May Your Days be Merry & Light: Healthy Holiday Eating

This wonderful festive season brings lots of opportunities to overindulge. You can avoid a New Year of regret if you take stock right now.

This series of Tips to Make Your Holidays Merry & Light started Saturday.

Diet Tip 3: Gourmands Unite!

Last night, my dinner “hour” started with a glass of wine at 6:00.

The main course was tuna steak sautéed in olive oil with thinly-sliced green pepper, then simmered in wine and tamarind sauce; accompanied by long grain and wild rice and two slices of Italian bread spread with butter.

At 7:30, I poured a second glass of wine and cut a 2-inch slice of homemade prune babka spread with butter. I savored this sumptuous meal in front of the TV. Shame.

I finished my nightly feast right before tumbling into bed for the night. Shame, shame.

I know my regimen is a mix of good and bad. Eating just one meal a day is not widely recommended.

Neither is eating and drinking right before bedtime. Most days, I don’t achieve the minimum daily requirement of fruits and vegetables, but I compensate for that by taking vitamins.

On the other hand, my system is in balance. I am able to burn the calories I ingest each day and not gain weight.

I haven’t eliminated entire food groups as some diets suggest. I don’t restrict my calories and throw my body into starvation mode so that it packs on the fat and leaves me feeling listless.

Au contraire, I keep up with classmates at the gym who are 30 years younger than I. I know I am very fortunate … and maybe you could be too, if you knew my secrets.

Please come back fro more tomorrow.

Tags: cravings, enjoy your food, holiday diet tips, avoid holiday weight gain, eat healthy for life, The Sonoma Diet

[Image Credit: Print Shop 23 Art Gallery]