Eat, Fit, and Be Merry! 5 Tips for Surviving the Holiday Eating Frenzy
Happy Thanksgiving readers! I know this is only the beginning of a very stressful time of year for many of us, and often the first thing to suffer is our wellness. As our list of things we need to do for others grows, our list of things that we should do for ourselves seems to dwindle. Feel inspired to do things differently this year! Small, but significant choices, like taking a short daily walk, sitting quietly and watching your breath for 5 minutes, or even reading or knitting–if that’s a favorite hobby, can remind you that your health and wellness is important. I know it is important to me! So, enjoy a memorable day with family and friends, and let me know if any of these tips worked for you!
Thanksgiving pies your great-grandmother would make!
Holiday news flash! The National Institutes of Health estimates that the average American will gain between 0.8 and 1.4 pounds in the six weeks between Thanksgiving and New Years. That may not sound alarming to you–unless you’re still working off the extra pounds from last year’s holiday feeding frenzy!
I’m just like many of you, though. I hate to put eating restrictions on myself at this time of year. Honestly, I’ve tried to be the conscientious wellness coach, leading by example by switching up low-fat alternatives for some of my favorite holiday foods. Last year I even went to a “Raw Thanksgiving” cooking class where we learned how to substitute dehydrated sage infused nut patties for roast turkey, and cauliflower whizzed on high in a Vitamix, for my favorite side dish, mashed potatoes. Sorry to say, Raw Food enthusiasts–definitely not worth the possibility of a few extra years on the planet in my book!
For most of us, there are far too many heart warming foods that come around only once a year to surround them with painful judgement and negativity. And for the mere mortal, obsessing about strategies to avoid them usually leads to just the opposite–unhealthy overindulgence followed by stressful shame and guilt. Who wants to face the holiday shouldering that kind of burden? So, let me help you out this year. Here are my top 5 tips for heading holiday weight gain off at the pass, while still enjoying your favorite gatherings with friends and family.
Tip #1: Eat Food!
I actually stole this one from author, Michael Pollan, who cautions us to stay away from “edible food like substances,” in his book, “Food Rules.” Why waste your precious holiday calorie allotment munching mindlessly on white chocolate peppermint Pringles out of a can? Instead, pass on the junk food from the grocery store, and savor real food your great-grandmother would have cooked, like homemade pumpkin pie, warm cornbread stuffing, or even mashed potatoes and gravy–all in moderation, of course.
Tip #2: The old smaller plate trick.
Okay, not too original. But what could be more simple? Studies suggest that, because we eat with our eyes instead of our stomachs, we tend to serve ourselves more food when we are shoveling it onto a bigger plate. Stack salad plates on the buffet instead of dinner plates. (Your whole family could benefit from this strategy) And don’t give me that, “But I’ll just go back for seconds!” line. You know you’ll go back for seconds regardless of plate size. If you’re suffering from “portion distortion,” there’s a great tutorial on healthy portion sizes at theportionplate.com.
Tip #3: ADD to your diet.
This may sound a bit crazy, but research shows that people are more successful losing weight and keeping it off when they begin by ADDING healthy foods into their diet instead of taking food items away. Make your plate look as colorful as the lights on your Christmas tree: red (peppers), green (dark leafy greens), orange (sweet potatoes), and purple (red cabbage). You get the idea. Once you have those on board, use the leftover space for the higher calorie comfort foods.
Tip #4: Start an exercise program.
What? Are you kidding? I know, this may seem like the worst time of year to do something drastic like starting an exercise program. But keeping holiday calories in check comes down to simple math–calories in vs. calories out. If you manage a walk or workout earlier in the day, you’re banking calories for a relaxed and festive evening later on with friends. You’ll also be gifted with the positive side-effects of exercise: improved mood, increased energy, and the ability to handle busy highways and long checkout lines with a smile! Well, that last one might be a bit of a stretch.
Tip #5: Watch your alcohol intake carefully.
Alcohol and the holidays can be a particularly perilous combination. Not only are holiday spirits high in calories, one drink can melt your “all things in moderation” approach to the buffet table, like a blow torch aimed directly at an ice sculpture. A couple of tips to help you avoid the holiday alcohol trap: don’t arrive at a party on an empty stomach, sip a sparkling water through the cocktail hour, and if you want the egg nog or hot buttered rum, swap it out for the dessert.
