The approach of the “holiday season” means being bombarded with ridiculous diet advice (the holidays being one third of the Dieting Axis of Evil along with “New Years Resolutions” and “Bikini Season is Coming”.) Since you’re likely to have to deal with this whether you celebrate the holidays or not, I’ve compiled a list of so-called holiday diet tips from actual serious online articles, with thoughts on why we might be better off skipping these tips:
10 Holiday Diet Tips You’ve Never Heard Before!
You’ve totally heard these tips before, probably in the same forum in which you are currently reading them, exactly a year ago, and the year before that, and the year before that, and the year before that.
Start Our Program Now and Get a Head Start on Your New Years Resolution
If you start earlier, you can fail at weight loss sooner while giving the diet industry (who are fully aware of the massive failure rate of their product) a boost on their fourth quarter earnings. Or, you know, not.
Eat a Big Bowl of Fiber Cereal and Drink Lots of Water Before A Party to Avoid Snacking.
Spend the party in the bathroom with your friends awkwardly knocking and asking if you’re ok while you miss out on delicious snacks.
Buy Your Party Dress a Month Early and a Size Too Small for Inspiration to Lose that Last 10 Pounds
Frantically search through your closet on party day for something, anything, that fits and is party appropriate, end up going to the party uncomfortable in a dress that’s too small.
Save Your Calories For the Party by Eating Very Little During the Day
Show up at the party absolutely ravenous, bribe a cater waiter to get your hands on an entire tray of shrimp puffs, scarf them in the bathroom.
Make low-calorie egg nog with skim milk, egg substitutes, and artificial sweeteners.
Oh…I just…I can’t even…Just… Ok, by the underpants rule you can totally make this beverage if you want and I will support you in drinking it, as long as you support me in not drinking it.
Only Eat Desserts that Are Truly a Sensual Experience for You
This author has a different relationship with food than I do… I don’t find orange sherbet to be sensual at all but I will eat the hell out of it.
Don’t Taste The Food While You Cook – Those Calories Add Up
Serve your guests delicious-looking appetizers that taste like a salt lick, or like nothing at all, who knows? If only there was a way to tell how the food tastes before we give it to other people… The person who wrote this article obviously never watched Hell’s Kitchen or Chopped.
Choose Foods that Won’t Make You Feel Guilty the Next Day
Here’s the super secret trick to guilt-free eating: Eat. Don’t feel guilty about it. Done.
Bring Fruits and Veggies to Parties and Work and Remind People About Their Weight Goals, They’ll Thank You!
They will not thank you. They may, in fact, throat punch you. There’s nothing wrong with bringing fruits and veggies to the party, there may well be something wrong with being what we Southerners call a “superior sumbitch,” you may be able to avoid that by skipping the second part of this advice. Instead consider “Bring fruits and veggies to parties and work and then shut up about it – find something more interesting to talk about than weight goals.”
Enjoy Fat Free Mock Versions of Your Favorite Holiday Foods, You’ll Never Miss the Full Fat Variety
I doubt that very much, and I do not think that the words “mock” and “food” should be put together.
Divide Foods into Naughty and Nice
Use the holidays to ease yourself into a disordered relationship with food.
Don’t Read Articles About Holiday Diet Tips
You caught me, this one didn’t come from an article, it’s my advice – take it or leave it.
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“They will not thank you.”
This cracked me up, so accurate!
I love fruits and veggies at potluck events, either by bringing it myself or if others do, it’s a guaranteed thing I can eat. So I would appreciate anyone who brought them to an event… not so much if they then proceeded to tell me that they only brought them in order to help me lose weight -_-
I love me some fruits and veggies, at a party or otherwise. But if someone announces they brought fruits and/or veggies to the party to help me lose weight, I will deliver that throat punch Ragen spoke of so movingly.
Also, I will be avoiding the apples. I love apples, but my digestive system does not, alas! ‘Diet-friendly’ or not, nobody wants to be in the same room with me when I have eaten apples… unless I’m being used as an appetite suppressant.
Anyone who tries to talk about my “weight goals” can just bless their hearts.
Would it be quicker to list the holiday diet tips to not avoid?
By far – if I know Ragen, she could have done it with two words. (The End.) “Holiday” diet tips are just bullshit, as is any other nutritional advice by magazine editors and self-esteem-for-sale business models.
Choose Foods that Won’t Make You Feel Guilty the Next Day
Here’s the super secret trick to guilt-free eating: Eat. Don’t feel guilty about it. Done.
