I am a believer in the 80% rule. As in, eat healthily 80% of the time and you may indulge a bit the other 20%. Another 80% rule to keep in mind over the holidays is the Japanese principle of hara hachi bu, which roughly translates to eating until you are 80% full.
One indulgent meal is unlikely to have a lasting effect on weight or fat mass. While you may notice an extra pound or two on the scale the next morning, this is typically due to water retention as a result of a higher than usual intake of carbohydrate and sodium-rich foods. And it will resolve itself within the next day or so. Unless, of course, you continue to eat carbohydrate and sodium-rich meals.
Which is what we often do during the holidays. Sometimes this is due to the “what-the-hell-effect” (i.e., I’ve already blown my healthy eating pattern out of the water so why stop now?). But often it’s because we have copious quantities of food left over which we feel we must consume as quickly as possible.
One way to avoid this is to send leftovers home with your guests. Another is to simply make less food in the first place. The pandemic has meant smaller gatherings for many of us. So this month I’ve offered up a Festive Feast for Four. Not only is cooking a turkey breast simpler and faster than a whole bird, it means far fewer leftovers.
I hope you enjoy this flurry of festive foods, flavours and colours!
For me, Christmas and clementines are inextricably linked. The holidays in my family have always been heralded by the arrival of a crateful of clementines. Although my mom made fantastic Yule logs, mince tarts and pies, my holiday treat of choice was a clementine with a few favourites from the splendid array of cookies she baked in the weeks leading up to Christmas. My perfect plate included a chocolate yum yum, pecan puff, rum ball and a shortbread wreath.
I’ve been feeling rather slow these days. It seems to happen every year around this time. I generally dismiss it as a mild case of the “winter blues”, as I’m more of a summer person. But I’ve noticed my energy level is not as high as usual and I’ve been feeling hungrier than I normally do.
This month’s menu, Betteraves Beets, is both a play on words and a nod to my pal in Paris who told me he was motivated to start running by my previous post, 
Sometimes I have to think hard to come up with topics for my blog posts. Other times they come to me organically, through a confluence of events. In this case, it was a movie, a comment from a friend, two books and my birthday bucket list item that led me to this one: It’s Never Too Late…to Exercise.
It’s summertime and the livin’ (and cookin’) is easy! Flavourful salads paired with grilled meats or fish are staples of my summer meals and perfect for entertaining (which I think I have forgotten how to do, it’s been so long). Now that the pandemic is under better control and life is starting to return to some semblance of normalcy, you might be itching to have a few friends over. So this Middle Eastern-inspired kabob menu serves six and can easily be scaled up or down.