The holidays are the most wonderful time of the year!
And aside from the religious honoring we do to celebrate JC’s birthday, we definitely don’t honor our waistline, cholesterol levels or adrenals during this period! The holidays are a great time that have become known for sweets, overeating, less exercise (as it’s cold in most of the country/world and people are often busy doing holiday things), high stress levels, striving to reach year end goals and spending a shit ton of money. The sad outcome that most of those things lead to is weight gain! The holidays do bring nostalgia and joy, absolutely, yet the stress and excess sugar generally wins resulting in a good 5-7 lbs for the average person for just two months!
January 1st and the “New Year” is infamous for what? DIETING! New Year’s Resolutions! Weight loss and new goals to be healthier and better and thinner and stronger! Of course it is! Yet what if we didn’t have to set those goals just to undo the damage from Q4 of the year prior? What if it was about making strides above and beyond the regular us? What if we actually could improve in the new year because we didn’t screw ourselves up with the Halloween kick off to fat land?!
Well guess what – you can! We can! It takes some strategy and structure and discipline, yet it can be done!
Picture this, Sicily – 1945, just kidding! ha But for real, what if we didn’t see the holidays as a free for all to do whatever the hell we wanted with our bodies?! What if we didn’t eat everything every time we saw it? What if we didn’t graze like little freaking cattle on the results of the annual cookie decorating get together with grandma for two straight weeks? What if we didn’t put off exercise for three months cause it was cold out or we were too busy with shopping and drinking and Christmas caroling and holiday parties? Like honestly…WHAT IF?!
I’m not here one bit to tell you that you shouldn’t eat holiday cookies! I’m not here to tell you that you need to exercise and move your ass for at least an hour 6 days a week during the holidays. I’m not going to ruin your whole damn life and tell you not to eat the few things grandma or mom or your sister makes only once a year. I will never tell you to not enjoy those food items we smell or eat that remind us of childhood or the most precious memories. Cause how the hell would that sound healthy-ish? How would that add to a great life? It wouldn’t…and you know it.
Now that I’ve told you all the things I’m not going to tell you to do – I will share what you can do to survive the holidays and not set yourself back what feels like a literal ton! I’m going to provide some tips or ideas that honestly, before I started working with my current doctors, I’d never really thought of?! When I think of what society has taught us about dieting and the holidays and how to survive them, it’s mostly just DO NOT EAT ANYTHING! Be perfect every day yet still be happy and free and enjoy! It’s often about going without everything that makes you feel good, cause it “doesn’t fit into your goals”. Blah blah blah. They also talk lots about perfection even through these fun and celebratory and family-shared times! There’s the “sugar is the devil” comments and the constant body shaming if you don’t have a sick pack! The ever flowing shame if you’re not on a keto diet or have 3 of your favorite decorated sugar cookies one day for lunch! I’m over it! I sure as hell know you are too! So here we go…here are things I want you to open your mind to and consider!
1) ENJOYMENT DAYS: EATING YOUR FAVORITE FOODS ON CERTAIN DAYS!
Reality is, you wait all damn year to have some of these annual treats, sweets and drinks! So when you think about it, you’ve already practiced self control for 300-360 days as you could easily make these things in May or July, yet you just don’t! Right? That surely sounds impressive to me. And I bet you never thought about that win, did ya?!
What I am referring to here is that you pick the things that you wait year round to eat, but you literally calendar the enjoyment days out. You pencil them in. You make a list of the few things you just HAVE TO HAVE this time of year, and you get excited to enjoy them! You then get the calendar out and you pick your enjoyment days. You may think that kind of sounds stupid or like a bit much, yet is it? Cause gaining 7 pounds every December sounds like a bit much too, no? So look at the calendar, pick the actual days of enjoyment – when you know you’ll see grandma or go to that favorite holiday brunch spot, etc.
I would also say that you can add ONE SINGLE DAY before or after the actual “day of” for you to spread out the joy or enjoy some leftovers. Notice I said ONE DAMN DAY! I know I’m sure as hell guilty of spreading this shit out like it’s the only food I have to survive on. I think last year after 7 months of strict diets, my mom wanted to make Christmas cookies and I no joke ate about 5-10 cookies every single day for like two weeks. I’m not gonna lie or bull shit you! The cookies were small, yet I looooove sugar! And after 7 months of no processed sugars or gluten or butter, I was alllll in! Don’t be like me though! Note to self 🙂
Honestly though, you’ve had the discipline to not make these things the entire freaking year! So penciling in 2-4 days to enjoy them over the holidays will do you just fine! I mean it! And on those days, I want you to be all in on the thrill and excitement and enjoyment levels! Do not for one ounce feel guilty or bad for eating those foods…don’t let our American culture of fake and vanity get involved in your nostalgia for one fucking second! Make your list and use that calendar as happy as Susie Snowflake!