Best advice ever.
Here are my tips for navigating holiday party foods:
Only eat the ones you enjoy eating.
Eat what you like until sated or very slightly over-sated.
Don’t eat the foods you dislike or that cause socially awkward side effects. So no marshmallows or apples for Twistie.
Don’t assume that everyone in the room is on a diet. But if you brought something vegan/nut-free/dairy free/etc. quietly note it to the people who are most in need of these things. Don’t announce to the room that you brought ‘guilt-free’ food for everyone. Or you could bring a small card to place with it that lists the ingredients. That way people who have special diet needs can quietly find out whether it’s going to poison them or bust their diet before they take a single bite. and I’ll know to avoid the wheat-free, nut-free, vegan, soy-free cupcakes.
Fucking taste everything you cook. Seriously, I cannot tell you how many times watching Top Chef I’ve been able to guess who was going home simply by hearing Tom Colicchio utter the fateful question: did you taste this food before sending it out? At that point, unless someone else has actively poisoned the judges, it’s all over.
Even if you are choosing foods because they are low-calorie/low-fat/gluten-free, you don’t have to wear a sandwich board that says ‘I’m dieting’ to the world. If you’re unsure something is okay for you to eat, ask the person who cooked it how it was sweetened, or whether it contains wheat, or whatever clue is going to tell you whether or not you dare try it. Or if someone brought those handy ingredient cards I mentioned earlier, read it.
Don’t yuck anyone else’s yum. It’s not polite. I don’t care if you think those cupcakes taste like dog turds dipped in creosote. If someone else is raving about how good they are, smile, nod, and quietly think TO YOURSELF that this is a person sadly lacking in taste buds. Tell them you’re happy they’re enjoying the food they picked. Then go get another helping (if you’re still hungry) of something you like better.
If anyone asks you whether you really need another slice of cake/helping of gooey mac and cheese/pumpkin eclair/bowl of cream soup, smile, nod, and say ‘yes’ with absolute confidence. Walk away from the rude person who asked this question. Or, if that isn’t possible, pointedly change the subject.
Base your food choices on what appeals most to you in that moment from what is available. Don’t feel obligated to eat more or less than you actually want. If you’re still hungry after the party because there was nothing you wanted to eat, you can always drive through something on the way home or raid the fridge when you get there. If you do completely overeat and wind up feeling crappy, make sure you were at least enjoying it until you got sick.
If you do overeat badly, choose a food you didn’t really want to eat, or forego something you really wanted to try because you were afraid what people would think, do your best not to beat yourself up about it. We all make mistakes, and one less than satisfying meal is hardly the worst mistake you will ever make. Chalk it up to experience and remember it for the next time.
Oh, and if asked to bring food to a party, make it something you would like to eat at a party.
I love your remarks!
In my family many of us are battling to overcome negativity learned over the years. Sometimes we inadvertantly find ourselves yucking someone else’s yum.
I also am one of the sad people in this world for whom cilantro tastes like soap. I can get a bit depressed at times finding items I would love to try have been gratuitously laden with cilantro. A number of friends and family can and do eat said cilantro laden items in front of me.
One of my best buddies is Celiac. And while I do bake and cook items celiac friendly when she is around, we often will have an item she can’t have sitting out and she’ll sigh.
As a family we’ve started using “more for you to enjoy” or “more for me to enjoy” to try to take out the sting when one of us yucks another’s yum or goes nutt-o raving about a dish the other cannot consume.
We all recognize that we can be jerks at times, and it’s one of our tools to be less jerk-y. 🙂
My genes also make cilantro taste like soap. It’s not that uncommon, but I’ve had people act like I’m lying about it. I also can’t smell asparagus in urine-mine or anyone else’s. As it’s my favorite veggie, that’s a good thing!
do you often smell other peoples urine? 😉 Speaking of that they make me urinate into a cup every time I go to the doctor to get my Depo Provera shot, I keep meaning to eat lots of asparagus the night before.
I also think cilantro tastes like soap, but strangely I like it. It reads refreshing to me. Maybe I ate a lot of soap as a child
LOL Not on purpose!
Yep. Taste is highly subjective, and the sensitivity of one person’s taste buds is not going to be the same as another’s. Just as some people have hearing loss in certain ranges, color-vision differences, variances in ability to detect certain smells, etc. our taste buds are also varied. There are certain foods that I cannot taste whatever it is about them that tastes good to other people. If it tasted the same to everyone as it does to me, no one would eat it.
