This year for Christmas treats I've been roasting and seasoning shelled pumpkin seeds, aka pepitas. These are available in bulk at health food stores and Latin markets. They're delicious, they're a little unusual, they're less expensive than nuts, they're very nutritious, and while nut allergies are common, I've yet to hear of someone with a pumpkin seed allergy. Here's what I've been doing with them:

Salt 'n' Cinnamon Pepitas

4 egg whites
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon salt -- scant tablespoon
1/3 cup splenda
8 cups shelled pumpkin seeds

Years ago, I read a really stupid "study" that claimed to demonstrate that running caused women's breasts to shrink. Why? Because the folks doing this ridiculous piece of "research" had looked at a group of serious female runners, and discovered that most of them wore a B-cup or smaller bra.

As a girl who was the first in her fifth grade class to wear a bra, who was a C-cup by freshman year, and is wearing a D as she writes this, I found this the most enchantingly bass-ackwards piece of reasoning I had ever run across. Um, folks? Girls built like me don't run.

Ho-hum. Another day, another study "proving" the dangers of a low carb diet. This new one comes out of Tufts University, and claims to show that a low carb diet impairs memory, while a low calorie diet does not.

Uh-huh. Let's dolly in for a closer look.

First of all, this was a very small study -- just 19 women, ranging in age from 22 to 55. They were allowed to choose either a low carb diet or a low calorie "balanced" diet. They split, with 9 women choosing low carb and 10 choosing low calorie.

Or maybe lunch. Whatever. I'm fighting a hideous cold, so I didn't get around to cooking till noon. And anyway, I'm working on baking recipes for another book with Rob Thompson (a book on a low-starch diet for diabetics,) so I have waaaay more low carb baked goods in the house than I usually do. So I had a piece of not-very-good low carb cornbread with my tea first thing; I have to try the cornbread again today.

Anyway, when I finally got around to cooking an actual meal, I did one of my favorite things: I made up an omelet out of stuff that was kicking around in the fridge.

When one is operating at a disadvantage –– say, a total lack of first-hand experience –– it’’s best to admit it up front. So here it is: Not being Jewish, I’’m at something of a loss writing about Hanukkah cookery. But since when have I ever let a little thing like that stop me? I certainly can cook, and as both a librarian’’s daughter and a librarian’’s wife, I know a bit about research, too. So I’’ll forge ahead, do my best, and try not to go too far out on a limb.

If it's December, it must be time for me to republish my UnPotato Latke recipe! The original calls for Ketatoes, no longer available. But Dixie Diners Instant Mashers, a similar product available from Carb Smart, Netrition, and other low carb etailers, will work just the same. The Atkins bake mix can be swapped out for rice protein powder.

My pal Barbo Gold told me, when I first came up with these, that they were good enough to make me a Latke Maven. Which ain't bad for a girl as goyish as me.

UnPotato Latkes

1 cup shredded cauliflower
1 cup shredded turnip

Remember the holidays of your childhood? Mom would festoon the house with evergreen roping and ornaments, lights would twinkle from each tree, the air would be filled with the scent of baking, and every party table would be groaning with lovingly-concocted canapes and other tempting treats?

Makes you want to go bury your head under a pillow, doesn’t it?

Been to a few parties recently? Likely to go to a few more? Holiday parties are notorious diet-busters. All sorts of carb-y food, the weight of "tradition," people handing you excuses to Indulge ("Aw, c'mon! It's Christmas! Live a little!"), plus the disinhibition that comes along with a little "holiday cheer," and it all ends up to waking up the next day with a carb hangover and three or four pounds of water weight around your waist.

So let's talk parties.

Gang, I've had a request from a reader for good low carb forums. I don't hang out at any, so I really can't recommend one. So I turn to the collective wisdom of my readership. Where are the good low carb forums? Fora? Someplace intelligent, reasonably thoughtful, as flame-free and spam-free as possible?

150 Recipes to Help You Lose Weight and Reverse Insulin Resistance

by Rob Thompson and Dana W. Carpender

Order The Glycemic-Load Diet Cookbook now from Amazon.com

‘Tis the season to send food! If it hadn’t occurred to me yet, my mailbox would remind me. Sheaves of catalogues arrive daily, selling everything from cheesecakes to petit fours to caramel corn. I love the age-old tradition of giving gifts of food. They’re always the right size and the right color. They don’t take up storage space, at least not for long. They require no dusting. And who ever has enough goodies, with all those holiday guests dropping in?

Everybody had enough turkey? Okay, onward to Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Yule, Festivus, or whatever the heck else you might celebrate to make this dreary time of year bearable! Time to think. Time to plan. Not our shopping (me, I've already done most of mine online; somuch easier than slogging through malls.) I'm talking about the food, of course!

Remember, come Thanksgiving Day, all the turkeys left at the grocery stores will be marked way down. I always buy at least a couple and stash them in the deep freeze to eat later in the year. If you don't want to roast a whole turkey for just your family -- an understandable feeling -- be aware that grocery store butchers will generally slice one up the middle for you at no additional charge. A half-turkey -- one breast, one wing, one thigh, one drumstick -- makes a nice family-sized roast for a Sunday dinner.

Only works with un-frozen turkeys, though.

If you're having Thanksgiving dinner at someone else's house, resist all offers to wrap up some leftover pie for you to take home. Remember, even if you're having an Indulgence Day, it only lasts for one day! No eating sugar-sweetened pie for breakfast on Friday!

You might ask if they'd let you have some leftover turkey or ham, instead. I love having leftover turkey in the house!

"But, Dana!" I hear you cry. "I'm not cooking Thanksgiving dinner! I'm going to my mother's/mother-in-law's/cousin's/sister's/brother's/grandmother's house! I'll have no control over the menu!"