Holidays Archives - Diet Free Radiant Me | Intuitive Eating | Emotional Eating

3 Tips to Help Navigate Diet Talk as the Holidays Approach

Can you believe that it is already November, and the holiday season is upon us? This week is Thanksgiving, which means you’ll likely be surrounded by family, friends, food, and wine! The holiday season brings with it all types of emotions, some happy and some sad.

Add to these emotions the fact that you are surrounded by dieting messages at every turn.

Whether it be on the radio or the television or it can even be from your peers. There is constant pressure to change how you look to fit some societal expectations.

I’m here to tell you there is nothing wrong with you, just as you are now!

If you have achieved a peaceful relationship with food and your body, then you are in a place where these media messages are benign to you. They don’t affect you, except make you mad as hell that the diet industry is praying on those desperate to lose weight.

But thankfully, that is not you anymore. You appreciate your body, you are at peace with food, and you are enjoying the holiday meals without guilt. And I am so happy for you.

If you aren’t there yet, just know that I realize these next weeks may be challenging for you. If you are surrounded by family members who are dieting, you will hear comments at your holiday meal such as: “I shouldn’t be eating this, but…” “I can’t eat that dessert, you are?”

How you handle these comments will determine whether you slip back into a diet mentality or not.

Here are 3 Tips to Help You Navigate the Diet Talk at Your Holiday Meal:

Maintain Awareness

That word right there, awareness, will be the difference between you throwing in the towel or standing your ground. Stay present within your body and make purposeful food choices that honor you! If at any point you find yourself losing that awareness, that’s okay. Bring yourself back to the present moment with a pause and a few deep breaths.

Tune out the diet talk

When the family starts getting into all the diet talk, just tune them out. Start to sing your favorite song in your head, think about the good time you had on your last vacation, or excuse yourself from the table for a stretch and walk around the house.

Change the Topic

When the conversation goes to the food and should/shouldn’t, change the topic! Be the leader in moving the conversation to where you want it to go. A good idea is to have some conversation starters ready to go such as:

“If you won the lottery, what would you do with the money?”

“If you could have any superpower, what would it be?”

“What’s your biggest pet peeve?”

You have the power within you to resist falling back into a diet mentality. Keep reminding yourself of this, especially throughout this holiday season.

The Secret to Avoiding Weight Gain Over the Holiday Season

You love the holidays but dread the anticipated weight gain typical of the holiday season. Instead of stressing about how much weight you might gain and then setting your New Year’s resolution around finding a diet to drop the weight, why not try a different approach this year.

The secret to avoiding the expected holiday weight gain is to focus on weight maintenance.

Maintaining weight can be achieved by following a few simple strategies.

Three is key

This represents three meals, which means don’t skip breakfast and don’t overeat at the midday holiday meal in anticipation of skipping the last meal of the day. Skipping breakfast can potentially cause your blood sugar to drop, as well as your mood, and lead to overeating at the holiday meal. The key is to start your day off with a healthy breakfast and have lunch and/or a snack before guests arrive or before heading out to the party. Tune in when you eat and let your body’s internal signals guide you.

Indulge in your favorites

Don’t avoid your favorites that come around once a year. Avoidance can lead to caving in and then to overeating. It is much better to eat a small portion of something you really want than to give it up entirely. Choose those treats that you don’t typically have year round such as Aunt Susan’s green bean casserole, Momma’s roast beef with gravy or Grandma Sarah’s holiday sugar cookies. Take one portion one time without guilt.

Survey the buffet

Take a walk around the buffet table and see what food offerings there are. Choose 3 to 4 items that you absolutely want, making sure that they include a protein, grain and vegetable at the very least so you have a balanced plate.

Keep hydrated

Drinking lots of water helps to keep you hydrated! Ensure that you are drinking at least eight (8 oz.) glasses of water each day. Start your day with 16 oz. before breakfast, have another 16 oz. with lunch and dinner, and one glass mid-morning and mid-afternoon.

De-Stress

The more you stress, the greater the surge in cortisol, you primary stress hormone. This sets you up for sugar cravings and weight gain. Commit to practicing deep breathing every morning before you get out of bed, every evening before you lay down, and any time during the day that you need it. Include yoga, Pilates, meditation in your daily/weekly schedule to help with stress relief.

Daily Exercise

An important element in weight maintenance over the holidays is continuing with your exercise routine. Incorporating interval training and strength training has been found to be just the right to help you keep your weight in check over the holiday season.

Weight maintenance throughout the holiday season is a realistic and smart goal. These tips will help you enjoy the holidays without the worry of weight gain. Start the New Year off with a new mindset. You will feel the difference!

