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HOLIDAY SURVIVAL GUIDE: THE BASICS

Cindy Pole
Dec 19, 2018
3 min read

’Tis the season to enjoy tasty food and of course make great memories. But it is also a time where we can overindulge, abusing delicious treats.

Instead of going down the rabbit hole of regret, here are some simple ways to not turn your holidays into a nightmare of overindulgence:

Stick to a small plate when possible
Prioritize eating protein and vegetables first at each meal
Eat to 80% full and eat slowly… regardless of what you’re eating.
Consider the carbs coming from bread, potatoes, stuffing, cranberries, desserts, wine, and other alcoholic beverages.
Enjoy your selection of food instead of eating because it’s in front of you. Eat what makes you feel good and what you truly want. Don’t get suckered into FOMO ( “I need to over-indulge at it will be gone soon, and I will never get to eat it again. It is now or never.” or believing this is your only chance to eat this food. Check in with yourself: How does this make you feel? Is it what you really want? Really?

Some other simple wins include:

Don’t make yourself so sick or so drunk that you can’t remember what you ate. Just because you have the capacity to store large amounts of food in your belly, doesn’t mean you need to use it. Focus on satisfaction and quality rather than quantity.
Check yourself at the door. Your expectations. Visualize your end goal when you enter a space and manage your expectations. Have a back-up plan. Don’t let throwing caution to the wind be an option.
If you over indulge and beat yourself up about it. Often the way we beat ourselves up is worse than the food choices we make.
Give yourself permission to speak up against food pushers and judgement. Stop thinking you’re going to hurt someone’s feelings by not eating or not finishing. Don’t be a people pleaser for the sake of someone else. Spare yourself!
Restriction and refraining won’t earn you a gold medal. Your body is not the centre of the holiday. Maintenance can be a goal. It exists between progress and digression.

My best tip: I always say that the first bite should taste as good as the last. If you eat slowly, you should be able to ask yourself if this still tastes good? Then proceed from there. It might mean another chip. It might not.

Overall, make decisions that align most with your values as best as you can.

Christmas extravagance, including the big day itself, usually only last two weeks. That is 3.8% of the year. Think of all the stress for just 3.8% of the year. Even if we aren’t nailing it the other 96.2% of the year, is two weeks going to set you that much further back? It is worth considering. Is it 100% bad 100% of the time?

The holidays don’t have to be about overindulging while the rest of the year is about discipline and self-control. They don’t have to be just about the food either. What are you celebrating during the holiday? The food? The hard work you put in leading up to the big day? Food is just one part of the holiday… not the whole story.

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