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As celebratory as the holiday season is, many of us dread it because of the temptations. Beginning with Halloween and all the holidays up to New Years, many of us indulge in foods and treats day after day, feeling defeated and full of shame. In this podcast, we want to interrupt that frame of mind and give you some tools to help you get through this holiday season gracefully and feel nourished.
Here’s the transcript (edited for clarity)
Wendy
When we’re trying to stay on a path of health and wellness and vibrancy and resilience, the holidays, sometimes trip us up. So we wanted to talk about how to navigate the holidays, be in celebration, be happy and not be too hard on ourselves. And where’s the line? It’s like tightrope, right?
Debbie
That’s right. This is Debbie.
Wendy
And this is Wendy.
Debbie
Alright, welcome to Nourish Noshes. So, strategies about how to deal with these next couple months of celebration. You know, I wrote a blog recently in our newsletter about the holidays, because, yeah, being tripped up and baking pies and people bringing stuff over and extra helpings and things like that happen. And people kind of just throw their arms up in the air and say, I’ll deal with this in January. And that frame of mind can come along with not feeling so well. extra weight, you know, being heavy with yourself being almost kind of judgmental to yourself, because you don’t have what we, quote, the “willpower” to get through the holidays.
Wendy
It starts with Halloween, right? With all the candy everywhere. We see it everywhere in all the stores and in odd places. Right? Like, art centers.
Debbie
Exactly. Yeah. It’s hard not to have it on your mind at all times. And especially if you do buy it and put it in your house to give out at Halloween. There it was. But we’re past that now. And so maybe people have dealt with that. And have said, Okay, I have a month to to straighten up a little bit. But here comes Thanksgiving.
Wendy
Thanksgiving, and then right around the corner, all the other celebration of lights and Kwanzaa and Christmas and
Debbie
December is a big month for celebrations.
Wendy
Yeah. And then we’ve got New Years. And then people say, Oh, well, in January, I’ll start. We want to interrupt that whole concept. We want to talk about the holidays, how to walk through them with grace and ease and happiness and joy. And this idea that food and celebration, it’s at the center of our connection with people. And we’re in a really weird time. So maybe this isn’t even landing with you. But even if you’re by yourself, or just with a couple of people, the whole idea of holidays and sugar, and alcohol. It’s like this, like, if it’s holiday, then I can indulge too much.
Debbie
Right? But that’s the idea too, is that we’re not saying don’t have that piece of pie, you know, don’t have that eggnog. It’s not about depriving yourself of those things, either. But it is about it being one day, you know, each of these holidays are one day, and yes, maybe there’s a string of holidays. But that doesn’t mean the indulgence has to last day after day after day and extra portions day after day after day. You know, it’s just a celebration.
Wendy
Yeah, I love that– you just wrote that in our newsletter about you know, the six weeks we have between Thanksgiving and New Years, if you celebrate everything, maybe there are six days in there that are true, literal holidays that we could use as the ringer for, for the celebrations. And so I loved that idea that you shared is that it’s it’s a single day, or a single event or a single meal and use that single meal as a time to be in the joy and celebration and sharing goodies with each other. But it doesn’t have to be every day for six weeks.
Debbie
Right. And there’s also the idea of having that piece of pie and maybe, if you’re not cutting it, and it’s a little bit too big, say, “could I have half of that half that size?” No, it still tastes the same. And you can make it last just as long as the double size if you just take your time and savor it. So that’s the idea is to the idea of indulgence, you know, kind of I want you to push that out of your head and just enjoy enjoy everything that you’re eating, especially if it’s the high calorie or high sugar stuff. It’s really enjoying it with maybe smaller portions and that way you can have your cake and eat it too.
Wendy
Yeah, we attach such guilt with sugar, right? And we want to interrupt that idea. We want to shift the mindset from “I can’t have” or “I shouldn’t have” or “This is bad for me” or “I’m bad because. . .” We want to throw that in the garbage. Yeah, we want to really question those ideas. So number one is really savor it. Yep. really savor what you’re eating and be present with the people and the food that you’re enjoying. And I think number two could be a boundary if you’re driving your car down a mountain and there’s no guardrail. It’s very tenuous, right? I mean, it really feels unprotected, you feel much more vulnerable. But if you have a guardrail, if you have a boundary just set up before you go into this holiday season and these celebrations, one of my own ideas is that I choose the things that are homemade. Yep. That I know someone created from scratch that have a little bit of love in them. And it’s got real food ingredients. I’m going to love up on that pie and just enjoy it. But if someone went to a store bought random wrapped in plastic, and I’m not saying that’s a bad thing, I’m saying this is my personal choice, and how I delineate whether I’m going to choose to have the thing or not have the thing.
Debbie
I think that’s what to look for is to look for real food ingredients. And yeah, the ultimate best would be the homemade, someone, you know, making that with real food ingredients. But if you don’t have that option, check that ingredient label–some stores, maybe though it’s not homemade, may be using whole ingredients, and those are the ones you choose. So it’s just raised that priority to using real foods, if you’re going to have those ingredients, and you want to have them make it the best you can.
Wendy
Absolutely So upgrading, even if it’s store bought by looking at the ingredients.
Debbie
Right. Right. And I think the third lesson is, is that it’s not like a rolling snowball. It’s not like okay, I had a piece of pie so it’s just screw it, I’m gonna keep going, I’m gonna have cookies tomorrow, I’m gonna have you know, eggnog and I drink the whole container of eggnog and maybe I’ll add some rum to it, because I just screwed up. You know, it’s not like that. It’s not like this, you know, rolling snowball that gets bigger and bigger. take it day by day, there’s that, you know, we know where that comes from. But it’s true because in a lot of ways we get, quote, “addicted” to this behavior of indulging, wipe that out of your head. Take us one day, okay, Thanksgiving Day, I’m having all these wonderful foods, I’m having a piece of pie and maybe have a couple cookies, whatever it is. That’s it, tomorrow, back to your usual healthy eating.
Wendy
And it could even be one day or even one meal like Thanksgiving Day, maybe on Thanksgiving Day, don’t skip breakfast, we encourage you to have a breakfast that really satisfies you. But maybe it’s not French toast on Thanksgiving day. You know, maybe you’re going for the eggs, egg scramble or fritata or something like that. Something not so, not so indulgent not start off with a sugar in the morning of Thanksgiving.
Debbie
Right. And to put another note on that if you have a really good breakfast, you may not have such a huge portion at Thanksgiving.
Wendy
Yeah, because you come to the table starving, right? You come to the table, and your mouth is watering and these traditional foods that you’re loving and you may go for seconds or thirds and and regret it. Okay, I’ve got one more bonus idea that we have talked about before that that goes in our, in our blogs and in our notes and on our social media is to really find the sweet things in life. You know, we can’t express this enough because all this judgment around food, you know, heaviness around food and everything–it’s light to get outside–it feels lighter in the body to enjoy someone’s company or to pet a cat or a dog or, you know, nature just is this elixir. So, what are some things you enjoy? Maybe it’s dancing in the kitchen with your kid, anything that just feeds your soul on a happiness level. Those are sweet things in life that really can fill us up and feed us in a nourishing way and then we can let go of any guilt because that doesn’t serve us.
Debbie
Right. And those give you a little dopamine rush just like that cookie would you, know, but a much better way.
Wendy
I love it. Yeah. Enjoy the holidays. Soak up whoever you can be with whether it be zoom or around a table. Love each other up.
Debbie
Yep, happy holidays.
