What are YOUR plans for Easter/Passover?

What are YOUR plans for Easter? We are having my sister and her son, and my Dad and his wife over tomorrow for a Healthy Easter Lunch! It will comprise of a rack of lamb, a healthy greek salad, and lots of LOVE!

I find that holidays are one of the most precarious times for our plans, because usually we have spent a lifetime celebrating with food so that we attach sentimental meaning to the food ITSELF.

Sometimes even the THOUGHT of NOT "being able to have" that ultra-special dish that we have attached so much meaning to feels akin to ripping the holiday right out of our hearts! Seriously! I know! I have felt that way in the past!

The old me would think "well its just not Christmas without Mom's 'Mississippi Mud' special recipe," or "the Petit Fours" that came yearly from The Swiss Colony" every year and maintained a permanent, if shrinking nightly, presence on a tray for the WEEK up to Christmas!

Now it's Easter, or Passover! So many of our childhood memories and even early family memories are centered around the FOOD. And I'm here to tell you that is NOT necessarily a BAD thing, but being on our program allows us to look at it from a BALANCED perspective.

There are TWO strategies that I recommend for the holidays. The first one, which no one EVER regrets in hindsight, is remaining ON your chosen EATING PLAN. Remember, you are doing yourself, your health, and your body a FAVOR by treating it with the upmost respect, and if you have great momentum in the program you are PROTECTING that momentum by CHOOSING to remain on plan. There are many ways to do this, even if you are hosting a celebration at your home, and especially if you are bringing a dish to someone else's home. How? Well, I always always ALWAYS ask if I can bring a salad. A big, beautiful salad that I prepare with extra CARE and consideration, almost as a centerpiece and not an afterthought. Tomorrow I will make a big beautiful GREEK salad, and it will include romaine lettuce, red, yellow and orange bell peppers, sliced, red onion sliced very thin, tomatoes and diced cucumbers. I will prepare this salad and I will wait to "toss" it with the dressing until right before serving it. I take my portion just in advance of "tossing it" and THEN I put the kalamata olives and feta cheese cubes and dressing in the salad bowl and toss it. That way I can control my own salad dressing, or in the case of tomorrow where we are having lamb, I can simply drizzle some lemon juice or a few spritzes of red wine vinegar, salt and pepper over mine because my healthy fat will be included with my serving of LAMB.

HOLIDAYS and RESTAURANTS are the only time I recommend NOT weighing the lean portion of the lean and green on a food scale. It is a bit awkward pulling out even a portable food scale at a restaurant or someone else's house, but I am having our meal at MY house so I can slip my portion on a food scale just before putting it on my plate. No problema.

So that is a scenario of how to remain ON PLAN 100% for the Easter Celebration tomorrow with family.

The next scenario is the "Allow for imperfection" scenario, and it really involves being OKAY with having a ZERO NET loss for the week but including some traditional fare in the celebration. In this scenario you keep your choices healthy, but not necessarily spot on if you know what I mean. This scenario is NOT a "free-for-all" but a decision to deliberately and MINDFULLY enjoy the Celebration meal with no limitations on WHAT you are eating. ALWAYS be mindful of the quantity, however, If you choose to have dessert, then have a very VERY small piece. If you choose to have a glass of wine, have A glass of wine. Choose carefully because you have to be able to "live with" whatever you end up eating.

Whatever you do, I recommend not turning it into a "free-for-all" with the thought of "Oh I'll Just Start Again Tomorrow". Giving up control altogether will only strengthen the "impulse" muscle and weaken your self-control muscle. And the one we USE gets STRONGER. Guaranteed.

So choose wisely, there is no "right" way, there is only "your" way.

Rinse and Repeat!