I would add the flip side to your point. Regardless of how great you think something tastes, don’t try and compel someone else to eat it if they say they don’t like it. Just because it’s the best you’ve ever tasted, doesn’t mean it’s going to taste good to someone else.
Excellent point, Hoomi, that I’m kicking myself for not writing down in the first place.
My mom has continually gotten after me for not liking tomatoes. My family is of the opinion that if you don’t have an allergy to something, you should/must eat that thing.
Ugh. I hate the people who feel it’s a moral imperative for you to eat things you hate, so long as they won’t actually kill you in two bites. I’ll happily save you from tomatoes if you’ll take all the asparagus or mushrooms off my plate.
I’ll take your asparagus, but I’m not a fan of fresh mushrooms, only canned. But I do love lima beans!!!
May gods and circumstance preserve us all from the people who think it’s okay to repeatedly say, “Why can’t you just eat (thing that makes my body unhappy)?” The biggest fights I had with both my parents revolved around the idea that me not eating what they set before me was a fabrication, a ploy for attention, a deliberate act of defiance–ANYTHING but what I actually said…”I don’t like that.” Years of therapy, and I STILL have to fight to remember that my choices are valid for me.
The line I absolutely hate the most in that regard is, “You don’t like [fill in blank]? Well, you’ve never tried MY [fill in blank]. You MUST try it!”
They then act insulted when I don’t want to try it.
I realize eating is a big social event for most people, and for some, it’s an incredible adventure. Some people seem to love every kind of food, and delight in trying new things. I’m not one of them, and it seems beyond their comprehension that not everyone is the same as them when it comes to sense of taste.
It isn’t even always taste. I have one friend that hates certain textures, they make her gag. Another friend doesn’t like salads because she finds them too messy.
Enjoying food is made up of so many things, I wish certain people wouldn’t mess it up for everyone else.
Nobody wants to feed me beets unless they’re liquified. I have texture issues with them. They have quite literally been known to wind up on walls much to my embarrassment. And a friend of my brother’s won’t eat anything that’s orange. She finds orange food disturbing.
I will admit that I’ve been telling Mr. Twistie for years that one, single experience with Brussels sprouts boiled beyond death when he was ten is not anything like Brussels sprouts cooked properly… but I follow it up with the offer that if he would ever like to try, I will be happy to make them for him and he can decide whether he likes or dislikes them based on his own tastebuds.
I also sometimes make a dish of something I like that he doesn’t and tell him he is welcome to try it or not, as he pleases. He’s actually discovered that he doesn’t mind some veggies he thought he detested for years, or at least not when prepared in certain ways.
Brussels sprouts and cauliflower, however, remain culinary no fly zones for him. I can only ever eat them when he isn’t home for dinner because he spends so much time stubbornly telling me he won’t eat them that I can’t just sit back and enjoy them, no matter how much I’m not trying to pressure him.
But considering how many people have assured me that I will simply ADORE mushrooms the way they make them… I couldn’t do that to another person. That’s why when I’m inviting someone to dinner for the first time the question I ask is ‘what don’t you eat?’
I don’t care whether it’s meat because they’re vegetarians, pork because they’re observant Jews, peanuts because of a deathly allergy, gluten because of Celiac or because they believe it will help them lose weight, or garlic just because they think it tastes icky. I don’t want to put anything on the table that will offend my guests, make them sick, or lead to an unpleasant dining experience.
And seriously, the day someone finally just tells me what they don’t want without hemming, hawing, apology, or apoplexy will be one of the top ten happiest days of my life.
Twistie, I was reminded of the time I was invited to dinner where we would all bring a dish. I got a list of things that nobody liked, saw cabbage was not on it, and decided to make braised cabbage to go with the ham that was being served.
Hilariously, braised cabbage was the one way a friend of mine would not eat cabbage, having had horrible experiences with it. I laughed and told her she just wouldn’t get to have her veggies.
Sometimes even good planning can get tripped up. 🙂
Your 2nd to last paragraph really his home for me Twistie, isn’t amazing how the world constantly wants us to feel shame for food? Your advice is spot on but the fact that we have to tell ourselves this and hear it from other people is a sign of how stigmatized food can be.
Your post from beginning to end was brilliant!
This reminds me of all the times I’ve had people tell me super excitedly that something is sugar free (meaning artificial sweeteners instead)… oh, so I can’t actually eat it then, ok. People have a tendency to forget that not everyone can eat artificial sweeteners, so “sugar free” is not always a good thing.
