How to Stay On Track With Your Wellness Goals During The Holiday Season
*I went into detail about this topic on my story earlier this week, but I want to reiterate the information here plus make it available to anyone who may have missed it!*
A topic I discuss with my clients quite often, especially around this time of year, is how to stay on track to reach their wellness goals when there are so many food-focused social gatherings to attend + so much time spent with friends and family who may not be working towards similar wellness goals. To help simplify things, I like to break my answer down into three main points:
Mindset. Mindset plays a hugeee role in how we approach food. The mindset we carry with us into food-focused social situations depends a great deal on the mindset we have towards food on a daily basis. The less restricted our dietary habits feel on the daily, the less likely we will be to go crazy with our eating when foods out of our norm (or in larger quantities) are made available to us. Maintaining a balance of eating flexibly, but healthfully, on a regular basis is very important for preventing a desire to gorge ourselves when such an opportunity presents itself. Another mindset-related element I was reminded of on my recent trip to Malaysia/Indonesia was what a PRIVILEGE it is to have such easy access to fresh fruits and vegetables, lean proteins, whole grains, clean water, etc. at all times. Viewing a diet primarily comprised of healthy foods as a blessing, rather than a drag (*eye roll*), makes it much easier to appreciate the aforementioned foods rather than feel enslaved to them. I often try to remind myself how fortunate I am to be able to fuel my body properly, to nourish it in a way that enables it to perform at my peak (even down to being in my brightest mood + highest-energy state possible to maximize my time spent with loved ones over the holiday season!). If your current mindset does not include an appreciation for healthy foods and what they can do for you, I highly suggest working to adopt this perspective! 😊 It is so helpful with being able to continue craving healthful foods in situations where temptations may be present. Focus more on what food can do for your body, rather than for your mind/emotions (food can successfully nourish your body; it cannot successfully heal a broken heart, relieve grief, etc., no matter how much we convince ourselves it can!).
Control. It can be super easy to feel anxious about social gatherings that involve food. Often times, these feelings of anxiety stem from a lack of, or feeling of a lack of, control. Rather than leaving things to chance, I frequently encourage people to take control over their access to healthy foods in various social situations. One way to assume this control might be to offer to host the pending social gathering (puts you in control of the menu). If someone else is hosting, I highly recommend offering to bring a dish of your own. It is usually safe to say that their menu will include at least one protein-rich food + some form of carbs. What might be lacking would be the vegetables, so I usually volunteer to bring a dish that fills this void. If attending a tailgate or other potluck-style event, I would again recommend bringing a vegetable dish (even if as simple as a veggie tray) AS WELL AS a lean protein, as it is fairly common for these types of events to only offer fried, fatty, or heavily sauced protein options (especially for those of us residing in the south!😊). Bringing foods that you will know will a) keep you full and b) keep you on track to achieve your wellness goals helps relieve feelings of anxiety, enabling you to be more present in the moment and better enjoy precious time spent with loved ones!
Plan. This point encompasses a number of different forms of planning. For starters, this includes knowing how to best order when dining out. If you know in advance where you will be dining out, I recommend reviewing the menu ahead of time. Making your menu selection in advance makes it easier to select a dish that will best fuel your body. If waiting until arrival at the restaurant, we are more likely to give into visual temptations (menu pictures, seeing dishes brought to other tables, etc.), our potentially ravenous appetites, and previous bad habits. Also, keep in mind that dining out is not synonymous with a “cheat meal” or, as I prefer to call it, a “splurge”. Of course it is fine to enjoy treats out on occasion, but not every single meal eaten out needs to be out of line with your daily dietary habits. Especially during seasons when dining out happens more frequently, the additive effective of restaurant meals can be detrimental to our goals if we view each as a “splurge”. For restaurant meals (or any meals, for that matter) that we do we wish to use as such, I encourage planning your workouts in advance to coincide a high-intensity workout for the same day. For example, if wanting a high-carb pasta dish for dinner on a given night (whether this is enjoyed at a restaurant or at home), I would encourage planning your “leg day” strength training workout, or a high-intensity interval training workout, for that same day. This is NOT because you need to workout in order to earn or deserve your favorite foods. This concept is solely based on maintaining a healthy energy balance: calories burned vs. calories consumed. When we burn more fuel (via a high-intensity workout), it is appropriate to consume more fuel to replenish our energy stores + promote optimal recovery. In addition to a high-intensity workout on the day of a flex meal being helpful for maintaining a healthy energy balance, it also helps remove any GUILT associated with enjoying a flex meal. Alleviating food-related guilt is a huge part of building a healthy relationship with food, and this tactic is one way I work towards maintaining this healthy relationship.😊
Another element of planning I wanted to highlight is planning ahead for social situations in which people will be snacking for long periods of time, drinking for long periods of time, or simply hanging around food for a while. Instead of grazing on calorie-dense foods for hours on end, it is wise to plan ahead and pack some veggies and/or zero-calorie beverages (such as carbonated water) that you can rely on to participate in the snacking habit and fulfill the hand-to-mouth motion without compromising your goals.
Finally, I would also encourage planning ahead in the regard of not showing up starvinggg to any social gatherings. A ravenous appetite makes us more apt to give into temptation and eat the first thing we see, or an excess quantity of things, rather than evaluating our options and making nutritionally-sound decisions. It is common to adopt a mindset of “saving up” your calories or macros all day to be able to really go ham at a social event that evening. This is a dangerous mindset because it makes you feel like you HAVE to overeat in order to take full advantage of, or fully enjoy, the situation/foods made available to you. So as best as possible, I would encourage eating as you normally would leading up to the event. This includes a particular focus on lean proteins and vegetables, in case these items get neglected at the evening event.
SO, I could go on and on about this topic because I think it is most important to not let food control you or prevent you from attending various social events, but for now I will leave you with these three points to ponder! If any of these points helps you navigate the holiday season, I would love to hear about it. 😊