Mar. 28th: What's in YOUR Easter basket?

We're beginning the week of Easter, so it's time for a pep talk, my friends.

Holidays are difficult times for dieters.  We either feel like social outcasts because we brought our own chicken breast and brown rice to the family dinner, or we feel like failures  because we say "To heck with it!" and dig in with a fork in each hand.

There IS a happy medium.  It's called a healthy attitude about food.

Food is a social glue that holds families together.  What would a family event be without Grandma's famous pie, and Mom's secret-recipe hot rolls?  You don't have to give everything up - you just have to be reasonable.

First of all, ditch the guilt.  no one, except perhaps, you yourself, expects you to be perfect 100% of the time.  One off-plan meal is not going to cause a 5 pound weight gain.  It could make you fluctuate and retain some water, but in the grand scheme of things, it isn't going to make that much of a difference if you've had a healthy week up until that point.

Unfortunately a lot of people see Easter ( or any other holiday) as a week-long extravaganza of "to-heck-with-its."  That is the attitude that will get you into trouble.  An entire week of eating with reckless abandon WILL be reflected in your weight loss efforts.

So what's a chocolate bunny loving girl to do?

Plan ahead.  What traditions are important to you?  If you had to choose, would it be the family dinner at Grandma's or the brunch at your house?  What is your very favorite Easter candy treat?  Is it the marshmallow chicks or the solid chocolate bunny?  Make some decisions, my friend, and stick to them.

For me, it's a little easier.  My family is in the states and my kids go to the big Easter dinner at their Grandma's on their Dad's side.  We do any of our shin-digs here, which means I am in control of the food.

For my Easter candy, I chose a little bag of dark chocolate Eggies, which I have already thoroughly enjoyed, with no guilt (okay, not much guilt.)  We'll be having brunch at our house right after church, so I'm going to make a ham steak and split it between us, some breakfast potatoes, some eggs, a fruit salad, and cinnamon rolls.  I'm going to indulge in a bit of everything and love every bite of it.  But I won't have tons of leftovers calling my name later on in the day, when the kids have gone to their grandma's.  I can keep things tight for the rest of the day.  As well, the day before I plan on working out hard and keeping my diet tight.  No harm done with my splurge.

If, despite all your good intentions, you go overboard, the worst thing you can do is beat yourself up about it.  I think we often fail in our efforts because we demand nothing less than perfection from ourselves.  We seem to think, "Well, I already messed up, so who cares what I do for the rest of the day !!!(weekend, week, month).

The very next meal is your opportunity to get things right - don't pass it up because you made a mistake earlier in the day.  Your victory is not in never failing, but in starting again immediately!

What Easter treats will you be indulging in this year?