Holiday Diet Survival Guide

The holidays can be one of the most stressful times if you are concerned about sticking with your diet or usual healthy eating habits. Temptations are everywhere, and it can even come off as rude in certain situations if you deny food being offered!

It is possible, though to better manage your eating habits during this time of year, and here are a few strategies that you can implement to help aid you during the holiday season eating.

Enjoy yourself and Relax!

This must be understood first that the holidays should be a joyous occasion where you get to relax and spend time around your loved ones. During this time you may come off of your rigid diet and it will be okay!

Even if you have been crushing your fitness goals this year you should take a deep breath and understand that the occasional dessert or stray away from perfection isn’t going to affect your long-term goals. You didn’t develop these healthy habits in one sitting, and they’re not going to go away in one either.

If anything this time can be viewed as a great opportunity to let your mind, and body, decompress and enjoy some things that you may have been limiting previously.

Occasional is the keyword. Avoid overdoing it on a consistent daily basis as those habits develop slowly into larger problems, but do not stress the occasional indulgence when it occurs.

Accepting When It Does Go Bad

Don’t be too hard on yourself when you eat poorly and slip briefly. This is completely normal and healthy to an extent. Although when this occurs do not view it as a free pass to go crazy and eat poorly for the remainder of the day either. Eating one or two cookies doesn’t mean your healthy diet plan is ruined for that day, and you have a free pass to eat whatever you like.

That mindset usually creates a negative cycle where you feel worse after the day is over.

Consider this, if you were driving down the road and blew one of your tires out. You would be initially upset and think that this day is horrible and potentially even ruined due to the setback. You wouldn’t then immediately slash the remaining three perfectly inflated tires, would you? No, you would accept the circumstances you’re in and change the flat tire for a spare to move forward. Eating is no different.

Accept it. Move on.

Maintaining Similar Eating Habits

An easy strategy to help you stay on the path of healthy habits during the holidays is to maintain the nutritional and eating habits you were already previously doing.

A major contributing factor to poor nutritional habits during the holidays is the schedule change. During the holidays, your routine is disturbed, causing you to justify straying off the previous plan. Things such as staying up later, getting time off from school or work, food availability and the larger-scale family dinners lead to this disturbance.

Work to maintain many of the same eating habits such as the time of the day you eat, number of meals, similar types of foods, and a similar quantity, of course. Following this can help maintain a healthy diet and mindset.

Choose the Healthier Options

This strategy, I understand, while simple is easier said than done. Many times though there are healthier options when considering your food selections. Examples such as;

• Drinking water instead of soda
• Eating plain sweet potatoes instead of the marshmallow loaded option
• Loading up on vegetables first, so you’re not as hungry when dessert comes around
• Taking the sauce on the side so you don’t drown your food in gravy
• While these alternatives are small and simple strategies, they pay off in the larger health system. The little things do add up when performed consistently.

Supplement Your Diet

Before going into this next strategy, I will always recommend real, whole foods before supplementation. It’s in the word supplementation itself and is meant to “supplement” your diet of natural, whole foods.

Yet if you’re reading through this and know that you’re not to be trusted. If you are going to overindulge at every opportunity and eat till you drop, this next strategy is for you.

Drinking a protein shake (1–2 scoops) 30 minutes before a meal can lead to a drastic effect on your appetite. Not only is the protein supplement going to help better manage your unruly appetite, but it will also help achieve some macro and micronutrient demands as well as a taste similar to a pre-meal dessert.

The holidays should be a time of joy, gratitude, and relaxation. Do not allow the stress of maintaining the perfect diet or food temptations to prevent you from enjoying this time with your loved ones.

If you made it this far thank you and I hope you found something of value in the article. Give some of these strategies a try and give yourself an increased advantage to maintain your healthy nutritional habits, while enjoying the festivities!