Let the Eating Begin

"Let the eating begin!" I overheard before our Thanksgiving dinner and I suppose that is the mantra for the holiday season. From the Thanksgiving appetizers through the New Year's black-eyed peas I am bombarded with food. In spite of my efforts to not gain weight in December I always put on a few (or more) pounds. It's not as if I'm trying to diet - I'm just trying to hang on to my current weight - but my efforts are thwarted daily. Christmas parties, specialty baking, celebration lunches, meeting friends for a drink - it is all too much -- too much food!

I love food and I love celebrations and I even love that all of our celebrations revolve around food - I just wish we could take a closer look at the foods we are using for our festivities. Without exception, everything I have been served at special holiday gatherings this year has been over-processed, highly salted, sugary and sometimes unidentifiable food. Why can't we make our food as special as the occasion? If we invite friends to break bread during the holidays as a way of telling them, "I love you," shouldn't we also serve them food which shows the love? Food that is pure and wholesome and healthy? Food that won't just pack on the pounds.

I am as guilty as my friends. My favorite holiday recipes are full of fat, white flour and sugar. One of the reasons is because it is more expensive to buy "good" food and the "good" food options seem limited - especially in the dead of winter. But I'll give it a try; like Gandhi said, "Be the change you want to see in the world." I'm not just talking about a tray of broccoli and baby carrots with Ranch dressing on my buffet table! How about locally raised, grass fed beef, organic produce, whole grains, less sugar, less fat. If I serve my friends whole foods and the best ingredients I can find - isn't that showing them how much I value and love them?

It is okay to love your friends and family with food provided you don't love them to death with it!