Healthy holiday eating and enjoyment are not mutually exclusive, IF you know the right tricks. Having a healthy eating style doesn’t have an “on-off” switch and. It’s not about choosing between living in a healthy food monastery, or crossing over to the dark side, where all enjoyment happens.
Being healthy is being on a food journey, not on a diet. On a journey, there’s room for everything. Extreme, overly restrictive eating styles aren’t sustainable and most people wouldn’t want to sustain them either. I wouldn’t. But I think of holidays as just another opportunity to hone a better eating style. Keep in mind, my own eating style has evolved over the years. Give yourself permission to evolve a little, too.
Think about the reasons why our usual eating styles get “disrupted”:
• “…the kids were off from school this week”.
• “…it was the (fill in the holiday)”
• “…we had a party at the house this weekend.”
• “…we had family in from out of town.”
• “…we were doing a lot of socializing.”
Making holidays work FOR you, not AGAINST you
File all these reasons under “stuff happens” but they happen all year long, so make life’s little disruptions amount to nothing more than a minor nuisance. They may even open a new dimension to your eating style or give you different “routines” for each situation.
Here are some positive ways to help yourself during “disruptions”:
• MOVE MORE! Just make it a part of the fun. Activity is a total ace in the hole. The more you move, the more calories you burn, for sure, but the more fun you can have, too. Moving kicks in your brain’s “feel-good” chemicals called “endorphins” that lift your mood. Walk through decorated neighborhoods, go ice skating, and make sure you dance at all the holiday parties! Feel the fun, not the burn!
• Workday “me” time: take 30 minutes of your lunch hour and walk briskly. THEN have a modest lunch and you’ll deserve a little indulgence. Or bank it for tomorrow’s indulgence!
• Splurge on some delicious, healthful foods you like but usually deny yourself: smoked salmon and pre-seeded pomegranates, (where all the work is done for you) are two of my faves. Keep grapes and clementines on the counter for a tasty impulse-bite. Gift yourself the convenience of salad-in-a-bag to make sure you and your family have an easy way to get plenty of low-calorie, nutritious foods (throw in some of those pomegranate seeds!). It’s also an easy way to get kids started in the kitchen with simple prep. Try some high-end balsamic vinegar and you’ll need less oil.
• Expect the unexpected. If a disruption is likely to happen, keep the rest of your day’s eating smart. Leave 200 or so calories for something unexpected. That way it doesn’t set you back.