Celebrate Mindfully: Nutrition Advice for Maintaining Balance and Joy During the Holiday Season

Are you ready to reclaim the joy of the holiday season without the stress of weight gain? In this enlightening episode of Real Food Stories, host Heather Carey shares nutrition advice on how to navigate the festive season with grace and mindfulness. As a culinary nutritionist, Heather understands the unique challenges women face, especially during midlife and menopause, when emotional eating can become a significant hurdle. This episode is packed with practical healthy eating tips and nutrition advice that will empower you to enjoy holiday gatherings while maintaining a balanced approach to food.

With the holidays fast approaching, it’s easy to fall into the trap of the ‘screw it’ mentality regarding our diets. But Heather urges listeners to shift their perspective. Instead of succumbing to the pressure of extreme dieting or feeling deprived, she offers a refreshing alternative: a focus on mindful eating and the true spirit of the season—cherishing moments with loved ones. By setting intentions and becoming aware of emotional eating triggers, you can cultivate a healthier relationship with food during this bustling time.

Throughout the episode, Heather provides practical strategies and nutrition advice for making healthier choices at holiday gatherings, such as preparing nutritious appetizers and being mindful of calorie intake. She emphasizes that the essence of the holidays lies not in the food but in the connections we create with family and friends. By prioritizing these relationships, you can find peace with food and enjoy the festivities without guilt.

Join Heather as she explores the emotional aspects of the holidays, acknowledging the stress that often accompanies this time of year. With her expertise in nutrition and health, she shares the seven pillars of abundance that can help you navigate the holiday season with confidence. Whether you’re dealing with perimenopause nutrition or simply looking for weight loss stories that resonate, this episode is a treasure trove of insights tailored for women in midlife.

Don’t let holiday food fads dictate your choices. Embrace a healthy lifestyle that honors your body and spirit. Tune in to this episode of Real Food Stories and discover how to enjoy the holiday season while making mindful decisions that align with your health goals. Your journey towards a more balanced approach to food starts here!

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Transcript:

