There are a plethora of bad choices that face us during the holidays.  Do we have another helping?  Do we have dessert?  Do we have 2 desserts (who can resist taking a piece of both types of pie after Thanksgiving dinner)?  Do we have another glass of champagne?  Do we take the chocolate that’s offered?

Sometimes you can’t say “no” without being the Grinch – and sometimes we don’t want to say no.  But saying yes doesn’t mean you can just abdicate all responsibility and go crazy.  So instead make reasonable choices to indulge where it’s important.

• If you want both kinds of pie, take two 1/2 slices instead of two full servings – and skip the whipped cream or ice cream on top.
• Pick either dressing or potatoes with dinner, not both.
• Alternate glasses of water with whatever alcoholic drink you’re having.  (Not only does this slow down your consumption of alcohol, it’ll help with alcohol related water retention the next day.)
• Have an appetizer or dessert, but not both at the same meal.
• If the choice is between veggies and a rich creamy spinach dip or fried stuffed mushrooms, choose the veggies and dip.

In other words:  if you’re going to choose to eat something that falls on the “bad” side of the equation, at least make it a better bad choice.

Or as another friend of mine says:  just because you take a small step off the path, it doesn’t mean you should throw yourself down the side of the mountain.

Enjoy your holiday reasonably rather than making it an all or nothing.

(And please remember during the holiday season to drink responsibly if alcohol is part of your celebrations!)

When people define “healthy” in such a way as to be prohibitive, it then becomes another excuse to not make changes.  I’m not saying people necessarily do it intentionally – I think for a lot of people it’s unconscious.  Of course you can MAKE it expensive by putting all kinds of arbitrary restrictions on it. But at it’s core, eating healthy doesn’t mean all the caveats that most people put on it.

• Eating healthy does not mean you have to buy all organic food.
• Eating healthy does not mean you have to buy all fresh fruit and veg, even if it’s out of season.
• Eating healthy does not mean you have to buy gourmet food.
• Eating healthy does not mean you have to buy brand names.

If the choice is between three items:  a burger and fries, vs. rice and beans,  vs. organic rice and organic beans in gourmet olive oil … the middle option of plain rice and beans is still HEALTHY. And it’s far healthier choice than the burger and fries.

And that’s where I get frustrated with people who say “I can’t eat healthy because it’s too expensive.” I guarantee that eating healthy can be much cheaper than eating junk – if you learn how.

Come discuss this in the forum where I started a thread on healthy eating for one for about $80 a month.

Why another diet forum when there are already so many forums for losing weight out there? Do we really need another one?

Maybe not. I’ll be honest that this is, to a large degree, an experiment on my part. There are already a ton of forums dedicated to diet, fitness, weight loss, exercise, body building, and all those other things. I’ve been on a lot of them and I’ve discovered that many of them fall into one of the following categories:

1. Forums that are run as profit centers for owners who couldn’t care less about the integrity of the community and the information provided.
2. Forums that have been overrun by spammers and shysters selling the latest “quick fix” solutions, to the point at regular users have been driven away.
3. Forums that are sponsored by commercial concerns that limit discussion to only those topics that support their product or sales pitch.
4. Forums that are populated by nutrition and fitness fanatics or hard-core body builders (not a bad thing, but hard for the average person looking to lose a few pounds and be healthy to feel welcome in).
5. Forums that are geared mostly towards women, where men feel awkward or out of place posting.
6. Forums that simply don’t have a sense of community.

I want to create a forum that avoids as many of those pitfalls as possible and is a resource for anyone looking to lose weight – any amount of weight. If you have 10lbs to lose to fit into your favorite jeans, I want you to feel welcome here. If you need to lose 100lbs, or 200lbs, or more for your health and well being, I want you to find a home here as well.

I hope to recruit the participation of some of the “fitness fanatics” I know, so that the information provided on the boards here is accurate and useful.

I hope to find people who have successfully lost weight to join and hang around to give us the benefit of their experience and success.

I hope to grow a community of people who learn to care about each other and the struggles we all face at whatever weight we are, and at where-ever we are in our journeys.

If you’re reading this post, you’re probably interested in losing weight and getting fit and talking about it to like minded people. I hope you stay around and become a part of our community.  Come join us and see what it’s all about.