The one where I explain about Christmas food being healthy!

I realised today that I am mainly subsisting on mince pies. I'm looking right now at the last two on my cake stand (put out for one of the church Advent house groups I am leading) and thinking they would do as my supper.

The trouble with this plan is that they were my breakfast too, plus I had one with my lunch. They are only small ones….

I hear the voice in my head saying:"That's OK. They are filled with fruit so they must be healthy."
I am aware the voice in my head may not have the best interests of my waistline, sugar levels or arteries in mind but she's very persistent. There's something about Christmas that just makes me want to eat and eat and eat!

The same voice tells me that it's OK to eat extra chocolate at the moment to boost my iron levels during winter  (I think I read that one in a tabloid once) and of course there's milk in it - so that's healthy. Calcium! Chocolate is almost certainly doing wonders for my deteriorating menopausal bones.

And since ginger is good for your heart the (chocolate coated) German gingerbread I love is actually probably maybe good for my heart too?

I know Christmas Day lunch is good for me. Turkey - protein, low-fat, feel-good relaxing stuff. Sprouts. No-one can tell me they are not healthy. Red cabbage, potatoes - all good, wholesome veg. Well, maybe not so much when they have been rolled in animal fat, or drowned in sugar and/or wine. But fundamentally healthy. Perhaps I could eat slightly less of the healthy stuff.  I'll admit I overeat so much I can barely walk but it's only one day a year isn't it? Unless you have the works party, club do,  friends get-together, the alternative family Christmas Day, the leftover day….. We are probably up to a year's worth of calories in just a few weeks in December.

Egg nog. Surely that's OK? Eggs and dairy all vital for good nutrition. Hmm, ok, when I say dairy, I mean cream. Quite a lot of cream. Oh and booze. But nutmeg's good for you isn't it? Apparently it works as a brain tonic, is good for pain relief, indigestion (handy after the giant lunch!) bad breath, for detoxing the liver and kidneys (I'm going to need that!) helps smooth your skin (really?) and helps you sleep.  I like quite a lot of nutmeg on my egg nog so it makes it a health drink!

Add to that the fact that Christmas Day is one of the rare times I reach for the salad - I do like a bit of crunchy iceberg on my turkey sandwiches, along with thickly spread salted butter and a splurge of the uniquely British salad cream.

It baffles me that day by day my jeans seem to be getting tighter and tighter. It can't be all the health food  making me fatter- It must be the tumble dryer shrinking my clothes. What do you think?




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