It’s hard for most of us to stay on track with eating healthy during the holidays. In fact, the average American gains 5-8 pounds during the holiday season and then spends January trying to get rid of the excess.
Why it’s hard to eat healthy during the holidays
There are lots of reasons, even for those of us committed to eating plant-based and/or vegan.
- Family gatherings can be filled with well-meaning food pushers and rich traditional foods
- Eating out with large groups can make it more difficult to have a say as to where and what to eat.
- More socializing involves more grazing and sometimes drinks that impair making good choices.
You’re prepared for the holidays with a healthy eating plan, but is it enough?
‘This year will be different’, we tell ourselves. This time, we’re ready for the start of the holidays, have a plan and are will put all we have learned to double down on our healthy habits.
We’ll check the menu and if needed eat before we leave the house, drink lots of water, bring something we can eat, and create simple food rules that make it easier to stay on track especially once the holidays start.
But what if the holiday season starts earlier that you think?
Ergo the problem.
Long before Thanksgiving, there is one more occasion that kicks off the holiday indulging in stealth ways.
Halloween can be seasonal sabotage
‘But Halloween is not part of the holiday season. It’s just for the kids’, you say.
True, but how many bags of candy, vegan or not, have been eaten by the adults in your home before the trick or treaters arrive, in some cases causing you to have to buy more before the doorbell rings?
My inspiration, choose joy.
When I was a kid, I remember an older neighbor, Mr. Anderson, who loved to see the kids all in costume. He welcomed groups of kids and their parents inside his entryway where the light was better, a few at time, to admire their costumes. After each child told him about their costume, he would hand them a single candy, but it was a large Cadbury bar, and gave the parents hot cocoa! Needless to say, there was a line.
What he taught me as a child is that each of us can celebrate special occasions in a way that brings us joy. For him, it was visiting. His single candy bar approach and warm welcome to the entire family got every kid in the neighborhood to stop by.
As an adult, seeing the kids in costume has always been fun, but there was something getting in the way of my joy – the dread of having all that junk food candy in the house. In the past, all too often that led to a diet fail with the sheer volume of too many tempting sweets within reach before the holiday season even started.
Good, Better, Best.
In the spirit of good, better, best, we first tried switching to vegan, organic and even fair trade candy, which was good for the planet and better for the kids, but it was still candy and much disappeared before the doorbell rang.
I learned that willpower was never enough.
Years later, after becoming a certified Never Binge Again coach, I finally had the tools needed to remove the need for willpower, but it is always best to start with a safe environment at home. The struggle was still getting in the way of the joy.
The joy is back
We finally we found our answer.
We now make a big basket of kid toys and games, coloring books, playdough, glow sticks for safety, tattoos. Sometimes pretzels. No candy. All vegan friendly and no temptation before or after the doorbell rings. The kids love picking their favorites and the joy is back.
Remember, during the holidays or at any time of year, we can have fun without putting our path to better health at risk.
We all have a choice. Let’s chat. I can help.