Are you looking for something to help you make it through the holidays and use these tips? Come on over to our private Facebook group to take part in a 4 Week FREE Challenge “Enjoy Your Holiday Festivities and Sweets without Guilt.”

I’ll post a challenge each day, and ask you to post your action and results! Let’s shine through the month of December and enjoy all the celebration while feeling great!

Starting December 5, 2016

Week 1: Self-care during the holidays
Week 2: Navigating holiday parties
Week 3: Eat Your Sweets without Guilt
Week 4: Party into the New Year

This challenge will be happening in our Private FB Group! Join here!

Simple Solutions to Stop Stress Eating in its Tracks!

Thanksgiving is only one week away. Yikes!

Cleaning, shopping, cooking, preparing the house….there is so much to do!

Does all the stress and overwhelm of the holidays cause you to go into a tailspin? How will you accomplish all that you need to do? And, of course, you still need to go to work, tend to your usual house chores, take care of the kids etc.

What happens when you get stressed and overwhelmed?

For many, they cope by turning to food to “ease the stress”. Ahh, that piece of chocolate melting in your mouth is melting away all the stress too. That is, until you try on your favorite holiday pants and they don’t button.

Sound familiar?

Listen, I know you want to overcome stress eating. The holidays that are upon us are just one time when you might find yourself coping with food. But what about all year round? Is life hectic with little time for yourself?

Deep down in your heart and soul, you wish there was a way for you to learn how to manage the stress and overwhelm without eating. Actually, you wish you could better handle all that life throws your way so you aren’t overwhelmed.

There is a way!

I am excited to bring to you a brand new program called Stress Less EAT LESS™.

Read all the way to the end to learn about the Holiday Special I am offering you.

In this program you will discover:

How to develop a calm mindset by better managing your time and priorities so you can be more mindful in how you handle kid stress, job stress, life’s stresses.
What changes you need to make in your daily health and nutrition habits so you feel physically and mentally ready to deal with a stressful situation without caving to the ice cream and cake.
The two most important steps that you need to take when you are in the midst of overwhelm and it seems easier to turn to food to numb.
The ONE practice you MUST learn to stop stress eating in its tracks and turn you away from the cookie jar and drive-through.

I originally created this program as a “Do it Yourself” program. But I realize that you could probably use some extra support during the holidays, so for this time only, I am offering this program with LIVE group calls a private Facebook group and more!

Click here for all the details and to sign up.

There are lots of bonuses for you once you sign up. The sooner you sign up, the more bonuses you get.

Oh, and share it with your friends and loved ones who could use Simple Strategies to Stop Stress Eating in its Tracks.

Here’s to a STRESS FREE Holiday!

Food and Celebrations: Lessons Learned

What is it about holidays and food? It seems that the word “holiday” is synonymous with the word “food” or should I say “TOO MUCH FOOD”!

I’ve just finished celebrating a month full of holidays. It’s been fun spending time with family…my parents, my children, my grandson. Have I mentioned my grandson lately? He is just so scrumptious! He’s able to call me grandma now…I just can’t get enough.

But I divert. Back to topic.

I told my kids that I wasn’t going to overcook this holiday. I was going to make a basic meal, ensuring that there was protein, whole grains and lots of vegetables. And I did. But the problem was…I made too much! Meaning, too many choices. I was so worried “what if she doesn’t like that, what if he doesn’t like this…I must have all these choices.

Well, I was wrong. After each meal ended (and there were many), I looked at the leftovers and said, “It looks like I’m putting away more than I took out”. Now, of course that’s not possible, but what I mean is people ate and then stopped. And, I was left with a lot of leftovers.

So, my lessons learned are as follows:
1) My family knows what it means to listen to their inner satiety (fullness signals) and they stopped eating when they were just full (okay, to be totally honest, some did eat a little past comfortable satiety, but even this happens now and then in an intuitive eater.)

2) Listen to my “gut” instinct. The next time I plan to make a basic meal, I need to stick to my plan and not worry that I won’t have enough food, because I always do!

3) Immediately freeze my leftovers, in small containers, so I have ready-to-go meals for during the week. I often work late hours, and it’s great to pull out already cooked food from my freezer so my family has a balanced meal every night.

4) Remember the reason we are celebrating, whether it be a holiday, a birthday, anniversary or job promotion. Food does NOT have to be the center of the celebration. Yes, it’s an important part, I won’t deny that. But, focus on the people you will be partying with, the conversations you will have, and perhaps new people you will meet.

What are the lessons you’ve learned from food-abundant celebrations?

Tag Archive for: Holidays