Don't Give Up

Cookies from your neighbor; caramel popcorn from your aunt; don’t forget the fudge you’re making for the party next Friday night. Thanksgiving is over and we are officially into Christmas—the season of sweets!

Without batting an eye, those calories that have been carefully counted throughout the year are disregarded with relish. We do unheard-of things, like eat apple pie for breakfast and put peppermint ice cream in our coffee. All done because it’s the happy holidays.

Our thinking is probably this: “Why should I even try to eat healthy during the month of December? I’ll never succeed.” So you attack those buffet tables with the enthusiasm of a prisoner let out on parole. Hello, eggnog! Welcome, gingerbread! Nice to see you, pumpkin cheesecake!

As extreme as this sounds, you might relate to it just the tiniest little bit. Sure, we are going to eat differently this month than the rest of the year, but I’d like to suggest a new motto for this season: Don’t Give Up.

If your motto is Don’t Give Up, it means you are aware that it does matter what you eat for breakfast, regardless that you’re having a dinner party in the evening. Don’t Give Up means it does matter that you limited the intake to 2000 calories on your splurge instead of 5000.

It is tempting to adopt an all-or-nothing attitude about eating healthy or not. However, my definition of being healthy is simply this: being more sensible than less sensible. Every little effort really does count. If you’re convinced that it’s better to give up for the month, you probably will let yourself go out of control.

The Don’t Give Up motto will let you savor every moment of high-caloric pleasure, then put you right back onto normal, sensible eating. Not only will you curb the seasonal weight-gain, you’ll also feel better throughout the month.

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