We recently reached out to Tara Coleman, Clinical Nutritionist in San Diego, California for ideas on how best to navigate the holiday mine field of food without guilt. Tara graciously shared the article below:
When it comes to health and nutrition, the holidays often seem like a lost cause. No matter what you do, you always seem to start the year feeling like a victim of the potluck and back to square one. This year, I want you to use these 4 simple strategies that will allow you to enjoy the season and have no regrets on January 1!
Don’t Save Your Calories
Oftentimes when we are anticipating a big meal or holiday eating, our strategy is to either skip meals or eat as little as possible leading up to it. The idea is that cutting calories at the other meals will make up for the huge holiday meal. Although it may make sense in theory, I am here to tell you it is EXACTLY WHAT YOU SHOULDN’T DO.
When we skip meals or cut calories too low, we are ensuring with 100% certainty that we are going to follow that up with frenzied eating. You know what I’m talking about. The type of eating where you are starving, inhale the food in record time and then find yourself uncomfortable and maybe even sick. Our intention may be to save room so we can really enjoy the meal, but if we are being honest, when we set ourselves up like this we barely even taste the food. Moreover, we have changed the way our body metabolizes food and now it is more likely to be stored as fat.
Instead, I want you to eat normally leading up to your holiday meals. You will not “spoil” your dinner, you will still be hungry and you will actually get to taste and enjoy the food that you are eating.
Don’t Let Perfect be the Enemy of Good
Let’s be honest, the holidays are just different. Days are shorter, you are running around between social events, shopping and then you have to do all the normal life stuff. And, when you least expect it, someone in the family is going to get sick. So if you have the same expectations when it comes to your health and exercise in December that you do in January, you are going to fall short. Still, throwing up your hands and giving up until the 1st of the year isn’t the solution either.
Instead, I want you to change your expectations. Let go of perfection and shoot for good. Perhaps your normal 45min/day gym routine isn’t realistic this time of year, but maybe 2-3 days a week is doable. Or maybe Sunday meal prep isn’t feasible, but getting groceries in the house for breakfast and lunch and then planning where you will grab takeout for dinner will make life easier.
If you are still feeling overwhelmed or focusing only on what you aren’t doing, download my free habit tracker to help you simplify and keep moving forward.
Be Picky
There is a lot of wonderful food during the holiday season! Things that you look forward to all year. Things that not only taste delicious but are also nostalgic and carry memories and history. There is also a lot of junk. Things that we eat just because it’s there or we are stressed or because we haven’t been to the grocery store. Surviving the holiday season nutritionally isn’t about getting rid of the wonderful (in fact, I encourage it). It is about getting rid of the junk.
Remember the Reason
It is easy to get wrapped up in other peoples needs and expectations during the holidays. I also know that your health and nutrition is important to you. If it wasn’t, you wouldn’t have made it this far – seriously, do you know how hard it is to get people to read things on the internet?! Take a few minutes before going into a social situation to remind yourself of this so you can stay intentional.
The other aspect of remembering the reason – is the holiday season is not only about the food and celebration, but really about the people you are with. So, if you find yourself focusing solely on the food, take a step back and remember to connect and engage.
Ultimately, I want you to exhale and appreciate the season! Try and let go of the pressure of being perfect and allow yourself to cherish what truly makes you happy. Enjoy!
We are thrilled to have Tara join us for the January 2019 WealthChoice Community event on January 16th. You can find details of that event on the WealthChoice Events page of our webiste. Tara Coleman is a Clinical Nutritionist in San Diego, California. She helps people get healthy, but she does it in a way that takes into account their lifestyle and goals, and then creates a custom plan for them. You can read more about Tara here.
