A New Start

So, here we are, the beginning of a new year. How did you do over the holidays? Was it tough? Or did you do pretty well in the keeping-yourself-busy mode of shopping and wrapping gifts - spending time with family and friends instead of going for the extra glass of eggnog?

I can tell you what one of my chief challenges was this holiday season: food baskets. We received several. They were beautiful and contained wonderful things, but they were deadly tempting. Couple that with the many other food attractions of the season, namely Christmas cookies and yummy holiday confections like fudge, divinity, and cream cheese iced carrot cake, and we had an explosion of sugar and calories the likes that are unseen in most small countries.


Did I give in? A little, yes. Am I a bit annoyed with myself for doing it? A little, yes. Am I going to say to myself, “Oh, you’ll never do this,” and dive into mounds of chocolate and sugar plums because of it? Absolutely not. I’ve already begun to get things back under control: namely paying attention to my daily writings of food and calories. Now that the festivities are over, it’s back to normal.


But I have to say, where I draw the line is putting the word “diet” on a list of New Year’s resolutions. I don’t think I’ve ever made such a list that I didn’t manage to break within a week. In my book, resolutions are doomed to fail when they’re attached to that formal declaration made the first week of January. So, if you’re going to resolve to make better choices, eat less, eat healthier, just do it without all the hoopla attached, like a homemade list of glued and glittered bullet points attached to the refrigerator.

It’s a new year… let’s just do the right thing ...together.