IT HASN'T GONE AWAY, WE'RE JUST AT THAT POINT IN THE CYCLE

November 29 2006:There hasn't been a great deal to write about the last couple of weeks. It's always like that in the lulls just before Christmas and the lead-in to the summer holidays. This year there was a particularly strong late summer typhoon whipped up about weight issues and dieting that didn't blow out until well into October - a good few weeks later than usual. But that kind of minor blip aside, it runs to very predictable seasonal cycles.

In October and November we usually get told about all the gifts we have to buy,  running on into exhortations to really pull out all the culinary stops over the festive season, with new variations on yuletide food themes. Excess is where it is at. Then we move into December with its calls to juggle through the holiday period trying to limit one's intake whilst at the same time partying flat out - a surefire recipe for maximum confusion and guilt. Come January and the new season of remorse and penance is back in full swing, as we are forced to rejoin the dieting roller coaster.

After the pay back for Christmas - which ensures that food guilt overrides any lasting sense of social celebration - there is a short break until the mid-year madness.

First come the destination teasers - a treasure trove of magical vacation locations offered up to us. So we select in wonder and innocence around March and April - and then are slapped down for our naivety and presumption round about May and June: how dare we assume we are fit to go off to beautiful places if we are not slim enough to justify it?!? Many holidays never really live up to their early promise after the harrowing swimsuit struggles during June.

So, if it all seems terribly quiet as of the moment, be assured that it won't stay like that for long. It's like the economic cycle - it defies absolute certainty of understanding but it comes round again and again with great predictability. And, talking of economics, one can also be absolutely certain that the start of 2007 will see the launch of the "diet to end all diets", as does each and every New Year..........

As certainly as the sun will rise in the eastern sky on Christmas morning, the dieting harpies are lurking out there, just biding their time.