Column: Christmas Diet?

We don’t want to alarm anybody….but today marks exactly ONE MONTH UNTIL CHRISTMAS!!!

Okay that is pretty alarming. If you haven’t starting buying gifts yet you should probably get onto that (or go hunting for the ones you bought earlier in the year but now have no idea where you put them), and if people are coming over to your place for lunch or dinner, now is the time to start thinking about what to feed them.

It’s interesting that here Christmas falls in summer and yet a lot of us stick with the traditional roast or cooked ham with all the hot trimmings. A BBQ would be more appropriate and some do go down that path but it doesn’t feel quite as Christmassy.  

We both feel that Christmas is a time of year where you should be able to let your hair down and undo your pants to make way for your bulging stomach. It’s a free day; a day (or week) where you eat and drink whatever you like and don’t let pesky things like calorie control or indigestion get in your way.

So imagine Sarah’s horror when she turned the page on the calendar this week (yes, it finally made it onto November with just a week to go) and saw this months “Health Tip”:
“To lighten the calorie content at holiday meal time, stick to lower-calorie dishes such as white turkey meat without gravy, sweet potatoes, plain veggies, and pumpkin pie. If you are hosting the meal, prepare some low-fat dishes of your own”

Wow. Way to take the fun out of Christmas. Who in their right mind wants to eat turkey meat without gravy? Imagine that you’re all set for a lovely Christmas dinner at Aunty Faye’s house, dreaming of roast potatoes, glazed ham, trifle and all that yummy stuff only to be greeted by a table of lettuce leaves and tofu. That’s right up there with leaving a piece of celery and a glass of water out for Santa instead of milk and cookies. Sure he could stand to lose a few pounds but its Christmas for goodness sake!

Diets be damned, we’ll be eating our fill and more this Christmas. Then we’ll worry about the weight gain in 2016…WHICH IS IN 36 DAYS TIME!