Healthy Living: Healthy Eating, Leftovers Nation

So, Christmas has come and gone and soon the New Year will be upon us and more excuses to party and eat like it's 1999 (actually, I don't remember eating that well in 1999).  That this time of the year is a challenge to healthy eating is an understatement that will surprise no one.  We've all been there; the refrigerator loaded with Christmas dinner leftovers while we plan for the next holiday's reveling.  Here are my 10 tips for managing leftovers during the holidays:

1. Don't throw away the gravy;  reconstitute it so that you can drown the dried-out beef or turkey with it, so it's edible.  
2. Do re-heat the potatoes in any form, mashed, scalloped, diced, etc., the Irish knew about potatoes and valued their staying power (a secret- mix a little low fat Boursin cheese spread in your mashed potatoes- makes you look like a gourmet chef).
3. The All-American green bean mushroom soup with fried casserole.  If you have it leftover, you have to re-heat it and eat it.....after all the Campbells brought it over on the Mayflower. 
4. The Jesus Christmas birthday cake.  We'd love to keep eating it all year, but....as responsible in our healthy living and healthy eating, we have to finish the leftovers and wait until next year for more.  
5. Fruitcake, Ok, you got it as a gift and it's still not opened.  While there are rumors that it is edible, it's also a notorious building material with longevity so maybe you can pool fruitcakes with your neighbors to build a community building.
6. Egg nog:  I know I extolled the goodness of egg nog in my Christmas post, but the truth is I only have one small sip or two each year.  There are stories of past by-pass patients that take only one glass and are rushed straight to the ER.  Hmmm.  
7. I grew up in a tradition that stated that any opened bottle of spirits on New Year's Eve had to be finished;  It doesn't.  
8. Once the holidays are finally over, look carefully.  That Elf-on-the-Shelf may be Elf-Underfoot.  
9. Consolidate your garbage and trash for your pick-up guy. After he sees the mountains you have for him, he may only come back again if you organize it for him......or not. 
10. Make sure children don't become leftovers. When you're vacuuming and cleaning up look for small children in the nooks and crannies.  They have a way of getting lost in the post-holiday clean-up fervor.  

And finally, once the holidays are over, the kids and grand kids are back in school, and the New Year has begun, take a moment to thank God for your blessings, as great or small as they may be.  This is still a great country to live in and a great place to pursue healthy living.
Stay well in the New Year my friends.