Red wine . . . a healthier choice that goes great with turkey!
Okay. So, what’s a couple of extra holiday pounds over the next few weeks? After all, January 1st is just around the corner, and a perfect time to make a clean break from old habits and a fresh start with the new healthier you. If you ask me though, I say, “What are you waiting for?” Practicing moderation, and allowing yourself the freedom to enjoy family, friends, and long standing traditions, sets you up for a happier and more sustainable wellness path in the New Year.
Write About It . . .
Do you have any inspired strategies for avoiding holiday weight gain? How do you manage your wellness, from eating, to fitness, to stress reduction, during the busy season? I always find my best tips come from my clients and students, so I am all ears!
Have a wonderful start to the holiday season.
Meg
Another Serving of Gratitude, Please!
I wrote this piece for the Glen Ivy Hot Springs blog last November, and thought that I would repost here as a way to welcome the holiday season on a positive note. The six weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas are some of the most challenging in the healthy eating department. Yet, with the right mindset, I feel like you can enjoy this warm and festive season without undue stress or guilt. Why not give it a try this year and let me know how it works!
Go ahead! Eat whatever you want on Thanksgiving Day! Forget sticking to your diet. Pull up to the table and savor the delicious turkey feast with your family and friends.
I know, this is not the typical holiday eating advice you might expect to hear from a certified wellness professional like myself. It may even border on being irresponsible–even reprehensible! But this month’s Glen Ivy Challenge, “Practicing Gratitude,” got me thinking: If people who practice gratitude on a regular basis are happier as studies suggest they are, does that mean they are healthier too? And if that’s the case, maybe the practice of gratitude during the upcoming holiday season is a better wellness strategy than depriving yourself of your favorite foods or counting the calories in a slice of pumpkin pie.
As it turns out, the answer to my question is, “Yes!” According to Dr. Robert Emmonds, a psychology professor at University of California Davis and author of Thanks! How the New Science of Gratitude Can Make You Happier, practicing gratitude or “a felt sense of wonder, thankfulness, and appreciation for life,” is not only good for your mental health, but also improves your physical health as well. Participants in his gratitude studies showed improvements in their health status like sleeping longer hours and experiencing a better quality of sleep. They also had fewer symptoms of malaise such as headaches, nausea, and pain. The most exciting aspect of his research though, showed that these individuals also made better lifestyle choices. Emmonds explains, “Grateful people take better care of themselves and engage in more protective health behaviors like regular exercise, a healthy diet, and regular physical examinations.” In other words, people who recognize and feel appreciation for life’s gifts choose to take better care of themselves.
Finding the motivation to choose healthier behaviors is at the heart of lasting lifestyle change. That’s why the “gratitude approach” to better health makes sense to me. Many people I talk to about beginning an exercise program or eating a healthier diet say, “I know what I need to do, I just don’t do it!” They feel at a loss as to why they repeatedly sabotage their diets or can’t stick to their program. Moreover, their confusion is frequently laced with negative self talk that eventually becomes a barrier to their success.
By its very nature, gratitude practice requires you to perform an about-face away from focusing on what isn’t working, to an appreciation for what is. Feeling bad about not going to the gym because you were held up at work, turns into feeling good about the twenty minute walk you took when you got home. And as Emmonds points out, this mental shift gives you a positive framework for living life where you are able to take control over your happiness levels.
So, with the busy holiday season upon us, and those pesky New Years resolutions following close behind, why not take a different approach this year. Lay the foundation for a year of better choices by trying my gratitude practice with a “healthy twist” during the month ahead:
- Connect with the good in your day. Start a simple gratitude journal today with the tips we provided in our recent blog post, Creating a Gratitude Journal. Try including a few entries that recognize the healthy choices you have made during your day–no matter how small.
- Connect with a sense of appreciation and thankfulness for your health and your ability to move about and do all the things you love to do. Begin to think about the healthy choices you can make in the New Year to improve your health status.
- Connect with your support system. Who are the people around you–family, friends and co-workers–who can become part of your wellness team next year? Just think, if they are on your team, you are on their team. Two healthy people for the price of one!
