By Derrick Inglut
I love pie. That was the starting point of my original holiday column, and it is still a better place to start than pretending dessert will disappear from the table.
The harder part of holiday eating is often the argument we have with ourselves afterward: the meal was bigger than planned, so now the entire week is supposedly ruined.
Compare actual portions
A slice is not a standard size. A thin piece from one pie and a generous piece from another are different servings, even when both are called “one slice.” Recipes, crusts, toppings, and serving sizes make universal pie calorie charts less useful than they appear.
For a packaged dessert, read the current label and check the number of servings. For a homemade pie, a recipe calculation is an estimate. Use it as context if tracking helps you; do not mistake it for laboratory precision.
Choose what you actually want
Look at the table before filling your plate. If there is a dessert you look forward to all year, make a deliberate choice about it. You do not have to sample everything simply because it is available, and you do not have to pick the least appealing option because it sounds healthier.
Eating from a plate also makes your choice easier to see than returning repeatedly for unplanned bites while clearing the kitchen.
Keep a small routine around the celebration
Decide which normal habits are realistic during a busy week. That might mean keeping two training appointments, taking a walk with family, or arranging breakfast before a day of travel.
These are anchors for the week, not ways to earn dinner. If your usual workout is impossible, a shorter familiar session can preserve the appointment with yourself.
Return to your next meal
After the celebration, resume your usual meals and activity. There is no need to turn the next day into punishment. If the scale is up, remember that a single reading does not tell you exactly how much body fat changed.
A plan that includes real occasions is easier to use than one that only works on uneventful Tuesdays.
Adapted and updated from “Thanksgiving and Christmas Preparation – Calorie Counts for Pies of All Types,” originally published in The Southwester, December 2009, p. 4.