Tips for Navigating Holiday Celebrations
It’s that time of year again! We’re looking forward to gathering with friends and family for to celebrate the holidays. For some of us, it may feel a bit overwhelming. Trying to make good choices when it come to the food we eat and how we take care of ourselves can be a real challenge.
Enjoying this time with those around you can be made easier with a few helpful strategies.
A few of our RESTART® Instructors got together and came up with great tips and strategies to help empower you to make the choices that fit YOUR lifestyle and make YOU feel the best you can throughout this holiday season.
We’ve broken it down into a few areas and hope they inspire you.
Making Good Food Choices
- Focus on the people and your connections with them, rather than the food.
- Make food swaps. Our RESTART® Instructor, Amy Barager, swaps canned yams with marshmallows for actual sweet potatoes. Bake them at 350 for 50-60 minutes until caramelized, top with real butter, a dash of cinnamon and nutmeg.
- Employing the good, better, best strategy can make those choices, no matter what they are, easier.
- Crowd out the junk with good choices and you won’t miss or even want the other stuff. Have real food choices such as a vegetable tray or charcuterie platter, can satisfy our palates.
- Make food yourself. When you are in control of the ingredients that go into your holiday dishes, you can make better choices for you and your family.
Tips for Holiday Gatherings
- Before you go to the gathering, VISUALIZE yourself there; talking, laughing, having a great time. Imagine the food and what you will choose!
Holiday Self Care Ideas
- Be gentle with yourself. Are there any unrealistic expectations that you can let go of?
- Make a mindset shift… “I can’t” vs “I choose not to” . . . You always get to choose.
- Remember, it’s just one meal and you get to start again with the very next bite. Give yourself permission to be human.
- Now is the perfect time to RESTART.
Strategies for Navigating the Holidays
So, let’s put it into action. What would you do in this scenario?
A cookie swap: The idea is you bring a dozen cookies for each person there and then everyone leaves with that many dozen cookies.
What are some choices you could make?
1- Just say no, thank you. No explanation needed.
2- Bring an alternative (like an ornament for everyone) so you can still partake and enjoy the camaraderie. Then donate cookies to a charity.
3- Indulge and deal with the consequences (no judgment, just reality).
4- If other people don’t understand your choices, remember that their comments reflect their stuff, not yours.
Remember, we all have choices and what is right for us may not be what others think, feel or believe. Staying true to YOU and what YOU need is the best self care and gift we can give ourselves.
Let us know your tips for a joyous and happy holiday season.
For even more great tips…
Follow Us