We are just two days away from the start of our Christmas celebration. It’s been a tough year for this nation and celebrating Christmas may seem daunting. Don’t let that happen to you. Celebrate with your family. Love on each other and enjoy your traditions.
If you’ve made some “healthful” eating changes this year and are concerned about the Holidays perhaps getting you off track, here are 10 Ways to Help You Not Overeat Over the Holidays!
What Are Those Ways?
- Try to get some exercise that day or go for a walk. Exercising will help lower blood sugar and get your digestion system moving. It actually can curb your appetite. It’s a great idea to also go for a walk after you eat a large meal.
- Try your best not skip meals that day. Getting ready for a Holiday Event/Meal can take much of the day and sometimes the day before. We tend to be really busy and we make eating a low priority. This probably isn’t the best thing to do because by the time the Holiday meal comes, you are ravished and will eat way more than you should. Eat smaller meals throughout the day.
- Have healthy snacks prepared. If you have some healthy snacks already prepared, then throughout the day you can reach for those healthy snacks. If you have no time and just skip eating, then you will have that tendency to overindulge during that Holiday Meal.
- Be conscious of your alcohol intake. Alcohol can be high in calories and/or sugar. The more you drink the more you have a tendency to eat more appetizers or finger foods that can be rich in calories, sugars, fats, etc. Make a conscious decision how much you will drink before you attend your Holiday Event.
- When filling up your plate, be sure it’s balanced. Filling up on your favorite food is so enticing. But balancing your plate is so important to not overindulging. Be sure to get enough vegetables, a right proportion of meat and smaller amounts of a starch.
- Allow yourself to eat what you normally aren’t eating. Give yourself the grace to eat somethings you normally don’t eat. If you have been staying away from sugar but the dessert looks fabulous, then give yourself the grace to enjoy it. If you are going to eat it but fill yourself with guilt, what does that benefit?
- Before you sit to eat, make a decision what you will avoid. If you know that eating something with sugar will trigger you to go down that path again, then make the decision that you will not eat it before you sit at the table.
- Eating a healthy snack before you go to your event. If you know that attending this Holiday Event/Meal will be difficult for you in the way of food, have a healthy snack before you leave. Put something in your stomach so you don’t walk in famished.
- Remember it’s just one Event or one day. If you “fall off the wagon” from you healthful eating, just accept it. Then the next day move on. Forgive yourself and move on. It’s not the end of the world. Get back on the wagon the next day.
- If you don’t fully follow what you intended to, don’t allow guilt to overwhelm you. Taking on guilt is probably one of the worse things you can do if you eat the foods that you normally don’t or know you shouldn’t. Just enjoy the time eating this “forbidden” food and be ok with it. Guilt leads to shame; shame can lead to a level of stress which can cause your Cortisol levels to be elevated. There are enough things that came at us in this world this year. Don’t let food bring another level of stress to you.
Reach out for support
When Christmas and New Year’s is behind you and you are ready to make some lifestyle changes but feel overwhelmed to get started, then reach out. Don’t let confusion and overwhelm stay with you. Sometimes we need another voice to hear us, understand us, guide us and help propel us into the freedom we wish to walk in.
Have a beautiful Christmas and a rich New Year’s. Know that 2021 is going to be fabulous!
Your Health, Wellness & Organizational Coach … believing in you!