Balancing the Binge

For most of us, the holidays present many opportunities to overindulge. We work hard to eat properly the rest of the year and often deprive ourselves in favor of eating healthy, but come October, we find ourselves salivating in anticipation of pumpkin pies and mashed potatoes, cookies, chocolates, a few extra cocktails, hams with fruity sauces and Christmas pastries and desserts. We take a short, deep breath and then dive right into the final foodie excess of the year, New Year's Eve eating and drinking. Now what? Now the dieting and ramped-up workouts, and then many of us give up.

How about option number two? Let's work towards a balance. Let's follow the Greek tradition of feasting and fasting. Actually, fasting and then feasting. While this tradition (which is now referred to as intermittent fasting) is grounded in the religious protocol of the Greek Orthodox Church, the concept (as science is now confirming) is a sound one. You can do the research for more information; I'm just going to put my recommendation out here and you can decide what you'd like to do.

Let's eat moderately, mostly a vegan-like diet, let's give ourselves treats like a nice steak or a beautifully roasted chicken, and let's, by all means, eat that fabulous dessert (if it's truly fabulous) now and then. After the week-long vacation where we eat whatever we desire, let's come home and enjoy steamed or boiled fresh-as-we-can-find vegetables for a couple of days, just long enough for our bodies to recover and do their own healing. Let's balance the binge with a few powerful shots of food and fasting medicine.

Here's a link to my printable recipe for Pickled Shrimp Salad. Have it for lunch, serve it over a mix of lettuce and avocado dressed in a light drizzle of olive oil, and call that dinner. After all of the rich foods of the last two months, give your body a break and a gift by eating foods like this.

A few other ideas:

• Give yourself 24 hours and enjoy a delicious and healing turkey bone broth.
• Enjoy a day of light fasting with this for dinner, my Fast Fast Soup.
• How about an easy-to-assemble green salad with my simple vinaigrette.
• Steam or rapid-boil beets and their greens. Toss with my vinaigrette.
• Steam broccoli, potatoes, zucchini. Toss, Greek-style, with fresh lemon juice and olive oil. This is often my go-to dinner after I've spent my feasting allowance. I crave it. I enjoy it, always with a bit of feta cheese and a few olives on the side.