The holidays are such a special time for gathering with friends and family. With many holiday celebrations, food is the center of enjoying this slow season in life. Today, we want to walk you through how to prepare for the holidays so that you enjoy these special celebrations in the healthiest way possible.
Table of Contents:
- Make a Plan for Your Holiday Meals
- Re-evaluate and Become Mindful
- Find Joy
- Slow Down to be Intentional
- Be Kind to Yourself
Make a Plan for Your Holiday Meals
One of the most common things people overanalyze during the holidays is their food intake. Fasting is especially common for individuals on a healing journey and anxious about ‘messing anything up.’
One of the most important things to take away from this blog is to avoid ‘saving your calories.’ By fasting for too long, you send and welcome a stressful situation in your body. Because of this stress response, your body will shut down essential digestive functions to protect you because it thinks it is in danger. When you finally get your plate, sit down for your meal, and begin to eat, your body becomes very confused. Your blood sugar starts to rise, causing more stress, and then it could prompt you to help yourself to foods that aren’t the greatest more frequently, causing you to eat more and feel like you have a rock in your stomach.
Another common action is to overexercise to help burn off any extra calories. Punishing your body in this way can again lead to a stressful response and a sharp increase in blood sugar, causing you to crave more of those sugary foods so that your body can replenish itself.
Our body likes to work in harmony and balance. To achieve this, maintain your meals leading up to the big feast with vegetables, healthy fats, and lean protein to avoid overeating and plan to work out, but do it in a nourishing way for your body. You don’t have to fear the holidays and change your entire routine; you can, however, adopt a healthier mindset while allowing yourself to enjoy traditional foods at your gatherings.
Re-evaluate and Become Mindful
One of the biggest misconceptions when engaging in holiday events, especially on a healing journey, is that you must sacrifice all of the traditional foods because they are not getting you closer to your goals. Not partaking in common traditions can often make people resentful and incredibly uncomfortable as family members try to understand why they embark on a specific health journey. The truth is that you don’t have to give up everything. If you enjoy a particular food, have a little bit of it, but commit to yourself and still honor your healing journey by opting for other healthier options.
It doesn’t have to be all or nothing regarding the holidays. Plus, there are excellent tips that you can follow to ensure that you enjoy the food you are eating in the greatest possible way.
- Become mindful with every bite you take
- Enjoy the flavors and textures
- Chew your food to a paste before you swallow. This allows for your food to be easier to break down and absorb.
- Put your fork between every bite to ensure you aren’t constantly putting food in.
- Ensure that you are in a calming space when you are eating.
- Remove the distractions of phones and TVs.
- Focus on conversations with family and friends.
- Choose a warm beverage with your meal, like ginger or peppermint tea.
- Drinking ice-cold water slows down our motility in which the food moves through our digestive tract.
- Consider drinking alcohol away from your food, perhaps before or afterward.
In implementing these steps, you are giving your nervous system the ability to work with your digestive system to nourish the surrounding cells in your body efficiently.
Find Joy
As mentioned above, the stress surrounding the holidays and the stress of staying close to perfect on our healing plans makes it hard to find joy. This is why it is so important to consider the rituals and experiences that come with the holidays instead of stressing about what is the best food to eat.
Research has shown that those who are happier at the dinner table experience better digestion. This is because there are different neurotransmitters and hormones that are released when you are more optimistic. It signals your nervous system that you are not in a stressful situation.
Slow Down to be Intentional
It’s easy to get lost in the busy holiday season, but taking time for yourself to slow down can provide a lot of benefits for not only your gut health but your mind as well. We talked about some tips to eat slowly in the above section, but something else that can be helpful when slowing down is thinking about the 80/20 rule.
The 80/20 rule is a concept that describes eating until you are 80% full while also considering having 80% of your plate filled with good, healthy vegetables, protein, and fat. The other 20% of your plate can include a special holiday component of your choosing.
Be Kind to Yourself
As challenging as it might be, let go of guilt, let go of trying to be perfect. Setting unrealistic expectations, especially around food during the holidays, can often be crushing, especially when that expectation is unmet.
Remember that even if you ‘slip up,’ you can always get back on track the next day. It is essential to think about your health as a journey; there are moments when you will be on top of everything, and then other moments when you feel like you just don’t have it together. You’ll see your actual test in strength on the hard days you overcome.
We recommend considering self-care activities to show kindness to yourself, like getting to bed and sleeping 7-9 hours per night, a hugely helpful tool as you try to maintain your health goals.
Conclusion
Use each of these tips and find ways for them to work best in your current situation, but most importantly, enjoy this time of the holiday season! From all of us at Infinite Wellness, we wish you a happy holiday season!