How To Enjoy The Holidays And Stick To Your Health Goals

Every year people struggle during the holidays and they attribute weight gain to the last few months of the year. Some opt for white-knuckling it through the season whereas others abandon all of their goals. There’s a balance to be struck between sticking to your goals and enjoying the holiday season if that’s something you’re into. Do you even believe that it is possible to enjoy the holidays and still maintain your health goals? I’ll tell you how I enjoy the holidays without guilt. After all the best weight loss tip is knowing where the pitfalls lie.

The Most Important Factor

Food determines how this all plays out but if you’re expecting me to tell you to watch your calories that’s not what I do. Your body will do very different things with turkey, stuffing, and wine. The best weight loss tip is realizing that your body is a chemistry experiment, not a bank. Did you know that 80% of body composition depends on the food you eat? Exercise and sleep each contribute 10%. When I say that food is the most important factor, and most important weight loss tip, that is why. You’re not going to out-exercise bad food choices. In fact, the wrong kinds of exercise can actually cause you to gain more weight.

Eating Tips

• Focus On Protein: Protein will fill you up and when you’re full of good stuff it automatically makes less room for the less than ideal stuff. For those who are keto, carnivore, paleo, AIP, etc it can be a way to indulge in a few dishes that are off of your plan at a holiday dinner without raising too many eyebrows. (There’s so much meat that there’s little room for the other stuff.)
• Bring A Dish: Bringing or making your own creation guarantees that there is something that aligns with your health goals. Along with your protein add plenty of your recipe that works for you.
• The Sugar Will Get You: The number one weight loss tip is to watch out for sugar, sweeteners, and carbohydrates. Carbohydrates in the form of dessert, potatoes, hot chocolate, cider, stuffing, and bread all metabolize into glucose among other things. The body releases insulin to store glucose as glycogen in the liver and muscle cells. When those stores are full the extra gets stored as body fat. Since insulin is a storage hormone it prevents your body from burning fat. Also, the more carbohydrates you eat the more carbohydrates you will want to eat. It happens to me and all of my other low carb friends.
  • Sugar Substitutes Won’t Save You: Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but sugar replacements aren’t any better and in some cases, they’re actually worse. Insulin is released the moment something sweet touches your tongue. Glucose gets stored but since you didn’t eat any real glucose the drop in blood sugar will produce feelings of hunger (carbohydrate cravings) and cause you to eat more.
• Try Not To Mix Alcohol With Carbohydrates: The body burns alcohol first and any extra carbohydrates you consume with alcohol are all likely to get stored as body fat.
• Adding Healthy Fats: Monounsaturated and saturated fats are the healthy fats to add. Polyunsaturated fats are the fats to avoid. What’s the difference? The general rule of thumb is that nature makes healthy fats and humans don’t. That is, avoid the vegetable oils (polyunsaturated fats): corn, soy, canola, sunflower, safflower, & cottonseed. Olive oil & avocado oil are healthy monounsaturated fats. Animal fats, butter, and coconut oil all fall under the saturated fats category. Healthy fats will help you feel full but don’t go overboard. Combining a lot of fat with a lot of carbohydrates is a definite recipe for weight gain. Also, if you’re eating too much fat and you have weight loss goals your body will burn the fat you’ve eaten instead of the fat on your body.

Enjoy The Holiday Food Without Guilt

Now that you know what the common pitfalls are how do you enjoy the holiday season? Perfection is the thief of joy so it all comes down to picking your moment. Sometimes you have to throw out all of the weight loss tips and choose the things and the moments that are worth savoring. Opt for grandma’s special dessert over the mass-produced Costco treats. Make hot cocoa from scratch with your kids and watch a holiday film instead of the instant packets in the company break room. Instead of boxed stuffing that’s loaded with less than ideal ingredients dig up an old family recipe.

