Today is Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving and the day that kicks off the Christmas shopping season. However, to me Black Friday is the day when people start to suffer from “Eater’s Remorse,” as they feel guilty for the foods they ate – and should have enjoyed – on Thanksgiving, and start to stress about the next 6 weeks of holiday eating.
Eater’s Remorse is borne out of all the nonsense that’s been spread by some personal trainers and diet gurus that foods are “good” or “bad,” “healthy” or “unhealthy.” I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again; moralizing about food is ridiculous, pitiful, embarrassing, etc.
What did you eat yesterday? Pumpkin crumb pie, pumpkin spice Swiss roll, sautéed artichoke hearts, mashed sweet potatoes with marshmallows and walnuts, sautéed mushrooms, cauliflower patties, stuffing and turkey with gravy?
Oh, that’s what I ate.
Actually, I had 2 pieces of the pumpkin crumb pie. For breakfast, I had pumpkin walnut pancakes, like 5 or 6 of them. And I had a late snack of sausage Stromboli and a grilled veggie tower featuring mushrooms, eggplant, carrots, zucchini and mozzarella cheese that was left over from Wednesday’s dinner. I never thought twice about eating any of this stuff. As a matter of fact, I had been looking forward to this day since the end of October when pumpkins start to make their annual appearance. Pumpkin is only on the scene for a few weeks, so you have to enjoy it while you can.
So did you eat anything worse? That’s a trick question. When it comes to food there is no “worse.” The problem is that way too many people have bought into the nonsense that there is. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that I endorse overeating or eating a lot of desserts as a regular part of your eating program. Regular, I said. Over eating is going to happen, as is under eating. Sometimes you will eat too much of a good thing, or not enough of it. You’ll also skip meals, eat when you aren’t hungry and have a big bowl of ice cream at midnight.
You’ll go to Christmas parities – excuse me – holiday parties, and have one drink too many or eat too many pigs in a blanket, or just eat sweets. Big deal. Unless you’re a jet setter, how many parties are you going to, 3 or 4? If you’re doing the right thing the rest of the time, these incidents are all part of eating properly and insignificant in the big-picture of your overall eating routine.
Avoiding foods throughout the year won’t help you to avoid them now. If you’re afraid of food in November and December you’ll be afraid of foods in July. Whether it’s a big Christmas blowout or a Fourth of July barbecue, food avoiders are always afraid of food and looking for foods to avoid.
So if you had fun and ate all that good stuff yesterday, that was yesterday. Don’t freak out and try to go on a diet today or Monday. Get back to your routine, hit the gym and look forward to the next party or night out. As for me, I’m off to get my sledgehammer and enjoy a nice, crisp fall day exercising outdoors.
