No-stress-December!
December. It’s one of the most coziest months of the year & probably also the month with the most parties & celebrations. Cold outside, but cozy & warm inside. Candles everywhere, the beautiful Christmas tree, warming winter food, long dinners with friends and family. Yep. I love December!
No-stress-December!
For me December started with a kick start! On the 1th of December I heard that I could sign the contract for my new apartment and in less than a week later I moved in! There’s a lot to celebrate in my life right now so my December is full of house warming, catching up with friends, exploring the new city I live in and of course celebrating Christmas and NYE!
Unfortunately as a Health Coach, I also hear other things about the holidays. People who are stressed about the overload of food everywhere & not wanting to gain weight. Christmas dinners and NYE also could be a big stress factor. But is there anything worse than feeling stressed about what should be the most cozy and festive month of the year? I don’t think so. I want you Fit Girls to be happy during the holidays, so I want to share some tips & tricks with you!
First of all… Don’t be too hard on yourself. December is just one month and actually it only comes to 4 festive days. Four festive days in a whole year… It’s nothing! Of course, it wouldn’t be strange if you can’t get back on track in between Christmas and NYE, but even then we’re only talking about 1 week. One week out of 52 weeks is nothing to feel stressed about. Especially for a Fit Girl like you! If you normally workout on a regular base and have quite healthy eating habits, your body will be resilient enough to manage your bigger food intake during the holidays.
The holidays are very simple: There is plenty of food. Everywhere. If food could talk to you, you would hear “pick me, eat me!” “look at me, I’m sooo delicious” All. Day. Long. No wonder that in the end it turned out you ate more than you would eat normally! And restricting yourself from eating certain food categories won’t help you feel relaxed during the holidays. Actually restrictions probably will work like a trigger for eating too much!
Most of the time the moment that you cross the line of “good food vs. bad food”, you’re pulling the trigger for getting into a binge because in your mind “you already ruined your plan, so it all doesn’t matter anymore”. In other words: eat all the food you normally wouldn’t allow yourself to eat. When you allow yourself to eat anything you want, it’s so much easier to listen to your body and stop eating when you feel full. And most important: if you can allow yourself to eat anything you want, you won’t feel guilty afterwards! There’s nothing wrong with enjoying a little bit too much food every now and then. Just enjoy it!
When I started to eat healthier, my taste also changed over the years. Yes I like to eat chocolate, pies and meringues when it’s Christmas, but I also really appreciate a warming veggie stew or a delicious blueberry smoothie. When you create healthy eating habits on the longer term, you will see that there’s nothing to worry about during the holidays, because at some point you will have enough of all the indulging food and you just long for that refreshing green smoothie the next morning!
Last but not least, it’s good to make some healthy dishes as well. This will give you the option to choose healthy food when you feel like eating something healthy. snack tomatoes, olives, hummus and vegetables will work fine besides the other snacks. And a winter veggie stew can be very welcoming besides the heavy & fatty main dishes at Christmas dinner. It’s always good to have the choice to eat something healthy if you want to. On the internet you can find so much inspiration for healthy Christmas treats. Also searching the web for delicious (healthy) Christmas dishes can be so much fun!
Just break up with your holiday stress. It’s like poison for the good holiday vibes and not necessary at all! Live in the moment, enjoy being together with your loved ones and celebrate the holidays! :- )
Happy Holidays Fit Girls!!
XoXo
Lotta
