It appears that the food-promoting, sweet-consuming, chocolate-loving, candy-eating, promotion has slowed down. The grocery stores are grinning from door to door after a prosperous pre-holiday Christmas binge. And the sheep...that’s us...are now bleating in our pens, waiting for the next feeding.

And of course, the next feeding is no-other than New Year’s celebrations. Be careful. Tread lightly.

Here we go again. Into the grocery store I go, pushing my cart, propelling toward  the produce and fruit. I am on a mission! The candy is whispering, “Stop. Just look. No harm to be done. See what is on sale from Christmas.” I am a member of Weight Watchers. And I haven’t done very well this past week. So, don’t you dare jump in my cart, junk food!

We try. But if we have not lectured ourselves before hand, since  the temptation is daunting. The party mixes, the dips, the chips, the smokey links in the grape jelly and hot sauce ... all of them look awful to me right now. But, just give me a few days. I know their routine! Open the pens! Here we come.

In a week from now, the stores and magazines will be loaded with diet aids, lo-cal supplements and promotions on losing weight. Merely a part of the game, you see. 

But, I have noticed ...

The rich foods don’t taste as good to me any more. And I didn’t feel well after consuming a big Christmas dinner of ham or beef with potatoes and gravy, followed by pie, followed by picking at the various goodies. Are you with me?

The greatest battle is not the day of these celebrations, but rather the going into and coming out of the celebrations. We continue “cleaning up” the leftovers. Our mothers told us not to waste any food. There are hungry children in Malasia. Is that right? Maybe we should just throw them all away. However, I have not arrived at that point quite yet!

It reminds me of the story where King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon took Daniel and four other young Jews captive to be educated and taught to serve in the king’s courts. When told to eat the king’s food, they refused. A major reason was that the King’s food was probably forbidden according to the Levitical law. Pig and horse were commonly eaten in Babylon. 

Daniel resolved not to declare dependency on the King by setting his heart and choosing not to eat his food. He planned to eat only vegetables and water so that we wouldn’t defile himself. We understand that these boys were very healthy. And no, this chapter is not a ‘pro-vegetarian’ passage, says the commentator.

Daniel had resolve. Daniel had will-power. OK. That can be us folks. As soon as this is over, let’s get it going. We might even throw the rest of the junk food in the trash, right? 

Wrong. But, we will cut back. Won’t we? Oh, and  Happy New Year! 

Judi Tabler lives in Pawnee County and is a guest columnist for the Great Bend Tribune. She can be reached at juditabler@gmail.com.