Healthy Holiday Eating

This is not exactly what I had in mind.

I keep seeing articles on strategies to get through the holidays, ways to eat healthier, lightening up traditional family favorites, blah, blah, blah. These articles make me a little cranky because I don't want to think about calories or fat (mine or what's in the food) on Thanksgiving.

Here's the rub: we have a weight problem in this country. Now, every day is a feast day. We aren't thanking the almighty for a glorious harvest before we settle in for a long winter of rationing supplies. We have access to as much as we want of anything we want at any time. I don't know about you, but I eat plenty of turkey all year round.

So what makes the Thanksgiving feast special? I suppose we all have different answers to that, but it is certainly about the food. We plan, we prepare, we cook all day. The smell of pie and roasting turkey serves as an aromatic backdrop. We have traditional family favorites earmarked for this occasion, one way we transfer our heritage and legacy from one generation to another. We eat with other people, at a decorated table set with the good dishes that encourages us to take our time and linger. Yeah, that is special.

So don't talk to me about holding the butter, sugar or pork fat - not on this day. Let's focus our diet strategy on all the other days of the year. That means holding back a little, delaying gratification, not indulging in a feast-day free-for-all everyday, or even every week. That way we can keep the real feast, really meaningful.