Joyful and Healthy: Tips for a Balanced Holiday Season

Joyful and Healthy: Tips for a Balanced Holiday Season

How To Have A Healthy Holiday Season

Last week we talked about the notion of thriving through the holidays. We are skipping the past fads of binging and restricting, we are skipping the guilt and we are definitely not throwing in the towel and waiting until 2025 to live healthy. 

Sounds great but how do we do it?

Pull up that note you kept from the last week and let’s break down those questions you answered for yourself:

Question #1- Are there specific foods you enjoy that you are not allowing yourself to have currently? 

If you answered “yes” to this, what are those foods? Chips? Cookies? Chocolate? Ice cream? French Fries? Well let’s think about this, when you do have access to those foods (even if on rare occasion), what happens? You likely lose control and ignore all fullness cues. You eat as much as possible because you don’t know when you will have access to that food again. Maybe you take it one step further and restrict food intake over the next couple of days to “make up for it.” 

Here in lies the problem. We are putting a hard stop on foods we love which then leads to unhealthy habits when we come into contact with those foods. Here’s what we suggest:

1. Incorporate those foods into your normal diet. Yep! You heard us right. 
2. Find healthy brands/versions of those foods that are filled with quality ingredients. For example, if you love tortilla chips try out the “Siete” brand. If you love ice cream, try out “Cado” or “slow churned” ice cream. If you love chocolate, try out “Unreal Peanut Butter Cups” or “Hu Dark Chocolate.” If you need some help finding alternatives, send us a message! We also love the Yuka brand for this.
   1. Now that you have some more nutrient dense options, you can still enjoy the flavor while also benefit from actually feeling full and not struggling to digest the additives and preservatives. 
   2. When you meal plan ahead, find ways to incorporate those foods in smaller quantities. For example, adding a square of chocolate after lunch each day, planning for ice cream at home 1-2 nights, adding those Siete chips to your grilled chicken wrap at lunchtime. 
   3. Pair those foods with nutrient dense foods; think protein!! 

Now onto question #2: 

When you think ahead to the holidays, what are the food(s) you are most looking forward to? If it wasn’t a holiday, would you eat it? What feelings do you associate with those foods?

If you answered that you would not eat the food unless it was holiday, jump back up to the tips above. Incorporate them on non holidays so they do not seem so special the day of! 

Now let’s look at the feelings you are associating with your foods. If you are using those foods to feel comfort, safeness, content, happiness, etc. let’s take a minute and think about the things that are happening on the holidays that bring you those same feelings. Can we focus on those a bit more? Not only will you be more present in those moments, but you are likely to enjoy them more. You are now getting those feelings from other human interactions rather than from foods! 

We hope these tips were helpful. As we have one major holiday coming up, can you use this next week to focus on getting rid of the “all or nothing mindset” around the foods you love? Can you remind yourself that you are allowed to have those foods at other times as well? You can then enjoy those foods, in moderation, while knowing that you will see them again!