The Christmas eating edition

 Hey, everyone else seems to do some sort of Christmas Special, so I will give my hand a go at it. I love the holiday season. I love to get all sentimental at this time of year.  Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's are times to eat and drink and make merry with friends and family, all of which I dearly love to do.  A month of dedicated to happy indulgence and celebration.  What is not to love.

Yet always now in the back of my mind is my morning fasting blood glucose level.  It's like a steely eyed cop with a radar detector  lodged in my psyche.  It forces me to press the brake to slow the overindulgence that I would normally do.  There were many times past that if I didn't feel stuffed the gills, I was not having the best time I could.

So, how to eat, drink and be merry and not spike the BG, and the weight and everything else bad and still feel as if I had enjoyed the season to the max? And there is the alcohol issue.  I thoroughly enjoy a good drink; several just makes the event even better.

I sometimes think there is an angel and demon on each shoulder and my goal is to keep each happy without a war waged in the center of my brain.

So, with all of that rumbling in my head, here is an article form Nutrition Data as a primer to letting the good times roll in a responsible and satisfying way.  In a nutshell, it's called learning to be happily disciplined.  I followed this last night at the Christmas party we attended and it worked out well.  The shrimp was just right and as appealing as the large desert selection was, I skipped it all together.  The meatballs were killer as well, meaning a ate my reasonable share.  Not on the McDougall plan at all,yet even he allows that feasting on the holidays is acceptable. I did do my best, sort of, to enjoy the vegetables with a minimum of dip. 

What I did was have a Woodford Reserve, neat,  for a bit of desert.  I doubt that it would be on a diet article's list of good deserts, but the natural sweetness and complex blend of flavors in the bourbon really finished the dining for me. This stuff hits all of the right notes, and a fine whiskey just looks cool in the tumbler, brown and shiny and warming. Delicious.

More practical ideas here.

My numbers for today:

• Fasting blood glucose:  113 mg/dl.  Pretty good.
• Weight: 188 lbs.  
• Exercise:  45 minute ride on the bike.  Really worked it this morning.
• Mood:  8.0  It's Christmas.  First time, I really feel it now. 

Menu:

• Breakfast:  Banana, grapes and oatmeal with herbal tea and raisins.
• Lunch:  Cup of soup and half a club sandwich at the Mason Jar.  Too much fat.
• Dinner:  Friday, so it's two margaritas and pachuca gringa. 
• Snacks:  Nothing. 

For motivation there is also the real reason for the season, as Linus reminds us.