Holiday food woes.

So the last day or so has been kind of difficult. I went out for drinks last night with some old classmates, which was fun. My drinking is something I'm going to have to reign in, but I only had two drinks, a jack and coke and amaretto sour, which might be better than my love for milky drinks like white russians and the like. But still, I think I need to start drinking more gin and tonic or something, or not drinking at all. I also got a little snack when I was out, but I stuck to one of their "tiny bites" portions or something like that, so I ended up getting artichoke heart breaded with panko. I could have done a lot worse, I think, and it's certainly an improvement from my old habit of ordering a full meal when I'm not hungry.

Today started out pretty good. My mom made her awesome minestrone soup, which is great because it's a one stop shop for a meal. Pasta, sausage (drained), and a ton of veggies like tomato, zucchini, and the like. It's pretty much the best soup ever. The problem came when it came time for Christmas tradition. My family has a long standing tradition of getting Chinese food on Christmas Eve. All things considered, I think I did pretty well. I got Hunan chicken, beef, and shrimp which was swimming in veggies. Unfortunately, it was also swimming in some sort of sauce and portion sizes were CRAZY HUGE. I only ate about half though, but I'm sure it wasn't the most stellar meal ever.

One things I'm working actively on is eating slower. I've always eaten really, really quickly. It's awful. But there are a lot of benefits to eating slower, like enjoying your food more. Plus t gives your brain time to realize your full before you stuff your face. It's a work in progress. A habit 21 years in the making is hard to beat.

But on the plus side, we opened Christmas gifts, another Christmas Eve position and my mom got me the new Cook This, Not That cookbook! This book has some recipes that are a little more exotic, like grilled calamari or stuffed dates, but it also has awesome looking recipes like a swiss burger and tiramisu. The best part? All the recipes in this book are under 350 calories, which is a nice step up from the last one. And this one has more helpful matrices, like one for pizza and salad. I'm really looking forward doing some cooking now!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful and happy holiday season. Have a great Christmas!