Healthy Holiday Eating… It’s Not the Bummer You Think it Is! Small Steps to Start the Holidays.

Growing up I longed for Christmas’s like I saw in the soap operas.  I was born the year that All My Children started.  

In my mind the traditions in the soap operas were so cool.  Their holidays included healthy holiday eating, but it wasn’t the center of the shows.  

My mom was an avid watcher from my birth.  LOL In my eye’s the glamorous Christmas’s with a little drama was exactly how Christmas should be.  

We had the drama without the glamour in our house.  It was the season of hurry up and wait.    

With 6 kids and a dad that procrastinated and mom that didn’t make a decision without him made the holidays challenging.  

Often times the Christmas tree went up Christmas Eve, but the junk food started before Thanksgiving and didn’t end until after Valentine’s day.  

This was the normal tradition in our house.  The only standard was lots of sugar from Thanksgiving until Valentine’s sometimes even Easter.  

When I started my 100 pound weight loss journey, I took small steps to create healthier holiday eating and standard traditions in my house.

So what is your holiday food story?

In the big picture often our current holiday eating patterns healthy or unhealthy usually stem from where we started.

Let’s take a look at three ways to make adjustments to what you’re doing now, versus how wonderful it could be with just a few tweaks and a focus shift.

We are going to look at three different tips, starting off with visualizing what you want your holiday to look like in an ideal world.

Then we look at how you can plan in a few holiday indulgences.

And finally we will look at how to treat ourselves when our healthy holiday eating plan doesn’t quite work like we want it too!

Healthy Holiday Eating Tip #1: Visualize What You Want from Your Holidays

It may sound dorky, but creating a healthy holiday eating plan can’t really happen unless you know what you actually want from the holidays.

When you sit and think of the holidays what do you picture as your “ideal holiday”?  This is the roadmap we are going to start with.

I’m pretty positive that heartburn, self recrimination for eating horribly and stomach pain aren’t part of your ideal picture. 

This was my before picture of the holidays… let’s find you a new after picture for the holidays.

Sit quietly with yourself and picture your ideal holiday, what activities, people and yes foods are there? (we will need this last piece in the next section on Plan your indulgences)

Now write out your top 3 people, activities and foods. This is your plan of attack!  Now your holiday focus becomes about including these.  If your focus is here, you can step away from those other things that give you heartburn and self recrimination.

Healthy Holiday Eating Tip #2: Plan Your Indulgences

Now that you have your holiday visualized the way you want it.  You can start with Healthy Holiday Eating Tip #2. You can plan your indulgences!

The holidays don’t have to be all about food.  The snacks in the break room, the food family insists that you just try, and all the stuff you see in the store, don’t have to go in you.

But I am willing to bet there are some foods during the holidays that you truly enjoy!  These are the things that kind of “make the holiday“.  The other stuff is just fluff.

I want you to know enjoying holiday treats is part of living!  It’s okay to enjoy foods.  I honestly thought that food was enemy # 1  for a lot of years.

As you plan out your holiday, and everyone brings “their” specials to you, remember it’s okay to say “No Thank You“.  

And when the little girl in your head starts pouting just remind her, it’s okay to want it, but it’s not on your list of planned indulgences this year.  🙂

This healthy holiday eating tip saved me a ton of calories.

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Healthy Holiday Eating Tip #3: Be Kind to You When You Slip…

The holidays are a quagmire of unhealthy choices.

So what happens when your “want for the treat”, out does your weight loss why?

This is really important!

It’s okay!  You don’t have to be perfect to lose weight and be healthy, and you don’t have to be perfect to maintain that loss!

But here is what you do need to do…

Don’t beat yourself up and use it as an excuse to go off the rails.

I am going to estimate that 90% of the weight gain from the holidays is in response to eating wrong once and then eating to make ourselves feel better…

Now that estimate is based on my journey… and expecting perfection.

My tip is simple:  When (not if) you slip, tell yourself it’s okay and step right back into your plan.

Focus on your success and not your slip ups and hug yourself daily.  Loving you regardless of shape, size or choices helps you move past the need for perfection.

Let’s Close This Out…

If you have made it this far, I’m pretty sure this post isn’t what you were expecting…

You were expecting an eat this not that type of post where I outlines all the stuff you should and shouldn’t eat…

Guess what?

This is how you stay in the diet circle instead of a healthy lifestyle that produces weight loss.

So I didn’t go there….

What I want you to know is that you can have that holiday season your visualized in step one, and you can have those special foods from step two, and if you slip up its okay… you can still be healthy and reach your goal! 

It’s about small consistent steps over the holiday.  Start today with your visualization.

One of the best things you can do for YOU is to involve yourself with a community that is working on similar goals for the holidays.

We are like the 5 people we spend the most time with, and when you spend time with other women striving to be healthy, healthy becomes your focus.

The Macros Done Right!™ Framework and the Accountability Tribe provide the community and the steps to balance hormones, bust cravings, break plateaus and get on track and stay there even over the holidays.

To lose weight over 40 and become that happy, healthy, active, hot, sexy woman, wife, mom and even grandma you want to be requires moderation not perfection.  And I help you design your happy life.

I know it often seems impossible but it’s NOT, I know you can do this!  

Sending you great big hugs & lots of love during this holiday season and always!