Off The Cuff

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

— THIS is the week IT usually starts. “It” is the Battle of the Bulge. And “This” is Thanksgiving week, the week that begins the holiday season which extends into and past Christmas. You know what I mean.

But really, this isn’t the start of the annual bulge battle of calorie counting vs. enjoyment, the enjoyment of stuffing oneself on goodies of the season. That start began weeks ago.

It all began about the time football season kicked off. There were those tailgate parties and kids selling all types of goodies as money-making projects.Even more responsible was the advent of shorter days and longer nights and the conversion from summer snacking, which can be bad enough, to the multi-recipe onslaught that occurs in the kitchen as the ladies of the house begin digging out recipe booklets to hone up on the old favorites (cookies, cakes, candies, etc., ad nauseum) (just kidding). . . and trying out all those new recipes for goodies found in the myriad of magazines that surely are in conspiracy with the dietpromotion folks. That was quite a sentence, wasn’t it?

Paraphrasing the words of a seasonal song: “September......October”, we’re in that season. The two months when the body expects more and gains more. And ain’t that the truth.

After Halloween (and all those leftover Trickor-Treat goodies) comesThanksgiving. Wow. The granddaddy of them all. If it ain’t over to grandma’s house for vittles that just won’t quittle, there will be parties at work and special treats at church and school, to say nothing of the candy and mounds of popcorn and gallons of hot chocolate that show up at home. (I know, popcorn is not supposed to be fattening, but slathered in butter........?)

Finally the biggest season of all: Christmas. The goodies just keep coming and coming and the pounds keep adding and adding and the first thing you know it’s the first of another year.

It is then that reality finally rears its ugly head and the scales groan and the belt won’t buckle and.......... well, you know.

Thus begins another season: that of reckoning and refiguring priorities to shed those pounds that are as contrary to lose as you are looking forward to paying taxes.

But . . . eat, drink and be merry during the next few weeks; then buckle down (a figure of speech) and head for the celery stalks. And don’t forget to walk those miles for whatever miles are walked for.

-Dodie Evans Epilogue

Look for a later report, another chapter, sometime next July or August. Just keep walking those miles.

News, Pages 7 on 11/25/2009