♫ It’s the holiday season {the holiday season} ♫
It all starts with Turkey, mashed potatoes, and pumpkin pie (for my fellow Americans), and continues with Christmas cookies, mulled wine, eggnog, a whole lotta cheese, dips, bread, and meats galore.
Pretty tasty, right?
Darn right!
But if you are one of those people that are trying to “be good” this holiday season, you need to stop that…right now.
I’ve tried to stop myself from eating cookies in past holidays, and that only led to eating more cookies. Because once I ate one, I’d already “ruined” what I’d set out to do, so I was of the mindset that I might as well go all in with the cookies, candies, rich food, and drinks since I was going to diet come January anyways. And that mindset continued throughout the whole month, until I felt so gross that I literally couldn’t wait to start my diet and fit into my pants again. And the cycle continued from there.
I have a guess why you might try to “be good” this holiday season…
- You think that once you start eating the holiday treats, you won’t be able to stop.
- You think that if you eat the cookies your coworker brought in, you will look fat in your holiday dress later in the week.
- You think that if you indulge in the mulled wine, it will spiral into overeating, and come January, dieting will be a must.
Well, I’m here to tell you that no matter how hard you try to “be good,” you are for sure going to eat cookies this month, drink fancy beverages, and eat puff-pastry appetizers filled with cheesy goodness. In fact, I WANT you to eat and drink all these things – you deserve it!
So don’t waste your time stressing about it! Here’s why:
- If you don’t stress about the fact that you ate a cookie, this will allow you to eat as many cookies as you want and be done with them. But if you stress yourself out about the fact that you ate a cookie, you will most likely have a hard time stopping. Binge eating is a natural reaction to restriction – so stop restricting the cookies if you don’t want to binge eat the cookies.
- If you waste time worrying about looking fat in your dress, you will never feel great in that dress, no matter how many cookies you ate or didn’t eat. So start thinking about how fabulous that dress is going to look on you! The more you think about how fabulous it’s going to look, the more fabulous you are going to feel in it, and the more fabulous it will look because of the confidence you have while wearing it. Cookies have nothing to do with how beautiful that holiday dress will look on you.
- If you think having a mulled wine is bad for you, than when you do drink one, you will feel bad about drinking one, and will want to throw in the towel on your day/week/month of eating, and go all out. If you let yourself have a mulled wine, you will have a mulled wine, maybe another, and go on with your life.
Instead of “being good” this holiday season, here’s what you should do instead:
Eat what you want this holiday season!
(like, what you really want – don’t waste your time on anything that’s just OK.)
Enjoy all the holiday food to the maximum!
(enjoying it will help with satisfaction and increased satisfaction will reduce the need to overeat)
If your pants are too tight, or your energy is low, eat something that will make you feel better, such as this soup.
(you don’t have to eat only holiday food during holiday season, you can also eat some of your normal foods that make you feel light and energetic).
If you eat too much one day, don’t stress! Start fresh at the next meal.
(the more you stress about it, the more likely you will keep the cycle going…just trust me on this one.)
~
You are already good as you are, in fact, you are GREAT as you are, so stop trying to “be good” when it comes to food.
If you need a little help this holiday season with how to enjoy the holidays to the fullest without overindulging, I have a fun program just for you. Sign up for the 12 Days of Healthy Christmas and start singing along today!
