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12/05/23

#172 Enjoy Christmas without Over-indulging

 

Coming into the Christmas season don't start off with an all-or-nothing diet mentality. That will never work. The first time you have something that is ‘naughty’ you will beat yourself up and say ‘I've wrecked it now so I might as well …’


 Instead, let's go into the Festive season with a plan.


The first thing you have to do is to truly believe that you can enjoy the holidays and parties without overeating and over-drinking. You have to believe that you can trust yourself to enjoy the atmosphere, the people, and the joy of celebration without over-eating. Once you truly believe the rest is easy.


Here are some strategies to help you on your way. 

Christmas is one day give yourself full permission to enjoy it. This doesn't mean that you have to stuff yourself you can taste everything, enjoy everything and still stop at 80% full so that you wake up on boxing day with energy and feeling proud not feeling like crap.

 

  1. Have a plan in place for every function and party and choose one each week as your ‘free’ meal. Then make a plan to damage control the rest.
  2. Exercise before you go. Exercise will give you an endorphin hit. So that you don't need to rely on food and alcohol for dopamine.
  3.  Preload with water. When you are properly hydrated you will eat less and you will crave less sugar and salt. If you arrive dehydrated and then drink alcohol all bets are off when it comes to making great food choices.
  4.  Take a healthy platter with you. Treat every function as a b y o - bring your own healthy food! I take a huge platter of veggie sticks, poppadoms, hummus and usually a fruit platter with fresh berries, strawberries dipped in dark chocolate, cherries, melon and a Greek or plant-based yoghurt.
  5.  Alternate alcohol with water, top wine up with soda water drink a clean white spirit like vodka or gin with a no-calorie mixer.
  6.  Give every meal a start and a finish. Even if it's a grazing table. Choose food that you love put a small amount of each on your plate don't waste calories on food that you don't even like. Enjoy and savour the food that's on that plate and then walk away from the food table. Go and play frisbee with the kids or the dog or talk to grandma in the corner but whatever you do don't stay sitting by the food!
  7.  Be brave and tell people what you are doing. Tell people that this year you are choosing to make healthier choices and drink less alcohol. Tell them that this year you are eating on purpose, you're making intentional decisions for your health. 
  8. Most importantly we're back to where we started you have to choose to truly believe that you can enjoy the Festive season without over-eating and over-drinking from that place you can use these strategies and strategies of your own to keep yourself on track over the Festive season.

So that you can start the New Year with some momentum and feeling great!