'Tis The Season...

'Tis the season of muffins, cookies, cakes, and candies! Peppermint bark, caramel pecan cookies, cranberry-orange bread...aren't you excited? Of course you are! However, I'm sure that for many of you (if not all), underneath the merriment of holiday baking lies that nagging feeling of guilt...Don't eat too many Christmas cookies or you'll feel gross/ look like a pig/ ruin your teeth/ get fat. It is a complete shame that in today's society our holiday treats have become "guilty pleasures". Did you eat a cookie today? Yes. Guilty. Go punish yourself. I ask you, why does eating dessert have to be a guilty pleasure? If someone spends hours in the kitchen, slaving over a scorching oven, recreating his/her great-grandmother's secret chocolate chip cookie recipe, shouldn't you feel honored when he/she offers to share that treat with you? And furthermore, shouldn't you enjoy that cookie rather than feel guilty about eating it? Apparently 'tis the season of remorse, self-inflicted punishment, and emotional aggravation.


The more we tell ourselves "no", the more we want to say "yes". This concept applies to all aspects of our lives (it is the same idea, in my opinion, as to why teaching abstinence does not work and only leads to sex-hungry teens...), but right now I'm talking about desserts. By preventing ourselves from having something we want, we only crave that something more; and when we finally allow ourselves to taste that something we tend to overindulge. If you repeatedly tell yourself "no, I'm not going to eat that cookie/brownie/small piece of homemade pie for reasons x, y, and z", eventually you'll break down and give into your hunger for pleasure. And rather than enjoy your holiday treats in moderation, you'll end up eating the whole container of cookies (leaving none for Santa or the rest of your family), and feel incredibly guilty that you "gave in" or "let yourself go". Is there an alternative to this self-deprecating mentality of today's society? 


There is an alternative. You have a choice. You can choose to conform and live a life filled with these so-called "guilty pleasures" (foods you want, but think you shouldn't have; tastes you convince yourself you don't deserve). Or you can choose to rebel and decide that desserts, cookies, sweets and treats will simply be pleasures (tastes you can enjoy in moderation, free of remorse). Eating healthy is not about restricting your dietary intake to the point of dissatisfaction; it is about eating in moderation and taking the time to savor the tastes of food. Eating should be a pleasurable experience - NOT an experience of regret and NOT an experience of gorging. As someone who prides herself on being a "healthy eater" I am telling you, it is okay to eat the Christmas cookie. I'd rather you eat one, two, or even three cookies with pleasure, than have you greedily eat the whole damn box and then punish yourself after. 


So, it's time to ask yourself: 'tis the season...of pleasure or guilt? I know which one I choose, but what about you?