If you want some hilarious reading, go look up the reviews on sugar-free Gummi Bears on Amazon.com. The artificial sweetener used in them apparently tastes great, but has a powerful laxative effect on many people.
Yeah, that’s what I want from my sweet treats!
When Mr. Twistie was diagnosed with type II diabetes, we quickly discovered that quite a few artificial sweeteners have that oh-so-special laxative effect. To this day, every once in a while he’ll get himself a sugar-free sweet treat and spend a LOT of time in the bathroom afterwards.
At least now he knows not to do this right before an appointment or work.
Twistie, I rather like Stevia, I wonder if Mr. Twistie has tried it.
Not that I know of, but maybe we’ll get some and he can try it. Thanks for the tip.
For what it is worth, I prefer the Raw Stevia, rather than Truvia, which has something or other added in that tastes bitter to me. I mostly use it to sweeten tea and coffee, but i have also done some baking/cooking with it and that tasted okay to me.
I decided to check out those reviews, the highest rated comment gives them 1 star and starts off: Devil Gummies!
I love, love, love, love…and LOVE holiday parties. If I failed to mention it, I love them!
But this wasn’t always the case, when I would go the Navy holiday functions with my family when I was younger I felt massive shame about me and my mothers weight compared to my father and very athletic and fit siblings. When I came out, I always went with my fit and sexy partners and would be too embarrassed to eat anything and I would end up being a miserable slouch in the corner. Inevitably that would lead to me being anti-social which would lead to an argument with my then boyfriend.
One year about 8 years ago, I was at a bear/cub Xmas Xtravaganza and there was a shrimp/avacado/cilantro ceviche that I could not keep my eyes off. despite a promise to my partner at the time that I would take it easy on food. Finally after probably 20 years of being miserable at holiday parties I simply said “f— it” I’m eating. I grabbed a plate, went to the ceviche tray and unloaded about half of it and gobbled it down. And guess what? I felt GREAT! My head didn’t hurt, my stomach pains went away and I became…ta da…social! I ate to my hearts content. I danced, I partied, I laughed, I ate, I drank a little bit, much to the ironic disgust of my partner (who, in a complete reversal I dumped him after that night). I made several new friends that night who I’m still in contact with…why? Because I threw the idiotic holiday diet tips out the freaking window and enjoyed myself for the FAT, gay, happy man that I am!
Now *that’s* an inspirational story!
Oh, and I would probably have been fighting you for the other half of that ceviche. That is a dish I would definitely be eating at a party.
Hooray! Other people who like ceviche! I always make a bowl or two for the holidays.
I make a killer ceviche! We also have friends who come to town when performing at the local renfaire who love ceviche, so the Husbeast and I join them for ceviche dates while they’re here and we try out ceviche at all of the local restaurants who serve it! 🙂
I remember you, Simon! This year, I hope you find yourself at The Party of All Parties… the sort of Party people write books about. You totally deserve it, my good man!
I just loved the heck out of this blog today!!! It was clever, funny and right on the money! Thank you again Ragen for another wonderful and inspirational article!
I also really enjoyed everyone’s comments!!!! They hit home expecially about not yucking anyone else’s yum, being shamed at parties and listing the ingredients in baking goods or dishes that you bring. A lot of people I know have food allergies, or are vegetarian, I am a vegetarian myself, or have other food/health needs… and it is so helpful to know what yummy dishes we can and cannot consume. Great article, great comments a big Thank You to everyone!
Just the other day in the Guardian they had a piece about a woman with a weight well into society’s accepted range (oh the length I will go to to avoid “norm-al” with humans) still feeling like shite about every bit of food she ate. She had such a disturbed relationship to food, she even realized herself it was not giving her benefits.
If not even a woman with accepted looks and weight is allowed to eat guiltfree, there is little wonder that the diet-industry wants to spoil our celebrations, too.
http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/nov/08/feel-guilty-but-hate-my-body-feminist-confesses
I guess not tasting food you’re preparing for others is totally fine… if you have no problem using your loved ones as guinea pigs. Personally, I taste everything I cook that’s going to be consumed by other people. If it’s a cake or a quickbread, I make a tiny portion in a baby cake pan so that I can check it for flavor and texture before serving it. Yes, I’m a little paranoid about accidentally poisoning people, but I’ve got a helluva reputation as a good cook.
I’ve never made a baby pan version of baked good! Do you just throw out the batter if it doesn’t bake up right? Or do you have mad skillz that let you fix it?
