My advice is simple: ENJOY CHRISTMAS! A few days will not make or break your health kick.

How many years had you not been paleo? Seriously, the negatives (stress, less fun, not enjoying christmas ffs!) of trying to stick to paleo FAR FAR outweigh the benefits of sticking 100% to your guns.

If you just try and make healthy choices (example: eat the turkey, skip the gravy. eat the pudding, skip the ice cream. drink, but in moderation), you'll get the best of both worlds.

Hope this helps. I've been a health nut for years, but you're damn right Im eating chocolate, cakes and mince pies next week^^

Don't worry, enjoy the holiday, and embrace the necessity of food. Even if the family provides the worst of commercialised SAD for christmas dinner, grok would still have eaten what was available and shook of the effects. Some people de-paleo just to reaffirm their commitment. If there's particular foods like gluten you want to avoid as it has a longer-term impact, that shouldn't be too uncomfortable, but for the most part the food, while not necessarily of the best quality, is not going to kill you within a few days. Use whatever control you have to take more of the parts of the meal which are preferable. If it's really bad, eat minimally so as to minimise discomfort all round. If you need to, you can fast when you get home.

Above all, exude an aura of quiet confidence and calm, even if you're not entirely happy with the food choices you're having to make. Otherwise the pressure might be too much and you'd lose all control. And, well, actually that's really not that big a deal either. If it helps, I tend to join in with big meals, but otherwise can pick and choose at other meal times, perhaps take some of my preferred snacks/travelling food, or even go to the store and buy something to cook for myself. But then, I could fast for several days. Seems to miss the point of the holiday to me though.

Focus on the dead critter that is the main course, and any veggies that aren't covered nasty sauces. If you can bring a dish then make something paleo. Those who don't know paleo will be none the wiser.

A couple of things you could do:

-Offer to bring a dish or an appetizer to the main holiday dinner. You could do something like a shrimp tray or a big mixed salad bowl... lots of good paleo options that others would probably eat as well.

-Eat your other meals at decent restaurants. Most decent places will have some paleo friendly choices. If you are worried about being able to find good place, you could do some research online before you go. Order two meals when you are there and ask to have one them boxed up, you can eat this meal the next day if you are staying with someone over night.

-Pack a little bit of non-perishable food like jerky/pemmican/canned fish.

-Make the best choices possible. A couple meals of crappy food likely won't kill you. Just be reasonable with your portions and such, don't binge on junk like sugar cookies and cheesecake. You are only looking at a few days out of the year, don't let food make you holidays miserable.

I get anxious just thinking about your problem. Like you , I unfortunately have no tolerance for SAD /NADS. none! I don't vomit, but I will get depressed/fatigued. Options. Bring your own cooler or two. One for the house, and a secret one for the car! This is real Mission Impossible stuff. I'm sure there will be no room in their Fridge. Just pretend to eat the crap, and sneak off to your coolers. plus Bring food platters of things no on else will eat (offal plate with lots of toothpicks!) all nicely "decorated for xmas". You'll be able to eat the whole thing. Bring your own potatoes and butter. Smile alot. Last resort,show them your abs and tell the assholes to f*ck themsleves , you're not poisoning yourself for their pleasure/comfort. Sorry, back to reality. Just pretend it's Hogans Heroes and pretend your mother in law is Capt. Klink. and .. Next year , just don't go, if it becomes Too much". To sum it up. THE COOLERS ARE THE KEY. Without THEM you are up the proverbial creek.Hogan always had his coolers.

Agreed with the person that said ENJOY CHRISTMAS. You need to relax. My motto is that the stress of not eating Christmas dinner with your family is far more detrimental than some sugar or wheat. If you would like some tips to mitigate the effects here are some:

1) Intermittently fast before events. For example I have a X-mas party today with cake, martinis, and tons of other neo food. I do a 24 hour fast to help with calories, as well as get some benefits of IF.

2) Go for the protein. Most X-mas dinners have a large piece of meat, and a bunch of side dishes. Load up on the protein and veggies and then have a little bit of the sides. Make sure to tell whoever made whatever side how good it is and that they see you eat it.

3) Do a weight lifting session before (or if you're in a rush, some box jumps and body weight exercises- push ups etc). The glycogen (carbs) will then go to your muscles instead of your gut.

4) Skip most desserts. You can just feign being too full or that you'll have some later. Also skip all non alcoholic liquid calories.

5) Create a calorie/neo buffer the day before and after. Eat super clean and low cal. Maybe even just eat meat and eggs the day after to help with any bloating/water retention.

