What a joyous time of year with all the eating and celebrating and eating and decorating, and eating…. After a couple of holiday parties, and plenty of people bringing in treats, desserts, and snacks, it feels like there’s no way to ever work it off. Moreover, what is in all of that stuff?
At least at the restaurant parties, you can choose your one best option off the menu. Then there are the catered parties. Those Swedish meatballs were tasty but most likely covered in processed sauce full of high fructose corn syrup and chemical flavor enhancers. Large caterers, especially hired on a lower budget, are usually not concerned about whether their ingredients are from factories or local farms.
Many work, neighborhood, and church parties are potluck, so you get more homemade foods. Although many people cook with processed ingredients; the McCormick Swedish meatball seasoning has plenty of chemicals in it too. Also, if 25 people bring 25 different foods, you really need to be selective to avoid pigging out.
The population is very diverse where I live, and we have a lot of different foods at potlucks. So you have someone coming up to you, “Here, try my asparagus soufflé cake.” “Uh, gee, I can’t wait – one of my all-time favorites,” meanwhile scoping out the room for the nearest trash can. This time of year people really splurge on the rich and sugary foods – because it’s only once a year. Except it’s not really once a year when it lasts from Thanksgiving week to New Year’s Day. And in my family we also have a couple of birthdays thrown in that same timespan.
You want to participate along with your co-workers, friends, and relatives. You also want to be polite and not focused on who put what into the food. You usually eat what you’re served and make the best of it; most of it does taste great. As wonderful as it would be to eat real food 100% of the time, until everyone else is on board there will be days when you make exceptions. This time of year, you make more exceptions than ever. So celebrate being alive and healthy surrounded by these lovely people, and trust your body will use what you put in it to your best advantage. We can always do some kind of detox the first week in January :-). Try to keep working out – even if it’s cold and miserable – and remember that feeling guilty doesn’t get you anything. You might as well make some Christmas cookies or gingerbread men while you’re at it.
Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and all the rest of the December holidays!
