Aloha to all you dieters like myself

I spent my Christmas and New Years holiday time with three of my children and their families in Hawaii this year. We are very blessed to have family and business here so that we get to mingle very closely with those who have spent their lives on these beautiful islands.  Hawaiian, Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, Portuguese, Korean, Samoan, Tongan, Tahitian, Caucasian........they're all in our in-law and family mix.  So Christmas Eve and Christmas Day dinners were a real treat, as well as New Years Eve and New Years Day, not to mention the potluck for preschool's holiday program, the backyard barbecues and other invitations to dinner, or just eating out while on the road.
How is it possible to stick to a strict diet in these conditions, where every meal is a cultural treat? How do you politely refuse to taste a delicious entree, only because it has starches or sugary sauces or grains or dairy?  How do you avoid offense and maintain the diet?
I did pretty well, I think.  Politely interested and even empathetically concerned, these Hawaiian locals were very gracious.  I know they pitied me because I couldn't share in the cultural  and culinary treats and decided that they'd rather die young and happy rather than older and deprived.  And our choices for outings became very limited when they couldn't involve meals.
But after 3 weeks I feel I can face my doctor with my head held high.  My big "splurge" in all that time was some shaved ice without ice cream, and that was a conscious decision because it really felt "wrong" to turn my back on absolutely every treat we've always enjoyed together here as a family. 
It's a decision I don't regret.  Sometimes we do ourselves a disservice by being so focused on our physical self that we forget how important the social and emotional connections are, and we can miss precious opportunities to experience those.
So Aloha to all of you.  Maintain balance in your relationship with food, doctors, family, traditions and friends.  I hope the New Year is good to all of you, my readers in many countries.