July 28, 2005
as seen in "The Dinner Diva" syndicated column
by Leanne Ely

A long time ago, when my daughter was about 6 or 7, I took her to a children's birthday party. It was pretty typical — games, lots of junky food, birthday cake and ice cream. I couldn't even tell you the name of the child the party was for or anything about it except I remember this one poor little kid who was just miserable.

Her mom, doing her best to do the right thing, wouldn't let this child eat the hot dogs, chips or any of the other junk. She gave him a whole wheat muffin while the other kids snarfed down gobs of cake and ice cream. I joked with the other mothers about how I'll be trying to get my daughter off the ceiling with a spatula later on from all the sugar. But curiosity got the best of me as I watched this mom argue with her child and watch her like a hawk during the entire party. Being a nutritionist, I was convinced she had some sort of serious allergy.

Turns out this mom had never let her child eat anything other than organic, wholesome foods, and there were no exceptions — ever. She was horrified to find out I was a nutritionist and even more horrified when she spied my child inhaling her third hot dog. "How can you let her eat like that?" she asked. I said, "She doesn't. Just for today. Today is special, it's a birthday party, and we do things differently on holidays and birthdays." She didn't understand, but I'm hoping you will.

It's important to eat healthfully, and it's important to be balanced about it, too. And my idea of healthful eating is doing it right 90 percent of the time. The rest of the time, eat what fits: If you go to ball game, eat a hotdog. If you go to an Easter brunch, eat the ooey gooey buttery coffeecake and forget about it! Life is too short to always say no. (Obviously, you can't do this if you're dealing with a severe allergy, physical restriction or religious restrictions.)

There are parts of life that are filled with celebrations and there are celebratory foods that go with it. Eat those foods with relish and don't even look at the nutrition info. Then start over the next day eating healthfully again. And when you look back, enjoy the memory of the people that went along with all that good food, because that's what it's all about.