Moderation, not Abstention

This week being Thanksgiving Week in the U.S., a lot of people have been writing about how to avoid gaining weight on Thanksgiving.  Lots of healthy recipes out there and suggestions to skip eating certain foods.  So what if it’s your favorite?  Nothing tastes good as skinny feels, right?

WRONG.

Of course, I’m a firm believer that that particular quote is a gateway to an eating disorder.  But that’s another story for another time.

We associate a lot of memories with food.  I’m sure everyone has a favorite food that someone special made for them or took them to get.  Maybe it’s your grandmother’s cookies or your mom’s homemade mac and cheese or it’s going to get ice cream with your cousins in the summer.  But we associate food with fond memories.  And some of that is due to holiday traditions.

Now, I’m not saying that your mom’s mac and cheese should be part of your daily diet.  But if it’s a traditional side dish on Thanksgiving, who cares if it’s loaded with fat and calories?  Thanksgiving comes once a year.  Eat that mac and cheese.

Now, moderation is good.  Perhaps don’t eat until you have to unbutton your pants.  Smaller portions.  I’m not going to tell you that it’s a holiday, so you should eat yourself into a food coma.  Bad plan.

But food is not your enemy.  Food is not evil.  Sure, some foods should maybe be saved for special occasions, not for every day consumption, but the holidays are certainly a special occasion.

And sure, we’d all love to escape the holidays without any weight gain. But is it really worth it?

Eat the mac and cheese.  It’s delicious and you know it.

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