that are dairy-free or use a flour that’s not wheat,” says Navaroli. Wheat-free stuffings, like Aleia’s gluten-free savory stuffing, are now available in most grocery stores, or you can make your own, like this oat stuffing suggested by Olendzki. If you need flour to thicken your gravy, Miller advises using a wheat-free one-to-one substitute from Bob’s Red Mill or King Arthur Flour. She says almond, soy, oat, or coconut milk will work in your mashed potatoes. “There’s lots of dairy-free milk options, lactose-free cheeses, and lactose-free sour creams that are yummy and a satisfying substitute for dairy,” she says. One caveat: Don’t think you can replace condensed milk with almond milk in your pumpkin pie, Miller says. “When it comes to baking a pie, or making biscuits, or any dish where the wheat or dairy is central, a one-to-one substitute won’t be a success,” says Miller. “Instead, you should look for a new recipe that’s wheat-free or dairy-free and make that. Thankfully, there’s so many on the internet that it won’t be a challenge.” Here are three tips to keep in mind.
Label Your Dishes
Transparency is key. You don’t want Thanksgiving ruined when one of your friends gets sick, so make index cards to place by each dish listing the ingredients, suggests Navaroli. “That takes away any guesswork and sets your guests’ worries at ease,” she says.
Let Your Guests Do Some Work
If one or more of your guests is on a special diet, or has to avoid certain foods, let them make a dish or two that they really enjoy to show everyone how yummy their diet can be. “Side dishes are a wonderful opportunity for your guests to show their creativity,” says Navaroli. “But if they really want to dazzle, dessert is the way to go. Desserts that don’t use dairy or wheat can be very impressive.”
Have Fun
“Thanksgiving is about health, it’s about tradition, it’s about family, and that should always be top of mind,” says Olendzki. “As long as someone doesn’t have a life-threatening food allergy, you should be able to enjoy each other’s company and there should be plenty of food that everyone can enjoy.”
