My goose is cooked. Or it will be in ten days, anyway. The writing was on the wall, right there on the chalkboard: “Order Goose.”

And Matt did. Last Saturday, he placed his order with the fine folks at Quattro’s Game Farm for a fifteen pound goose. This high fat fowl forms the foundation for Matt’s very Victorian Christmas Eve feast, otherwise known as the War on Waistlines.

Can I enjoy the goose without ending up equally stuffed myself? ‘Tis the season of bad-for-you goodies and timeless temptations, when we’re all awash in excess empty calories. How can we have our share of all the seasonal sweets and savories without turning into a dough ball ourselves?

According to Web MD, the trick is to take  “the 80-20 approach:”

"Eighty percent of the time, you follow your healthy lifestyle, exercising and eating properly. But 20% of the time, most often the weekends and holidays, you can lighten up, not be so tough on yourself. As long as you have an 80-20 balance, you won’t gain weight-and you will have more fun."

This excellent advice echoes my fellow Lime blogger Marissa’s recent post “Dieting? Have Some Ice Cream,” which talks about “intuitive eating.” The message? Have your cake and eat it, too. But skip the seconds. And that goes for the goose, as well.