My basil is bolting. That’s the clearest sign I have that summer is almost here – the plants on my balcony shoot upward instead of bushing out, and the little Thai chillies I’ve been nursing since September go from pale green to red almost overnight. December arrives before I’m ready for it, every single year.
And with it comes the silly season: the catch-ups crammed into four weeks, the work functions, the family lunches that extend into dinner, the sugar-heavy treats everywhere you turn, the relentless forward motion of a calendar that was already full. I used to white-knuckle my way through it – eating well Monday to Thursday and then completely unravelling at a Friday drinks thing in the city. Honestly, that approach cost me more energy than just relaxing about it would have.
What I’ve landed on, after enough Decembers, is something much less dramatic. Not a detox, not a rigid plan. Just a few anchors that keep me feeling okay through a period that is genuinely a bit chaotic.
Start with what’s actually in season right now
The market stalls near me right now are loaded with the things summer does best: mangoes in that short window before they get mealy, cherry tomatoes so sweet they barely need anything done to them, zucchini flowers, stone fruit just starting to show up. I find cooking from the season is its own kind of grounding. It gives the week some structure when everything else feels loose.
A big batch of something cooling and vegetable-forward on a Sunday genuinely sets me up. I’ll make a roasted vegetable situation – lately I’ve been obsessed with the combination of charred zucchini, fresh herbs from the balcony and a tahini dressing over brown rice. Or there’s a Roasted Vegetable Salad with Baked Fig and Goats Cheese on the site that I turn to every November without fail; the figs are exactly right this time of year and the goat’s cheese against warm vegetables is just lovely.
What I love about cooking seasonally in summer is that it’s genuinely less work. You’re not coaxing flavour out of produce that was picked too early or travelled too far. Things taste like themselves.
Protein anchors a silly season day better than anything else
This is the one thing dietitians consistently point to, and my own experience backs it up completely: when I eat enough protein across the day, I make better choices at 6pm when someone puts a bowl of chips in front of me at a function. The Australian Dietary Guidelines outline protein needs across life stages, and Nutrition Australia’s protein fact sheet is worth a read if you want to understand what that actually looks like on a plate.
My go-to this time of year is fish, because it’s fast and the market has beautiful options. A Poached Salmon with Fennel, Orange and Chilli takes maybe twenty-five minutes and keeps well for lunch the next day. The smell when the orange zest hits the hot pan is properly good. Or the Miso-glazed Salmon with Greens – I’ll make that on a Wednesday night when I have a function on Thursday and I want to go in having eaten something real.
I’ll be honest: the elaborate meal-prep content you see online at this time of year is more effort than it’s worth for most people. Four hours on a Sunday making eleven different components is not rest. Two things cooked well – a protein, a grain or salad – is enough.
The sleep piece nobody talks about enough
Late evenings, extra alcohol, different beds at friends’ houses, the general overstimulation of a packed social calendar. Sleep takes a hit in December and I feel it in my skin, my mood, my appetite. What I’ve found genuinely useful is keeping the morning as consistent as possible even when the night before was unpredictable.
My version of this is simple: I still get up within the same hour, I still have a glass of water before anything else, and I still eat breakfast rather than skipping it and arriving at lunch ravenous. A bowl of Brown Rice Porridge with Zesty Lime and Coconut on a slow morning does something nice – there’s a warmth to it that feels like a reset, even in thirty-degree weather. I know that sounds counterintuitive, but something about a proper breakfast that requires a spoon rather than being inhaled standing up just works for me.
Moving your body when you’d rather not
I will not tell you to add a workout to December. I’d argue that telling exhausted people to do more things in December is actively counterproductive. But movement – gentler, shorter, less pressured – does help my nervous system settle when everything is loud and busy.
What actually works for me: a thirty-minute walk in the early morning before the heat builds, or twenty minutes of stretching on the balcony while the chillies get their morning sun. If I make it a full session, great. If I don’t, the walk was still something. Our 25 Wellness Tips has a good section on movement as a mood tool rather than a calorie equation, which reframes it helpfully.
If you’re looking for something you can do at home without any equipment taking up floor space in a share house during a sticky Sydney December, resistance band work is genuinely underrated for this time of year – low setup, low noise, can be done in ten minutes if that’s all you have.
What to eat at parties (genuinely practical advice)
I’m not going to tell you to eat before you go. You’ll go, you’ll see food, you’ll eat it. That’s fine and normal and part of being a person who enjoys their life.
What I actually do: I eat something with substance before I leave – not a full meal, but not nothing. Something with protein and fat, like a small bowl of the Golden Door Breakfast Balls or a handful of nuts and some leftover fish from the fridge. Then at the function I’m eating because things taste good, not because I’m running on empty.
Drink more water than you think you need. Genuinely. Sydney in December is hot and most party food is salty and the air conditioning is cranked and you’ll feel the difference the next morning. I keep a glass of sparkling water alternating with every drink. Old trick, still works.
The food that actually calms things down
There’s a body of thinking around foods that support the nervous system – our own Calming Foods piece goes into this nicely. For me, the practical version is: more magnesium-rich things (leafy greens, legumes, good dark chocolate in real quantities, not a square), less reliance on caffeine to get through the afternoon, and fermented foods where I can work them in.
I’ve also been leaning on our Gut Health Challenge as a loose reference point across December – not following it rigidly, but using it as a reminder to keep some of the quieter, plainer meals in the rotation alongside the richer festive food. Balance doesn’t have to be calculated to work.
The silly season is genuinely fun if you’re not fighting it the whole time. A few anchors, a bit of seasonal produce, enough sleep most nights. That’s the version I actually stick to.
– Mei Lin, Golden Door Living kitchen
