It is possible to enjoy your holidays while maintaining your weight and health goals, and it's possible to do that without adding more stress to your holidays! If that sounds too good to be true, just stay with me.
Leaning on these 3 key pillars makes it a real possibility!
Planning
Portions
Powerful Decisions
Let’s start with our first pillar, PLANNING.
Whether you’re the type A planner who knows what you’re doing 6 months from now, or you’re the type of planner who doesn’t even use a calendar, there’s room for everyone here! And it’s not just about calendars, I promise.
Planning always applies to something in the future, right? Whether that future is dinner tonight or a party that’s 2 months from now. There is larger-scale planning that happens when you look at dates and places, and then there’s smaller-scale planning that highlights more of the details of an event. No matter the kind of planner you are or the type of planning you chose to do, the key is that you do it ahead of time!
When you take the time to look ahead, you’ll find yourself more ready for the holidays than you’ve ever been before! Looking ahead and giving thought to things coming up doesn't mean you'll be able to know or plan everything you'll encounter. However, even having thought through a portion of it will let you walk into the holidays feeling more confident and less overwhelmed!
PUTTING PILLAR #1 INTO PRACTICE
“WHEN” PLANNING
Let’s start with the larger-scale planning and look at when things are happening this holiday season. Of course there will be plans that pop up along the way without much notice, but just start with what you know today. What events are on the calendar? Are you going to travel? Are you staying at home? When do you typically do things with friends or family?
Dive in and write those answers down- it’ll help with the next part!
“WHAT” PLANNING
Here’s where you can get a bit more detailed about what will be happening. For this part, I want you to think about what you enjoy most and what you find the most challenging about each of those things on your calendar. Where possible, write down the highlights of what you know about the event (ex. location, people, food & drink that might be there).
For example, maybe you love the games you play as a family, but you always feel pushed into eating more by your Aunt that’s hosting. You know what I’m talking about….if there are obvious joy points and obvious pain points around food/drink in the middle of your holiday events, go on and write them down!
You may have guessed it, but you’re gonna want to focus most on the “WHAT” of your planning process. Particularly those joys and challenges you run into. Take your top three food and beverage-related challenges on your list and spend a few minutes coming up with some specific strategies on how you could do it differently this year. [This is where having outside help, such as a Dietitian, can be helpful!] What will you say to that Aunt when she uses her famous line on you to get you to eat more than you feel comfortable eating? What will you do differently when you keep running into all your favorite foods?
When you are aware of the challenges and you come up with a potential strategy for how it could go differently, you’re just that much more prepared to make confident, healthy choices this season.
Planning ahead in some way, shape, or form is going to have a massive impact on how your holidays go this year! Planning is less about looking for more control, and more about gaining healthy awareness of the joys and challenges and bringing strategy for what's coming up. Whether you gain that healthy awareness a month ahead or you’re thinking through things the week of, you’ll be better off! Don’t let the holidays toss you around this year, use the pillar of planning to walk into them feeling more prepared than ever!
Even though the planning strategy is designed to offset feeling overwhelmed in the future, it can feel a little overwhelming in the process of planning. So, this is where having a Dietitian alongside can be really helpful to help you think through strategies that will help you have the healthiest relationship with food, beverages, and health habits during the holiday season. Check out the Holiday Helper Package we're offering just for the holiday season!
Get RD Nutrition is a virtual nutrition counseling practice offering weight management services, right where you are!
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