6) RELAX! Seriously. I can't imagine you there with a long face X-mas dinner. If Paleo is going to gain widespread acceptance we have to be a little less rigid. Now your family thinks Paleo = spoils Thanksgiving and that is not true at all!

Here is a great link for the holidays. Cheating done right!

http://www.leangains.com/2010/11/cheat-day-strategies-for-hedonist.html

I had my first Paleo Thanksgiving last month. The way I handled it worked for me. I hope it might work for others. I didn't tell anyone about my diet. When the food was put on the table, I just ate what was paleo -- the turkey, the veggies, and some sweet potatoes -- and just let the other dishes pass. No one said anything or even noticed because they were all so focused on their own plates of food and on the socializing. I'd even made a pumpkin pie for the occasion and when it was served, just said "no thanks" and no one cared.

There's a natural tendency to "not rock the boat" when you visit in-laws, but it's more healthy to realize these folks are now family. If you went to your mom's you wouldn't hesitate to say "wheat makes me sick so I have to skip that." You wouldn't hesitate to take some fruit and shrimp to "add to the feast."

So treat your new family the same way you'd treat the old--take care of yourself and have a good time.

Eat. Get over your paleo whims and enjoy family, friends and food during the holidays. January 1 will be here before you know it and you can refocus again at that time.

I took a jar of coconut butter to this year's paleo-unfriendly visit to my in-laws. A few spoonfuls here and there tided me over the carbiest parts.

Good advice from others here - I think going easy on yourself is number one, but also if you're gonna cheat on the big day, figure out what treat you like the most and go for that. Give yourself full permission, savour it, and make it feel special. Instead of just angrily inhaling rum balls all day and making yourself sick.

And I plan to go for a brisk walk on Xmas day with my dad, between breakfast and dinner, so I don't just feel like a beached whale in front of the fireplace all day.

I also will probably prepare a Paleo-friendly appie and dessert so I have something I can eat and also hope to impress my family with how good Paleo can taste.

PS. What's a relish tray?

Eat. Enjoy. Relax. We stress ourselves way too often these days with the "all or nothing" approach, it makes our lives sometimes nearly impossible. We join the gym, we have to work out at least 7 days a week, start to go running, we have to finish a marathon in under 3 hours, we go paleo, we can never have neolithic food EVER again. It takes the fun out of everything and just adds stress. What's the worst that can happen? Will the paleo police show up and arrest you? Will the door going back to paleo forever be shut? Most likely, you'll feel sluggish or maybe a bit uncomfortable, but it will only remind you that the lifestyle you've switched to is so much better. The reason why other people freak out about it, is because they are being confronted with perhaps their own poor eating habits, but that is not your problem to solve or fix. Being a vegetarian for a long time, i know what it's like to "stand out" I just chose not to let it bother me anymore. Like other suggestions here, you can also bring a few dishes of your own, and mix it up. Don't stress, the holidays are stressful enough ;-)

The best defense is a good offense. If you can bring a dish to share or volunteer to cook breakfast, for instance (hope everyone likes bacon!), then you can control the situation a little better. Not always possible, but sometimes.

For other meals, just cover your plate with the meat and other paleo-friendly type things since that blank space on your plate brings questions.

It also helps just to remember you're your own person and don't have to eat anything you don't want to. We're not in preschool. This worked for me last year.

Get some Paleo Kits if you can or some other jerky, and if all else fails, slink off to your room and shove those in your face. :D

in my opinion...calm down a bit. relax and enjoy the holidays. that doesn't mean gorge yourself on whatever "horrible" food is available. there is bound to be meats, fruits, nuts and vegetable dishes, probably even some potato dishes that won't be too bad. if eating a particular thing makes you literally SICK though, then don't eat that thing. just as someone allergic to a food item would avoid whatever food that is. however, i find it hard to believe that EVERY non paleo food makes you violently ill, i mean sure gas and bloating from carbs and sugar are normal but things more extreme than that seem a bit strange.

i know my family will have plenty of meat, olives, cheese, etc on christmas (think..rack of lamb. mmm). but i will have a bit of a struggle hanging with my boyfriend and his family the days before (they love their processed ham, american cheese and sugary everything). but i typically will just deal with it and eat in moderation. after all, in the big picture, the amount of time i spend eating well far outweighs the times i don't.

Eat before you go. Bring food to eat some how. Also bring a dish you know you will like. Bacon wrapped dates baked in oven. Eat the meat. Bring a side you like. Bring vanilla ice cream for dessert.