Sticking With the Plan Through Holidays

Even before I finally decided to start planning this experiment, well planning to begin the experiment in the very near future, I always suffered thinking of the notion of not getting to experience holidays with everyone else.  So much of our family holidays surround certain foods and good drink.  What would a birthday party or New Years Eve be without a good toast of champagne?  What would Christmas Eve be like without being able to chow down on some big bowls of Scungilli salad, crab claws or pasta in mushroom sauce (with of course some nice bottles of wine to wash it down)?  What would Christmas Day be like without noshing on a nice charcuterie and cheese plate and later a high stacked keilbasa and ham sandwich with freshly grated horseradish on dense traditional rye bread?  I’m getting hungry just thinking about it.  However for the duration of the experiment, which could be upwards of two years, these will not be in the cards at all.

After the experiment if one diet really stands out, or if the eating patterns which really work for my body turn out to be the ones that would also eliminate some or all of the above I could at least decide to make an exception a few times a year.  However during the period in question this can’t be done.  I need to adhere as purely to the plan as possible.  Opening it up from the beginning would just lead to a far more frequent divergence from the plan and therefore make any results suspect.

While I can’t let this sort of lament get in my way, it is something that weighs on my mind.  For those that have selected a new way of eating than the rest of their families and traditions, by choice or because of food sensitivities, what is it like and how do you deal with that?