Enjoy Fat Free Mock Versions of your Favorite Holiday Foods.
Uh, no. A friend called me all excited about making whipped cauliflower instead of mashed potatoes. She then decided to do an entire no carb Thanksgiving dinner. No stuffing, no gravy, no rolls and presumably no pumpkin pie. Then she invited me to join her! I politely declined as I wish to actually enjoy my holiday meal. Didn’t say that of course. Dry turkey and vegetables just doesn’t cut it for me.
The local school district printed this tip on its elementary school menus for November. Paraphrased because I promptly threw the thing away. “A great big bag or basket or bucket of candy isn’t good for anyone. If you must trick-or-treat this year, pick out two or three favorites and throw the rest away.”
It’s all of a piece with those articles online that solemnly analyze the average candy haul and then exclaim in horror over all!those!!calories!!!
As if children couldn’t pace themselves, eat candy until they were satisfied, and then stop.
As if any candy left in the house after Halloween night would be, I dunno, eaten by a Mogwai or something.
As if nearly everyone I know doesn’t count on the candy haul to provide free dessert for the next month!
Candy is wrapped. It won’t go bad if you keep it for a few weeks. What is with these people. Oh right. DEATHFATZ!!!! OMG!!! Also, non-existent razors in Halloween candy.
it also freezes very well. I bought 8 bags of after Halloween candy this past weekend. Because sometimes I want chocolate and I don’t have any in the house. So now I have enough chocolate to satisfy any craving whenever. Added bonus is it can be by emergency gym chocolate when I didn’t eat enough for lunch and I need a little bit of a sugar boost
Woot!
when I was a kid, I remember the chocolate went within about a week. Maybe two. followed by any chili things, like bit o honey or caramel sauce. And then all the other stuff hung around for months and months.
and I’m pretty sure my mom was eating some of it.
when I was a kid, I remember the chocolate went within about a week. Maybe two. followed by any chili things, like bit o honey or caramel sauce. And then all the other stuff hung around for months and months.
and I’m pretty sure my mom was eating some of it.
also, a great big basket of candy is awesome!
just because it’s there doesn’t mean you have to eat it.unless there David Sedaris, they’re not likely to shove every chocolate bar they own in their mouth all at once.
and if they do, so what?
Once we got home from trick or treating, my brothers and I would hold a candy exchange on the dining room table. Each of us would pull the stuff we didn’t want and offer it to one of the others for something they hated but we liked better.
Nobody ever gave up chocolate anything, and at the end there would be a big pile of all the candy corn and marshmallow candies, because none of us liked them. I think Mom ate a couple packs of candy corn, and the rest of it just disappeared. I don’t know whether Mom and Dad gave it to friends, handed it off to a kid they knew who didn’t get to go trick or treating, or whether it went in the garbage. All I knew and cared about was that I got rid of jelly beans and anything cherry-flavored in exchange for black licorice and things with coconut, and everybody was happy.
But it took us weeks to go through the whole bucket of candy we got that night.
After all, candy doesn’t go bad in a hurry.
The case could be made that the school/teachers are anti-environmentalists who encourage food wastage, and excess landfill.
This was awesome! I got a really good laugh out of it (and personally have no intention of being stuck in the bathroom at a party all night). Thank you.
I want to go to Holiday Parties with all of you!
That would be a helluva party!
Maybe we need to hold a DWF virtual holiday party. I would totally bring some awesome baked desserts. Eclairs, anyone?
Ugh. I need a trip to the Non-Jerk Universe. (This is my imaginary universe next door, where appalling assery is transmuted to human decency.)
If You Suspect That [Common Ingredient in Holiday Feasts] Doesn’t Love You Back, Find Out Now with an Elimination Diet
Don’t Forget to Eat! Or Drink! Tips for Self-Care for This Busy Time of Year
Gorgeous Dresses for Every Body–Free Fast Shipping!
Seriously, Don’t Forget to Eat!
Just Found Out that [Common Ingredient in Holiday Feasts] Doesn’t Love You Back? Delicious Alternatives Herein
Eye-Rollingly Fantastic Desserts of All Kinds–And Some Nibbles
Tasting Spoons Free with Purchase
Self-Care If You Accidentally Eat Something that Makes You Ill
Winter Fruit Salads and Crudites for Parties [not a calorie count to be seen]
Why Pay Extra for Ersatz? Jack Sprat Explores International Holiday Traditions That Won’t Aggravate His Medical Issues
An Ode to the Holiday Feast
I think I like the Non-Jerk Universe a lot, Jennifer. I absolutely need to live in a universe where they give out free tasting spoons and laud the holiday feast!
