Who’s Eaten All The Pies?

Every year, as we all know the sales come earlier and earlier and so too it seems do all the articles about dieting and detoxing. “Eaten too many mince pies?” scream the headlines. “Gained the Christmas half a stone?” shout the others. Talk about pre-Christmas guilt. Having written numerous articles on this subject for years you’ll be glad to hear that the fabled Christmas half stone is easily lost when normal eating resumes, which it inevitably does post Christmas. As for detoxing, well whoever dreamed up that campaign deserves a hefty slap. Firstly it pays to know that a group of over 300 young UK scientists investigated the evidence behind claims made for detox products, and found the word “detox” has no meaning outside of the clinical treatment of drug addiction and poisoning. Meaning mince pies, Christmas drink and food don’t poison your system. Yes they are bad for us (but we knew that already didn’t we?) but none of us need a special regime to detoxify ourselves come January 1st. Secondly why all the guilt every time we dare to enjoy ourselves? In this economic climate don’t we deserve every joy we can grab. So save yourself the cash and instead of buying all those detox treatments, simply detoxify your cupboards come 2nd January. In our house out goes the Quality Street as a food group, down the drain goes the Bailey’s and in the bin goes everything with the word pie on it. It works for us and makes us feel saintly in the health stakes. Plus it gives me some spare cash to go out and buy something new in the sales. Which is why until then I plan to eat, drink and probably eat some more. How about you – do you succumb to Christmas eating guilt or just eat drink and be merry? Let me know.