Did you know that at Paleo f(x) there are rumors in the halls that Mark Sisson has bread at Christmas dinner? If you don’t know who Mark is he’s a pretty big deal in the paleo/keto world. He’s the guy who created my Primal Health Coach certification, Primal Kitchen products, and he’s the creator of Mark’s Daily Apple. One of the things I love about him is that he’s not an extremist. Talking about bread at Christmas he simply says: “It’s Christmas and we’re enjoying ourselves.”

The only reason to feel guilty about eating food is because you stole it. 

Choose Non-Food Activities

An easy way to side step all of the sugar that comes with the holidays is to choose an activity that doesn’t involve food, or much food. Spending time with people you enjoy is the goal of the season so go do something together. I know that treats can creep into some of these events so just be mindful.

• Go to a paint your own pottery studio
• Make homemade holiday cards
• Go snowshoeing, skiing, or build a snowman
• Go caroling
• Shovel snow for your neighbors
• Go for a walk at night to look at the lights
• Make holiday gifts: sewing, crochet, painting, whatever you’re good at
• Decorate outside
• Decorate inside
• Make homemade candles, bath bombs, bath salts, or oils to give away
• Make a wreath
• Have a gift wrapping party

Put The Scale Away

I’m a firm believer that if you want to enjoy the holidays, and life in general, you shouldn’t weigh yourself daily. One liter of water weighs 2.2 pounds. We eat, drink, and use the bathroom. The scale goes up and down and most of it means absolutely nothing. Besides, did you lose bone density, muscle mass, or hydration? None of those losses are good. You can read more here about why I don’t own a scale.

This article is about enjoying the season and I know far too many who use the number on a scale to set the mood for how they feel about themselves that day. You are more than your relationship with gravity. Don’t forget that. Plus I also believe there’s something to the law of attraction, what you focus on is what you attract.

Write Out Your Health Goals

Before the season begins get clear on what your intentions are. Knowing what your goals are before the season begins can help you stay on track. Maybe make a list of things that you’re going to enjoy that aren’t on your plan? Reflect on prior holiday seasons and think about maybe where you’ve gotten off track in the past. When you’re aware of what’s sabotaged you in the past it can help you side step it in the future. Awareness plays a huge role in maintaining your goals.

Do you know if you’re the kind of person who can’t have just one cookie? (Insert any sweet treat with a cookie.) If you do indulge does it turn into a week-long sugar show? That’s what gets most people into the holiday weight gain category. This is where you may need more reflection. Where do your eating habits come from? How many of them were passed on to you during childhood? Knowing your subconscious mind and the decisions it leads you to make will feel like a huge revelation. We live in a world loaded with gadgets, apps, podcasts, books, and more health information than ever before. People aren’t lacking information. Getting clear on your mindset is what ultimately determines your success. You can get my mindfulness workbook here if you need questions to help you begin figuring things out.

Do You Have To Be Perfect?

I know that most people are focused on weight this time of year but perhaps you’re a bit like me. I’m sensitive to a number of foods. In some ways that makes it easier. Knowing that something will give me a headache or joint pain often makes it pretty easy to say no. Chocolate is one of those foods that gives me some of the worst joint pain. I mean, can you imagine the holidays without chocolate? Does that mean that I completely avoid it? Most of the time I do. Sometimes I may have a square or something with a bit of chocolate in it. The thing is though it’s got to be worth it. I’m not throwing in the towel on cheap chocolate or nonsense. It has to be quality and something that I’d truly enjoy.

I think that’s the ultimate key to enjoying the holiday season and sticking to your health goals. Choose the moments that are worth it. Assess whether your goal is to enjoy the moment or stay closer to your goals. Being able to be mindful and choosing the path is the ultimate freedom. You’ll be able to enjoy the holidays and also maintain your goals.

Get started with the four pillars of health: food, sleep, fitness, and mindset. I offer a free 4-day Masterclass with daily videos, e-books, and tips sheets. Learn more here.

 

Originally posted on October 30, 2020 @ 15:46

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