How much fun does the following sound for Christmas:
Description
A Dairy, gluten and nut free fun and festive presentation with “milky” chocolate with no added sugar for children of all ages.
Contains Soya. Contains naturally occurring sugars. Excessive consumption may induce laxative effects.
Ingredients:
Coca Butter, Soya Flour, Cocoa Mass, Xylitol, Emilsifier: Sunflower Lecithin.
Yummy! This is an Advent Calendar offered by a well-known “health” food store here in Britain. Honestly, Christmas is once a year, surely we can all be allowed to simply enjoy it? I loved this blog, Ragen, you are absolutely on the money, as always.
Because nothing says healthy holiday fun like a case of the runs.
I had to add this one, the Multivitamin Peppa Pig one, if only for the “instructions:
Directions:
1 chewable gummy daily provides RDA.
Advisory information:
This product should only be provided to children under adult supervision. Taken as directed. Do not exceed recommended dosage. Not recommended to children under 2 years old as a choking hazard. Keep out of reach of Childen.
Ingredients:
Pectin, Natural Flavour (Apple, Blackcurrant, Orange, Strawberry), Natural colours (Chlorophylin Sodium Copper, Radish Red, Carotene, Caramel), Concentrated Apple Flavour, Vegetable Oil (Palm oil), Malic Acid, Vitamin A, Vitamin D, Vitamin E, Vitamin C, Folic Acid, Vitamin B12, Calcium pantothenate, Dextrose, Citric Acid, Sodium Citrate, Sugar, Glucose Syrup.
It’s the “keep out of reach of children” bit that made me howl with laughter – who exactly is it aimed at, then??? The shop’s description is as follows:
Description
FitVits vitamins brings to you a healthy alternative to conventional advent calendars. Each calendar is packed with 24 gummy chews packed with nutritional assistance behind every advent door. These delicious fruit flavoured multivitamin gummy chews are a great healthy alternative for Christmas for all the Peppa Pig fans. Peppa Pig Multivitamin Advent Calendar provides essential vitamins to Children. These tasty daily chews provide the daily RDA of vitamins A, C, D, E and B12 and are a great healthy alternative to other advent calendars. The Peppa Pig Vitamin Gummies are moulded in their favourite TV Character and come in an assortment of flavours to the delight of the childrens taste buds – Apple, Blackcurrent, Orange and Strawberry. We are delighted to be Vegetarian Society approved, our vitamins are suitable for Vegetarians, Halal and Kosher.
Phew!
The health food stores in Calgary, Alberta are all about natural ingredients, and no preservatives. I doubt that advent calendar would be sold here. Even the homeopathy, even though it’s got no scientific backing, is made from natural ingredients.
My mother loves to throw parties for friends. Since moving in with her last year, I’ve helped with cooking and other prep work for these parties. Fruit salad is great for parties. Variety is the thing. No one wants to talk about weight loss at a party. Having sugar free food or low fat food should be there for people with health concerns but labels are good not loud talk. Making everyone comfortable is nice.
On reflection, I think there might actually be something to the “eat only desserts that make you orgasmic” advice–for some people. I know that it took me a long time to get over the “oh look, there’s cake, later I will go home to a house where there is no cake, gotta do the math to find out how much cake I am allowed to eat, screw it I won’t eat anything but cake because cakecakecakecakecaaaaaake” and realize “No, I don’t actually enjoy this cake, it’s the stabilized whipped cream frosting that does it for me, so I’ll take a corner piece and just eat the frosting off it,” or whatever. Like, it was OK to skip the sweets if they weren’t sweets I liked all that much, because I could always go and get something I really liked later if I wanted it.
Diets create the desperation of scarcity, basically.
I still tend to do the same thing, only now I have type 2 diabetes, so I do have to keep an eye on what I eat, and how much and when.
There are times when it is really hard to deal with the need to not eat something that will do bad things to my system when I am having a serious craving for something.
I try to make sure that the sweets I do have are as satisfying as possible to help me not feel that I am denying myself. Mostly it works.
I laughed so hard at this. Really though I have always hated holiday dieting tips- the holidays are not the time to worry about diet and weight. Enjoy the holidays! Enjoy life while you’re still alive…
Reblogged this on Kate Is Rising and commented:
I wanted to include this blog post, since the holiday season is upon us, and this post brilliantly reminds us all that the person in charge of our food choices is ourself and no one else.