How to Approach a Feast

Some of the more popular topics to be discussing these days seems to be along the lines of how to avoid overeating during the holidays as well as choosing the wrong kinds of foods....one person I know was busy coming up with a strategy to distract herself from all the sugar...

Of course I have one question - Why on earth would you bring it into the house in the first place? I mean if it's not there, how can you possibly eat it? And to be honest, what kind of person buys pure rubbish for the family but refuses to eat it themselves?

That all sounds like a twisted form of torture to me...

When you have looked at as many recipes as I have over the years, you also get to see the tricks used to make food taste so addictive. How about apples fried in butter and then made into a cobbler (what's wrong with cooking the apples in water?) or adding salt to counter-balance all the sugar?

The bottom line here is that you don't know how these things were prepared, yes they probably look good and even smell good, but are these foods good for you as well. Now that's another story. I would tend to think anything coming from a shop would not be the best nutrition. 

If you want to keep those pounds off, stay on some sort of a healthy eating plan, and enjoy your feast days at the same time - your plan this time of year has to be simple. Make as much of these foods yourself as you can, don't use sugar when honey, agave, maple syrup, treacle, date syrup or apple sauce will do...

But wait, there's more! It's not only the sugar - what about preservatives, additives or unnecessary ingredients? Otherwise known as fillers, bulking agents, extenders and flavour enhancers - we can just refer to much of this as chemicals and not part of the food realm.

Besides, why fill up the cupboards with sugary junk that leaves you feeling sick and low when you can bake a few cookies or a cake that will be thoroughly enjoyed. Not only will you feel good while you eat it, but as you digest it too.

I remember those days well - it tasted good going in, but after about an hour, everything in the world looked dark, my body felt heavy and my stomach took years to get over it. It's just not worth all the aggregation of doing that to my body.

So, instead my eating plan this holiday season is to not watch calories, not count anything - just eat as much as I want of the foods I have prepared and plan to make. That's why it's called a feast time, these seasons are the right time for feasting...

Of course, when it is over, you must stop, take yourself in hand and get that eating under control. A few days fasting to clear out your system would then help ease you back into normal food days of healthy meals....

This is the only healthy way I have found to have my cake and eat it too! I eat it at the right time....

April

Making cinnamon cakes today...