OK, gratitude practice won’t eliminate all the calories on your Thanksgiving plate. But approaching life with a positive outlook and a spirit of thanksgiving could mean that taking better care of yourself in the New Year comes more naturally to you. So, while I did’t really mean “Eat whatever you want this Thanksgiving,” go ahead and enjoy the turkey dressing and sweet potato pie. Just make sure there is a healthy dose of gratitude served up in between.
Write About It . . .
Does the gratitude approach make sense to you? How do you practice gratitude in your life? Have you ever kept a gratitude journal and felt that it helped with approaching life with a more positive attitude? What Thanksgiving memories or stories do you have that don’t involve food? (Now that is a hard one!)
Lessons in Wellness: 5 Things We Can Learn from Inspiring Survivors
As Breast Cancer Awareness Month comes to a close, I realize that I was inspired more than once over the past thirty days, by stories like the one I am about to share with you. People like Jill, the shining star of this blog post, can teach us all a bit about what it means to engage in our own wellness story. Read on and see if you agree.
What does a 50 something woman recovering from breast cancer treatment look like? I can tell you, because I met her a few weeks ago at Glen Ivy Hot Springs.
Jill was a woman who approached me after my aqua class with a story she was eager to share. She told me that she had been taking aqua fitness classes over the past year as part of her recovery from breast cancer surgery, and that the warm, therapeutic aqua environment had been extremely helpful in improving her flexibility and range of motion. It had also helped alleviate a painful condition she had developed called lymphedema. Jill’s voice was strong and confident. Her demeanor was upbeat, empowered, and life affirming.
To be honest, my first thought was, “What’s wrong with this picture?” This perky, fit, youthful woman, in her mid-fifties, did not look like she had just endured the rigors of cancer diagnosis, treatment, and recovery. Instead, she looked like a picture of health!
And then it hit me. The question I should be asking is not, “What’s wrong with this picture?” It should be, “What’s right with this picture?” I began to think that maybe there’s a wellness lesson in Jill’s story. Perhaps the strategies she, and others like her, use to vigorously recapture their precious health and quality of life, would also work for the rest of us simply trying to make better choices in our crazy-busy lives.
Like many of you, I have people in my life–family, friends, clients–who have faced the challenge of serious illness. I see them navigating their path with courage and strength, but I also see them making conscious choices that lead to favorable outcomes. Here are my top picks for what I think these wellness warriors are doing right. Maybe you’ll connect with a few to help you along your wellness path:
- Engage in your wellness. Survivors decide to face the problem by being part of the solution. They take specific steps each day to play an active role in their recovery. Rest, eat well, exercise gently, embody positivity. Day to day wellness doesn’t just happen on its own. Embrace healthy choices as if your life depended on it–because it does!
- Gather your tribe. Survivors can’t go it alone and they know it. Any wellness journey requires the help of a supportive team of cheerleaders and people willing to listen. Find two people who will support your journey. Spend more time with them. Think of two people who don’t. You got it . . . Nice knowin’ ya!
- Have a winning attitude. Sure, cancer survivors “fight” for their health. But more importantly, they are in it to win it. Negativity does not serve them, so they move forward with an openness that invites new ways of thinking and being. Practice working with that “mean girl voice.” Send her off on a slow boat to China, and invite more positivity to your wellness path. It really does work.
- When you’re down, get up! Cancer survivors endure an unpredictable path throughout their recovery process. While they may become tired or discouraged at times, they remain focused on their wellness mission and are able to stand up, dust off, and get back to the business of healing. Any wellness journey is like this. One minute you’re peeling and chopping carrots for the week, the next you have your spoon in the Ben and Jerry’s. You’re not a failure. You’re not worthless. You just had a hard day and ice cream seemed like the best way to go. Get over it! Move on!
Cancer–that big, bad, demon of a disease that we really need to find a cure for–often gives people the permission they need to finally put themselves first. When they begin to take care of themselves–I mean really take care of themselves–they often emerge on the other side looking like Jill, the shining star of this story. I say it’s time to let go of the limiting belief that it’s selfish to take care of ourselves until we are sick.
One of my students put it this way. She said, “When I say NO to some of the extra things I am doing for other people, it enables me to say YES to the things I need to do for myself.” Amen sister! Her words so inspired me, that I am stealing them for my new wellness mantra. I’m sure she would not mind one bit if you did too!
