Janus... The New Year...And Making Resolutions...

New Year's Eve, Vienna by Wolfgang H. Wögerer, Wien, Austria

Janus is the Roman god who presides over all beginnings and transitions. He is the god of time itself. Blessed with two faces, this god can gaze both into the future as well as the past. In ancient times, he stood at the gates of Rome, protecting the city from the Italic mountain tribe known as the Sabines, enemies of early Rome. Our Roman ancestors worshiped him at the time of planting and harvest. They also acknowledged him at the time of marriage, birth and death. All invocations to the gods were preceded by a prayer to Janus, as he guards the gates and access to Olympus. The Romans revered him enough to name the month of January in his honor. Thus Janus (given the modern New Year is in January, not March as in times past) is the God of the New Year.

Helpful Holiday Diet Tips

1. If no one sees you eat it, it has no calories.

2. If you drink a diet soda with a candy bar, they cancel each other out.

3. If you eat standing up, it doesn't count!

4. STRESSED is just DESSERTS spelled backwards.

5. If you eat the food off someone else's plate, it doesn't count toward your daily calorie intake.

6. Cookie pieces contain no calories because the process of breakage cause calorie leakage. This also applies to fudge, divinity, and any and all holiday goodies on the table.

7. Food used for medicinal purposes have no calories. This includes: any chocolate used for energy, brandy, cheesecake, and Haagen-Daz Ice Cream.

8. When eating with someone else, calories don't count if you both eat the same amount.

9. Movie-related foods are much lower in calories simply because they are a part of the entertainment experience and not part of one's personal fuel. This includes: Milk Duds, popcorn with butter, Junior Mints, Snickers, Gummi Bears, mounds, and soda.

Do you have a favorite you'd like to add to the list?

Merry Christmas!