From T.G. to Christkwanannakuh
Congrats, you survived TG! Hopefully you followed my tips on Wednesday and didn’t have to let out any pants or fall into a food induced coma after dinner. But most of all I hope you enjoyed your time with family and friends as you broke bread. Well, now that the leftover turkey has been turned into soup, salad, or sandwiches; TG officially ends and thus marks the beginning of the Christkwanannakuh season. (That’s my meshing of Christmas, Kwanzaa, and Hannakuh). Now begins the real work! Over the next 40 days, our faith will be tested at home, in the malls and at the office. We will soon be inhaling the delicious smells of freshly baked cakes, cookies, pies, holiday bread pudding, and the list goes on. From holiday cocktail parties to new year’s celebration, we may be overwhelmed by decadence. Crab dip with crostini always looks and tastes better than cold veggies on a platter; even with the buttermilk ranch dip. Ahh the decisions we will soon be faced with in the very near future. To help us through this, I will post Savvy Holiday Survival Tips until the new year. I welcome your suggestions for tips and topics.
Here is your first tip as you embark on the mall tomorrow for more of those post TG sales — So you need a snack in between store-hopping, go for the Cinnamon Sugar Pretzel from Auntie Anne’s, instead of the reduced-fat cinnamon swirl coffee cake from Starbucks. The coffee cake has 330 calories, 4 grams of protein and 40 grams of sugar, and the pretzel has 450 calories, 26 grams of sugar and 8 grams of protein. In this case you are better off being more energized with the pretzel and eating less processed sugar. If you want to be really good, opt for the plain whole wheat pretzel, no salt, no butter. It has only 10 grams of sugar and 11 grams of protein! This is truly your better option. Happy bargain hunting!
