Just wondering…Do you really read the holiday eating advice that so many nutrition and fitness experts tout? Or do you skim the “survival guides” thinking “Ummmm….. No rocket science here” or “Blah, blah… where are the easy hacks for starting my new year five pounds down?!?”
Perhaps it’s because I work in the nutrition field, so I see a bazillion holiday eating articles that seem repetitive in content and frankly, somewhat annoying. For one, I’m curious… “Shouldn’t we be following this advice ALL of the time?” Like… not going to the party in a ravenous state, skipping our daily exercise, or saying to hell with mindfulness? Jus’ sayin’.
But, here’s something else I see missing from the mainstream recommendations: Reflection.
I’m a believer in reflecting and remembering the past as part of going forward...and going forward with positive self-mojo. Although, it’s cool to have mantras like “just keep moving forward” or “one step at a time”, we can’t ignore where we’ve been and then expect miracles. Or sudden change.
So, IF “bad” holiday eating patterns have chronically been an issue for you AND you’ve followed the mainstream holiday eating advice without success, let’s add this “Reflection” tool to your toolbox. It’s nitty gritty stuff and not as easy as a “trick” like drinking boatloads of water prior to the party to suppress your appetite. Reflection takes work, commitment, and “sitting” with the past. You can’t flit in reflection and expect miracles. Or sudden change.
You’ve got to devote thinking time to what has transpired in the past holiday seasons with your nutrition. Asking yourself the “Why” and “How” and really digging into the details. Most of the time I find my clients realizing that it wasn’t the food that was the true problem of the rabbit hole eating. It was some other set of stressors, and food turned out to be the temporary comfort measure. Aha!
Maybe you find the idea of Reflection a bit ridiculous, but in my mind, it’s a key element to bring about better strategies for ourselves as we go forward in this holiday season and pop out into an awesome 2019.
Thanks for reading,
Dina, Your Nutrition Mechanic
P.S. For a couple other cool articles I recently wrote related to the holidays, check out these pieces on the Suffer Better website:
Holiday Hoopla - Food for Thought
Gear Down to Gear Up