EVERY year, like clockwork, the warning comes before the feast — and the consequences arrive after. Health officials caution against excess as Christmas and New Year approach. Then January follows, bringing with it a familiar surge of clinic visits for uncontrolled blood sugar, spiking blood pressure, and lifestyle-related complications. The cycle is so predictable that one wonders: are we no longer surprised, or have we simply chosen not to listen?
The Department of Health in Western Visayas has repeated the message yet again through its Ligtas Christmas campaign: celebrate, yes — but do so with restraint. Eat properly. Move more. Exercise discipline. These are not radical prescriptions. They are not joyless rules meant to rob families of celebration. They are, in fact, the most reasonable of reminders: that good health should not be a seasonal casualty.
And yet, excess remains the norm.
Our culture prides itself on generosity, on tables heavy with food, on the belief that abundance is proof of love and hospitality. But somewhere along the way, abundance has quietly morphed into overindulgence — and overindulgence into routine harm. Unlimited servings, sugary drinks flowing freely, days of inactivity — all shrugged off as “part of the holidays,” even by those already managing hypertension, diabetes, or other chronic conditions.
What makes this more troubling is that the consequences are no longer unforeseen. Health officials speak not in theory, but in data — years of post-holiday records showing the same patterns, the same ailments, the same avoidable crises. When outcomes are this predictable, excess ceases to be an accident. It becomes a choice.
Moderation is not deprivation. It does not mean banning lechon from the table or turning celebrations into lectures. It simply asks for proportion, for pauses, for the wisdom to know when “enough” truly is enough. It asks families to remember that enjoyment and discipline are not enemies — and that true celebration includes the ability to face the coming year in good health.
Perhaps the more profound question is not whether moderation is too much to ask, but why it is so easily dismissed. Is it habit? Is it the fear of being judged as less generous? Or is it a collective unwillingness to confront the long-term cost of our short-term indulgence?
As another holiday season unfolds, the choice remains ours. We can treat health advisories as background noise — heard but ignored — or we can finally listen. Moderation is not an unreasonable demand. If anything, it is a modest one. And in a time when medical emergencies are increasingly preventable, it may be the most responsible gift we can give ourselves and those we celebrate with.
