If I asked you to make a list of 10 words that say “Christmas” to you, how many of them would be about food? Christmas cake. Christmas cookies. Christmas pudding. Christmas eggnog. What else?

Now that we’ve entered December, there is a lot of thinking about Christmas and all the foods that accompany the celebration. But if those foods are something you eat everyday, then it’s no longer special.

If you eat cookies everyday, all year, why are Christmas cookies special? If you eat fruitcake every  Sunday, then the Christmas fruitcake ceases to be something to look forward to.

One of the suggestions in the The Wild Diet book (Click to purchase on Amazon)
is to keep a list of the foods you crave that aren’t necessarily healthy – not foods you should eat everyday. And once a week, treat yourself to a special meal where you indulge those cravings.

I’d like to extend that for the month of December. Now that the Thanksgiving feast is behind us – the Thanksgiving pie and the Thanksgiving stuffing and the Thanksgiving leftovers – maybe we can go back to eating healthy, and saving the indulgences for the Christmas dinner(s).

Christmas is 3 weeks away. Could you give up on everyday cookies now and save the indulgence for the Christmas cookie fiesta?

Could you save the cake eating for the black cake that will be on every Southern or West Indian-influenced Christmas table?

Could you drink water for the next 22 days and save the big indulgence for the Christmas Eve egg nog?

Could you? Of course you can. In fact, we can do it together. Everywhere, everyone is saying Christmas is going to be here before you know it. The feast will be here before you know it.

To Learn on Day 13

It’s not a treat if you eat it all the time.

To Do on Day 13

• Make a list of the “celebration” foods you are really looking forward to eating as part of your Christmas experience.
• Stop eating those “celebration” foods in the 3 weeks leading up to Christmas.

Today I am saving the bagel for “Christmas-brunch” (is that a thing) and enjoying a Breakfast salad instead.

Click here to start reading Day 1 of the 40 Days of Yummy posts

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