Christmas Treats: Life is too short

I don't know if it's my age, but there's something about Christmas that starts me panicking - I'm going to run out of food. I'm ratcheted up a notch or two after last year's snow, worrying I won't get enough food in and we'll starve. Last year I berated myself for not getting a cheap chest freezer for the garage so that I never have to worry again. As I type this I'm waiting for one to be delivered and then I'm going to go and fill it! (Will one be enough!!).

I'm sure these food anxieties are with me all year round, they just get a massive boost when the sight of tinsel and fairy lights brings back memories of Christmas past. In the olden days we stocked up on bread and milk for about 3 or 4 days when shops really did shut. Fridges were weeny, and we stored food in a cold pantry or the garage and hoped it would last. In later years, the panic changed - how to get fresh food but avoid Marks and Spencer's foodhall on Christmas Eve, a place not for the faint hearted. I don't just worry about milk and bread now, but yogurt, sprouts and cake - just getting it all in.

I know I am not alone and many of us share a proud history of Christmas hoarding and many of you have spent to day working your way through massive shopping lists.

I feel the same anxiety when I think about diets and dieting. I hate the thought that I can't eat what and when I need to, that life has no treats to offer. After two years of eating healthily, I still have the urge to fill the fridge for some seasonal indulgence, but I don't want to blow all my hard work and discipline in a few days.

I have changed though. Now I worry about running out of veg and fruit, not chocolate, cheese or goose fat. Veg is the biggest item on my Christmas list. This is major progress. Two Christmases ago, before Ali and I started our diet, I bought boxes and boxes of chocolates, and we ate til we could eat no more. Stuffed - the turkey's revenge!

My new Christmas shopping list is much healthier. I reckon this counts as what Carol (another success story slimmer) would call a lifestyle makeover change - something that's long term and permanent unlike weight loss which is a short term fix to a long term bad eating habit. Two years on, it feels like normal.

Stocking up the pantry with treats is part of the magic of Christmas. As the excitement builds and Christmas gets closer, cupboards get full of things we never eat at other times of the year. The special recipes are dusted off. I'm not going to deny us the pleasures, life's too short, but I'm not going to go mad either. So I've thought carefully about our treats and picked ones that are yummy, but also special in other ways.

Under the tree is a Christmas Hamper from Betty's. This is a taste of my Yorkshire childhood - Christmas cake with Wensleydale cheese; Yorkshire Tea Loaf and Yorkshire Tea. If you've been to one of Betty's Tearooms, you'll know what I mean. We will savour every mouthful and we'll enjoy very happy memories of trips to Bettys over many years. I've got Ali some of Betty's Fat Rascals (go google!) and a pound of the tea they use in the Dirleton Art Gallery. He'll enjoy that!

Christmas is coming and I 'm really excited. Our fridge and freezer are full of veg and low fat yogurt. The Betty's hamper is under the tree which is twinkling away. Three more sleeps and it's the big day!

We wish you and yours a very happy and healthy Christmas, hope you enjoy every moment of it.

Take care

Sue

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