Write About It . . .
Think about someone who inspires you by the way they have faced a difficult health challenge–it may even be yourself! What are they doing right? Is it their attitude, their mental or spiritual approach, or a healthy behavior that seems to be helping them along the way? Could you use any of their wisdom for your own journey? Where do you stumble or feel challenged when it comes to making good choices? I’d love to hear what you are writing about.
From Inspiration to Motivation
Note: I originally wrote this post for the blog at Glen Ivy Hot Springs Spa. As we move through October, which is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, I thought I would post again. I am always inspired by people like my sister-in-law, who get out there and put one foot in front of the other in support of friends who are facing big health challenges. Maybe you will be too.
“Motivation is the push. Inspiration is the pull” Natalie DeBruin
A few years ago, my sister-in-law’s good friend called her with an invitation. Would Lynn join her and a group of friends to walk 60 miles in a Susan G. Komen Foundation 3-Day For The Cure? The plan would be to meet regularly and train for the event, then cross the finish line together in celebration of her 15 year anniversary of being cancer free. “At first it sounded overwhelming,” said Lynn. “I was exercising a little bit at the time, but this was 60 miles of walking over 3 days! I was not sure I would be able to do it, but how could I say no?”
As it turned out, her friend’s triumph over breast cancer was the inspiration Lynn needed to take on a bold fitness challenge. And with that seed of inspiration, came a strong sense of motivation to train consistently toward her goal for six months. As Deepak Chopra, well-know spirituality author suggests, “Instead of motivation, look for inspiration. Inspiration comes from the same word as spirit. When you are inspired, the spirit moves you.”
When it comes to beginning an exercise program, many of us are hard pressed to find the motivation to get started. But exercising for a cause you really care about could be just the internal “tug” you need to get moving. While the primary goal of these events is to raise money and awareness for a particular organization, it certainly would not be selfish if you raised your fitness level at the same time! Events such as 3-Day For The Cure or the Leukemia Society’s Team in Training, not only provide a memorable experience, but often have all the ingredients that ensure your new and improved fitness program lasts long after you cross the finish line.
A Specific Goal: Perhaps you’ve heard the term “SMART’ goals–Specific, Measurable, Action oriented, Realistic and Timed with a deadline. With a date, time and distance to commit to, you have a SMART goal on steroids! There will be no turning back after you hit the “Sign Me Up” button on your computer.
Free Guidance and Training Advice: Many people don’t exercise because they don’t know how to get started. Visit a charity event’s website and you will see that once you sign on, you will have access to progressive training programs, e-mail reminders, certified coaches and other virtual training support free of charge.
Built In Support System: One of the biggest indicators of ongoing success in any fitness endeavor is the strength of your support system. Lynn’s training team met two to three times each week to walk together. She acknowledged that having a set time and a group of people waiting for her helped her stay committed to her goal.
Success! Three days, 60 miles, and two sore feet later, Lynn crossed the finish line with an enormous sense of accomplishment. “Knowing that I completed the distance along with thousands of other people, some still fighting their disease, made me feel incredible. I also felt proud to have helped raise over 8 million dollars to support breast cancer research and community programs.”
In the end, Lynn accomplished her original goal of supporting her friend’s journey back to good health and raising money for an important cause. At the same time, she acknowledged that she also stepped up her own fitness program. “I noticed that my endurance improved while training for the event, and to this day, my group of friends and I still meet for coffee and our weekly walk.”
Lynn’s story demonstrates that we are often nudged to get moving because of someone else’s story. But ultimately, the push to keep moving comes from discovering our own. While my pragmatic side loves the idea that exercising for a cause could inspire more people to get moving, I can’t help but be “moved” on a deeper level by the wellness lessons inherent in an experience like hers.
As Lynn walked the streets of Philadelphia with thousands of like minded people, she felt a deep sense of gratitude for her own good health. “Watching a husband push his wife in a wheelchair along the course for three days, made me realize how lucky I was to be able to walk the distance myself.”
Write About It . . .
Have you ever taken on a fitness challenge for a cause? Did it get you moving with your own fitness, or have a positive impact on your wellness? Share your story. It could be just the inspiration someone else needs to give this path a try.
Write Your Own Wellness Story 