Eating at My House in 2008

If you received the 2006/07 Holidailies, you know that my resolution last year was to avoid bring trans fats (hydrogenated oils of any kind) and high-fructose corn syrup into the house. The hardest thing to give up? Reddi Whip. It makes everything but chili taste better (but it's all hydrogenated fat).

I'm pleased to say we did very well. Yes, my husband still gets his Coke and Dr. Pepper. But he buys it--I'M not bringing it into the house! And yes, I pick up the odd Peppermint Patty--but that never makes it out of the car . . . Have there been lapses? Of course. But all in all I feel pretty proud of how well we've managed. So well, that the habit of reading labels of new foods is automatic now.

This year, I'm going in the opposite direction: Instead of what we can't eat, I'm going to focus on what we will. This year I'm going to serve the boys and myself five servings of produce a day. We are NOT fruit and veggie people by taste, so I see a lot of smoothies in our future. I might even get that cookbook from Jerry Seinfeld's wife about "sneaking" produce into your foods.

For me, personally, I'm also considering giving up diet soda of all kinds. I'm reading enough about the various acids in the cans to realize (as I sit here guzzling my vitamin-B fortified Diet Coke) that they create a health deficit in teeth, bones and the GI tract. Don't know if I've got that in me for 2008. May try again 2009 once I'm eating bananas like a tropical monkey.

Why am I thinking about (and telling you this) now? Number 1, 'tis the season. My colleagues in the wellness industries and I know that this is the month to get our messages out so that when Jan 1 hits, you'll remember us. Number 2, 'tis the season! I, too, am hearing those messages about health and wellness, and while I'm sitting here preparing to be snowed in again, I have plenty of time to consider how I'm doing for my family and me--and where I fall short. Number 3, 'TISN'T the season: January 1 is only as magic as we make it. If I'm going to make these changes, I can begin today--and so can you. Which is why my laptop keys are sticky with the juice of the orange I'm eating (which, by the way, does not taste good with Diet Coke).