How can we stay on track during this feasting season? Or at least limit the damage?
First, remember: It IS a festive season, but also remember, the food is not what we’re celebrating. Whether you’re spiritual, religious, anti, or other, none of the days on the list of holidays is about food. It is just food, not the point of gathering together. Isn’t it amazing how weird it is to remember that? When my mother and grandmother planned our holidays, Almighty FOOD was often the focus. It is one way of celebrating, not the point.
However, unhealthy but tempting foods do appear everywhere, so we need a few hacks and/or tools.
1. Maintenance is quite valuable.
2. Enlist a friend. Shared journeys have more consistent results.
3. Get enough sleep for clarity of thinking.
4. Dill Pickles will kill a craving. I don’t know why, but it works.
5. Celery Test: If you aren’t hungry enough to eat celery when you’re grazing, you’re really not hungry. Use that information wisely.
6. Find a place to park yourself that is more than arm’s length from any tempting food.
7. Choose favorites and “good for me” foods first.
8. When you choose to indulge, do so consciously rather than mindlessly.
9. When tempted, take a deep breath and evaluate what’s going on for you, what it is about that particular food that draws you, and whether it’s truly worth it to you. If you still want it after some reflection, then have it.
10. Shift your focus to your friends, colleagues, family, and having fun. Lighten up and laugh as often as you can.
11. Create a list of activity rewards for making good choices.
12. Try some peppermint tea.
13. Drink plenty of water. It’s just good for you.
14. Reclaim your power over food rather than the opposite way around.
15. Avoid the temptation of quitting just because you may have stumbled. You wouldn’t keep going the wrong direction down a highway if you missed your turn, would you? Make a U-turn and get back on plan.
