After spending 7 hours with a horrific stomach virus (9:30pm to 4:30am) on Christmas Eve (thankfully AFTER our Christmas gathering), I'd just as soon never eat again! It wasn't food poisoning. DH had the bug 3 days earlier...I thought I managed to elude the bug :( Hope no one I spent the evening with gets it. Dinner was a perfecto prime rib, mashed potatoes, green beans, broccoli-cheese casserole, rolls and my famous carrot cake. Hummm, a bowl of cold cereal does kinda sound refreshing.

I definitely bear a resemblance to Mrs. Claus this morning. I had a Christmas Eve pasta meal, a Christmas morning brunch of eggs bacon an d french toast, and a dinner of shrimp app, roast beef, twice baked potatoes, broccoli and apple pie. My fat rolls now have rolls of their own. I did have oat cereal and banana this morning and will scale back today, but my niece and family will be here for lunch tomorrow and my BIL the next day. I honestly have eaten so much it kind of makes me worry. This gluttony must be very bad for you. I didn't even bake cookies this year and I still overdid it.

monica, sorry you were sick , but maybe it was a blessing in disguise-- a really ugly disguise.

I felt that way the other day-- I hadn't eaten lots but I had a few cookies in the office. I don't often eat sweets and it was just too much. I had a dinner of brown rice with toasted sesame seeds and plain steamed broccoli. It was divine. I didn't do too much excess over Christmas but this time of year, I just really crave the simple, fresh tastes. Right now I want a big juicy orange!

sorry you caught the bug, Monica. Glad to hear you are feeling better!

Yes, way too much fabulous food the last couple of days. Despite a fridge full of leftovers I woke with a craving for egg whites with a bit of feta.

My sympathy Monica, not a fun Christmas Eve. Hope you are feeling well soon.

We shared a wonderful Christmas brunch of French toast, fresh strawberries, bacon (my once a year splurge), fresh cranberry salad and mimosas. I limited my Christmas dinner to a serving of green salad, a slice of turkey breast and a teeny, tiny bit of homemade fudge. It's back to cereal for breakfast today.

We did scale back on Christmas Eve since it's just us and MIL. We would normally have a tenderloin, but we skipped it this year. Our Christmas Eve dinner consists of appetizers so the roast was not missed. Plus, I had just come back from China, where our hosts at the conference fed us with amazing food for lunch and dinner every day. I'm finally feeling more normal following jet lag. Ready to get back to the Y!

Ham, lasagne, green salad, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole and cheesy potatoes (thank you Chef Jon!) were on the menu for Christmas Eve dinner. I had planned to make overnight french toast but we were all too stuffed after dinner and I forgot to make it. Came home the next morning and then headed to my mothers where ham, scalloped potatoes, corn casserole and brussels sprouts with bacon were on the menu. I was stuffed and passed on dessert both nights-but DH really enjoyed the goodies at Mom's. I did make the french toast last night and baked it this morning and DH and I have been nibbling on it most of the day-but I think tonight will just be a glass of wine and an early bedtime for me. I've been stuffed up in the nose all day and didn't sleep well (but did nap a lot in my easy chair while the Breaking Bad marathon was on). I'm glad to get back to 'normal' eating now that the holidays are over. I'm thinking curried veggies tomorrow night will be a good alternative.

Our Holiday meals were a bit different this year. It's our family tradition to go out to dinner on Christmas Eve. We had just ordered appetizers when the lights flickered, then went out entirely. We received our appetizers, and our waiter informed us that the only thing that they could serve was the prime rib, so that's what we all had, except my son's girlfriend who had just the veggies and potatoes. We really didn't mind, and it ended up being a pretty fun experience.

For Christmas I always cook a turkey, despite having just had turkey a few weeks before for Thanksgiving, because my kids insist on it. But not this year! After breakfast and exchanging gifts my daughter and I went on a little hike. I had planned on putting the turkey in the oven when we got home, but, despite taking it out of the freezer on Tuesday it was still frozen. There wasn't enough time to thaw and cook it, so we ordered take out Chinese. I was not so secretly pleased, as I really didn't feel like a big turkey dinner this year.

Now if I could just get rid of the rest of those cookies...

We were talking about this topic topic as a family last night and I said I would like to just toss all the leftover cookies, candy, etc...my kids looked at me as if I'd suggested cutting off their arms. What I need to do is put it IN a cabinet or drawer, because when it's out on the counter, I just grab a cookie every time I walk thru the kitchen.