2) PICK DAYS TO CLEAN IT UP
So tip #1 had me speaking to those certain foods or items you just live for during the holidays! While tip #2 kind of piggy backs on that, if you stayed on point with your eating the entire holiday period and only had about 6-8 days throughout November and December of going all out eating your favorites, you may not need to be involved as much in this one? It definitely won’t hurt you to do both of these things, and I actually think they pair well together, yet I’ll let you do you boo.
The concept here is that you pick some days to do a cleanse or clean things up in your diet. Here are some examples of ways you could do this for two days:
-eat only raw fruits, veggies and nuts
-drink protein shakes and salad (raw veggies)
-bone broth fast for day 1 + raw fruits and veggies for day 2
-meatless days (use fish & shakes as a protein source) with no processed carbs
The planning of these little two days clean ups, or even if you just did them for one day, is super helpful during the holidays! Imagine yourself rolling into Christmas Eve & Christmas Day this year 2-3 lbs lighter and without a shit ton of bloat and retention because you implemented one of the above on Tuesday & Wednesday that week? Sounds nice, right? Think about doing a one or two day clean up after Thanksgiving & Black Friday? So instead of the normal 4-day Thanksgiving weekend to eat a bunch of crap and get all fluffy, you practice tip #1 like the boss you are, AND THEN you roll right into two days of one of the above. Sounds skinny, right?
You could also opt to do one of these every week starting mid-November through the end of December and just rock the end of the year! Look at your calendar and maybe you pick Tuesday and/or Wednesday each week to clean up shop? Blow your mind at the concept that you could actually roll into the next year in the same place you were in October, or maybe even in a slightly better place?! Your New Year’s resolutions wouldn’t seem as scary or daunting as usual. They also wouldn’t feel like you’re depriving yourself or ruining your whole freaking life!
3) FIND HEALTHIER RECIPE SWAPS FOR YOUR FAVORITE CLASSIC HOLIDAY SIDE DISHES
Of course this seems like common sense, but is it? There are in fact paleo versions of sweet potato casserole that help to avoid a bit of the chaos the body does when eating conventional recipes. Same thing with your other holiday favorites where you use shitty oils, loads of gluten, etc. You could work to make some ingredient swaps using anti-inflammatory foods from this list.
You can bake and use sugars like pure maple syrup, coconut sugar, raw honey and/or dates. If you’re keto or avoiding those, you could also use monk fruit sweetener, stevia, or birch xylitol.
Some other fun ideas: you can swap out half the potato for cauliflower in your mashed goodness! You can use ghee instead of butter (or at least PLEASE use organic dairy)! You can pick organic Greek yogurt (plain) in the place of sour cream in recipes. You can use unsweetened apple sauce instead of oil in your baking OR opt for light olive oil or refined coconut oil in your baking!
4) EARN YOUR MEALS & PARTY FOODS
This tip has to do with moving your ass and exercising! I am not interested in the type of exercise, I just want you to MOVE! Throw on your favorite old school jams and dance around the house for a bit! Pick a quick circuit of exercises and do 5 rounds! Go to the gym for a Zumba or yoga class! Hop on the treadmill, head to OTF or sign on to your Peloton app. Whatever you’re into, no matter where you live, JUST MOVE!
The point of this is that you’ll EARN your meal! You’ll burn calories, get your endorphins pumping to better your mood and have your psychology right about eating some of the “special” foods you enjoy, and spike your metabolism! Within 1-2 hours post workout is the perfect time to eat your processed or refined carbs, and it’s part of my tips for health-ish living and weight maintenance anyways. Click here to read that article for surviving the rest of the year.
How does this relate to the holidays? Well I vote you go for a bike ride BEFORE that Friendsgiving brunch or dinner. I vote you hit the gym or dance around the house just BEFORE you’re headed out to grandma’s for her famous Christmas Eve dinner! I vote you try to get your but moving and your metabolism crankin’ BEFORE the annual cookie swap!
Set yourself up to win! Set your body up to win! Set your life and holiday season up to be healthy-ish! Cause ain’t nobody tryna look like Santa come January….amiright?! HO HO HO!
Merry Christmas to all….and to all a goodnight!
PS: The amazing Carrie Underwood just came out with this song about wearing your Stretchy Pants on the holidays, and it’s actually quite fitting!