Speaker #0
Well, hello, everybody, and welcome back. And if you are just tuning in with me for the very first time, it’s so nice to meet you. And I’m really glad you’re here with me today. I am your host, Heather Carey, nutritionist, chef, mom, and a woman who has been around the block with food. I want to open up about real food in relation to health, weight, and our bodies so you can make peace with what you eat. Today I wanted to just jump in to your podcast feed and give you a holiday pep talk because we are in the middle of the busiest and the craziest month of our entire year. Think about it. We just finished Thanksgiving, but that’s not all. We have at least one, two, three, four, five. six holidays coming up, depending on what you celebrate and what you observe, you could be busy for the entire month of December. And that is with family, friends, gatherings, parties, office parties, friend get togethers, you name it, it’s going to happen right now. So if you have the mindset like I used to have, and I talked about this on my Thanksgiving podcast, of screw it, I’m going to blow it this holiday, I have no choice, and I’ll think about it in January when you are five to 10 pounds behind in your weight loss goals and scrambling and wondering what to do and going into a lot of regret. Let’s back up for a minute and see if we can actually get through this month intact, because let’s be real. Trying to lose weight right now is probably not realistic, but trying to gain weight is not something that has to happen either. So let’s try to do something different this coming month, because again, let’s be realistic. Saying screw it and then going into regret come January. or saying, I am going to try to lose some weight, or I’m going to go on a detox in between each of these holidays, neither is realistic. And both are very short-lived and soul-killing. So rather, a better way of looking at things this month is to consider maintaining your weight. And this is entirely possible. If you are just used to gaining weight during the holidays, if you feel that gaining weight during the holidays is just inevitable and five pounds is the price you pay for enjoying the season, let’s change that mindset right now. Because here’s the reality, and I’m going to give you a little tough love on this podcast today. You do not have to eat and drink. and celebrate like it is your last chance to do so. We’ve all been around the block of holidays, haven’t we? You know exactly what’s coming up this month. You’ll see your family, and that probably equals your grandma’s homemade eggnog or the hot artichoke dip that you think you only get to have once a year. So you better eat as much as you can while it lasts. I’ve talked about this numerous times before on this podcast. Let’s learn to take some food and alcohol off of its pedestal. Food is not to be worshipped. It is just food. If you really wanted, you could eat artichoke dip every single day. You could go to the store, buy the ingredients, make the artichoke dip. This is not the only time in your life you will get to drink champagne cocktails. So take a deep breath and pause and get back to reality. Have a bite or two of the warm brie. Have a cocktail if you want. Do it with intention. And I want to remind you, and this is important, the holidays are not about the food, period. Now, I know I sound like a total party bummer because a lot of people… including myself years ago, went into the holidays thinking, I can’t wait to get my hands on all of those party appetizers. Everyone else is doing it. We were all in camaraderie with each other. All of those champagne cocktails, everyone gave you permission to go ahead and drink and eat whatever you wanted. But the holidays are not about how many champagne cocktails you consume. Again, I know this from years of experience, and I promise that you will not remember the cheesy, gooey appetizers. You will not even remember how many drinks you had or what kind they were. But here is what you will remember. Time with your kids. Watching them open presents. Seeing some of your relatives you haven’t visited in a long time. Catching up with your grandma. Maybe COVID has upended your plans for the last couple of years, and now you’re finally getting to travel. Those are all great reasons to celebrate the holidays. Those are the memories that you keep. So shift your mindset around what the holidays really mean for you, and keep your eye on the prize of maintaining your weight right now. goal for this month is to go into January at the same weight as you started and do what you need to get that done. So shift your mindset around what the holidays really mean for you and keep your eye on the prize, which for the sake of this month is to go into January at the same weight as you started and do whatever it takes and needs to get done. And to do just that. Don’t start with the weird detoxes and diets in between the holidays as needed. Don’t say I’m going to go on some crazy thing in January. Keep your eye on the present moment and stay focused. One thing I strongly suggest doing is setting an intention or a goal for this month. By setting an intention, you define out loud or on paper what you would like to accomplish this month. Now, blowing it over the holidays and then going into full regret come January and then going on a detox or a dry January challenge is not my idea of an intention, but it might be for you. And that is totally fine and okay, too. If you go in with the intention of, I am going to just drink and eat whatever I want, and in January, I am going to clean it up, that’s fine, too. I would be more prone to becoming knowledgeable about what I am going up against this month. As in, how many parties? How many times are you going to be with friends? How many holidays are you celebrating? Where will I be? What do I need to bring as far as food and drinks? And what can I bring that will help me, such as a healthier appetizer or my own cocktails or waters even? If you are contributing an appetizer, for example, find a healthier version of what you would like to be there. Learn and educate yourself about the number of calories in your drinks and foods. Simply knowing that a bite of brie on a cracker and two small glasses of champagne will cost you about 400 calories is a good education. When my daily calorie intake that I need to maintain my weight is about 1600 calories, which is not a lot of calories, and I’ve just gotten started with my party eating, I want to consider where my calories are going to go because my goal for this month is to maintain my weight. Give the calories and what you’re eating some education and consideration. So go in like a warrior. Educate yourself, know what calories are in your food, and think about how you can make different choices in each moment that you have. In my Pound Zero Holiday Guide, which I am giving you today, For free, I give you a few important tips to go into a party or holiday with a plan. In that guide, I also have a bunch of healthy recipes and substitutes that you can contribute to any party or holiday gathering. Now, for many of us, the month of December is very festive, but it’s not festive for all of us. Holidays, alternatively, can feel stressful. Families can be stressful, and you might feel losses and grief more around this time. Not to mention end of year stress with jobs or spending money on gifts. Maybe there’s just a sense of loneliness. It doesn’t matter. In any event, stress seems to rear its ugly head around this time of the year. And stress, as you may or may not know, can have a huge effect in a number of ways when it comes to our food, our choices of food, and our weight. Now, a little science from a physical perspective, when we are chronically stressed out, our cortisol levels rise so we can stay alert. Cortisol is our stress hormone. Now, you’ve likely heard of the fight or flight response. Something is going after us. Back in caveman days, it could have been a dinosaur. And in this age today, it can be a crazy family. It can be grief over losing someone. Might be trying to make your way through the crowded mall to buy gifts with money that you just don’t have. This is chronic stress, and this keeps cortisol, again, our stress hormone, up and alive and going when we need to stay aware. and keep our cortisol levels functioning at a high rate, our other body functions suffer and they slow down. One of them is our digestion. We conserve calories because we are busy staying alert. The other thing that happens with stress is the tendency to lean into emotional eating rather than eating simply when we are physically hungry. I am sure you have experienced this. Suddenly craving chocolate at 11 o’clock at night after a long workday or just wanting something crunchy or salty right when you get home from work and right before dinner when you just want to sit down and relax and have, do you want to call it a reward? We could call it that. The point is that we eat for all sorts of reasons, emotional and physical. And during this time of year, there are… a lot of reasons to celebrate and gather and eat more and drink more. But when we do that, we can also be aware at the same time and mindful of what is going on around us. In the Pound Zero Guide, I include a checklist of our physical versus emotional eating cues, so you can figure out which way you’re leaning at any given opportunity. And emotional eating can sound something like, And emotional eating can also sound something like, I don’t ever get a chance to drink eggnog or have an espresso martini, so I really deserve it this holiday season. Feeling as though you’ve been deprived all year of certain foods or that this is your only chance to get your hands on it is a stress response. You are more than deserving of all foods. You have every right to eat and drink whatever you want. you also. Most importantly, have choices. You fully have free will over your body. Now, which choices are you going to make? Knowing what to do with your stress and which ways to channel it besides eating is a skill. When we feel like our eating is based on a stress response, we want to try to come up with other ways to soothe our stress besides food. Now, I have talked quite a bit on this podcast about the power of journaling, my personal favorite, but what if writing just doesn’t resonate with you? In the Pound Zero Guide, I introduce you to the practice of meditating. I show you what it means to go into the woods and forest bathe, and even the simple act of learning how to effectively breathe. That can calm you down in minutes. So be sure to grab the guide. The link is in the show notes and try one of those stress busters today. In the Pound Zero guide, I also have 12 amazing recipes for healthier side dishes, desserts, appetizers, like I had said, and even drinks and a couple of mocktails. These dishes may inspire you to take action for the next month and come out a winner on the other side. I cannot wait to hear how it all goes for you. Your goal this month is to maintain your weight. And I imagine in the long run, gain some peace with food and eating, which really translates into gaining the peace and serenity you can find in yourself. Finding contentment with you is one of the most valuable gifts you can give to yourself and your body. I so wish this for you this holiday season. So again, be sure to grab my Pound Zero Holiday Survival Guide. The link is in my show notes. And the best part is that it is absolutely free. This is my gift from me to you. And as always, if you loved this podcast, please consider gifting me with a five-star review. It is so helpful for me to get the word out on real eating, our real bodies, and real food stories. Thank you so much and have a great week. Bye for now.