Im going to try to do The Whole 30 in January ... it's going to be a shock to my system after this week!

Great. Now I want cheesy potatoes, Neetsie!

My January plan is to not set foot in a restaurant at all. Many of my pre-Christmas holiday events took place in restaurants and I'm all restauranted out.

I agree Maggie, restaurants are almost always suboptimal. They sneak a ton of butter and salt in everything.

We spent the week before Christmas in Stowe skiing, and though we had a kitchen in our suite, we went out for dinner most nights. I followed a mantra of no bread, no drinks, no dessert, but even so ... it is always more food and richer food than if i made dinner at home. And my biggest problem is stealing from other people's plates. I order well for myself, but then .... other people's food calls out to me (esp since my kids often cannot finish their meals). Last night we went to see a play in the city and ate at Butter. I ordered a brussel sprout salad with apple and smoked pecans, and for my entree, cauliflower in coconut milk. They were both delish, but it did not stop me from stealing some mac n cheee gnocchi and some strip steak. I think that has to be my NY resolution; hands off other people's food!

The other thing I do is avoid cookie production. I adore cookies, and feel like they are part of the holidays, but I cannot be trusted with batter or the finished product. I used to do a cookie swap, thank goodness I stopped that. But even making cookies just for us is too much time around contraband. Now I buy a pitifully small box from a local bakery. They are all butter and gorgeous too. I think the box has like 16 cookies for the 5 of us. We make pumpkin waffles (with whole wheat flour) as our Christmas treat.

And this year, the whole family made ravioli from scratch. It was a lot of fun. That was Christmas eve. We had filet mignon for Christmas Day, but everyone unanimously voted that instead of a whole dinner, they wanted cheese quesadillas with filet, spinach, mushrooms and onion filling. Oh my that was good!

That Whole30 thing looks interesting. Having such a defined timeline helps psychologically I'd imagine.

I have a hard time with restaurants, too, when I am watching what I eat. Often when I order a salad, it ends up being more laden with "stuff" and calories than a hot meal. And the veggies are usually drenched in butter.

We have many bakers in our family. They bring cookies for the holidays, and when they leave I pack the remaining cookies and return them to the giver. I don't want them in the house. That would probably be rude to do with non-family members, but my family already knows the drill. We did a seafood paella and a green salad for Christmas dinner, which is not bad in itself, but when you combine with hors d'oeuvres and dessert, the calories pile up.

I'm totally done with holiday overeating/unhealthy eating at this point. As of yesterday, I'm back to our normal routine of avoiding processed foods and sugar, and whole grains only. And portion control. I feel better already.

I always feel like our Christmas dinner party needs to be more of a feast, than just a dinner for my family and friends, and so I go all out for it. Many pre-dinner appetizers and an open bar. And then a sit down dinner, with a dessert bar to follow, along with coffee, teas, eggnog, sparkling grape juice, and hot mulled cider with clove-studded oranges bobbing in it.

It's so much work, though, that I never have the chance to overeat. And, yes, although it is very festive and fun at the time, I'm thoroughly exhausted the next day. That's when I do usually eat too much. We set out all that delicious leftover food, and just graze throughout the day. So today, I'm also looking back to much more healthful meals. And then we get to New Year's Eve (LOL!) with another special (family) dinner and a very traditional New Mexican New Years Day posole and tamales. And then we start all over again eating healthfully and trying to lose those holiday pounds.

I reluctantly made cookies this year-- I baked with my bff so it was really more about spending time together than having treats. Luckily, the kids' favorite cookie is one I don't care for. We also made Scottish shortbread which is so rich, just two pieces were plenty for me. I did supplement my cookie tray with a German Cinnamon Cookie Star from a local bakery .. and an amazing gluten-free thumb print cookie from a different local bakery. I think they use coconut flour for the thumbprint which gives it "great tooth". In all though, I had 1/2 a white chocolate cranberry macadamia nut cookie (for QC purposes only) and one thumbprint cookie.

I didn't do as well in the office-- where I had at least three cookies in one day. They weren't even that good! I don't usually stress eat but that is exactly what I did that day.

Sue, I am intrigued by The Whole 30. I need to break out of some lazy habits .. going to read up on it now.