Is it okay to Cheat and Overeat during the Holidays?

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December 15, 2020 - Episode #46 - Is it okay to Cheat and Overeat during the Holidays?
This is certainly the season for indulgence.  The Holiday season abounds with tasty, savory, decadent and sweet treats.  And honestly, the reality is that we have already been using food as a means to cope with our overwhelming emotions in this horrific year.  So, it begs the question...is it okay to cheat and overeat during the Holidays?  

This is our topic today as we look at emotional eating, clever marketing, diets and finding food freedom.  I provide 2 easy tips to consider when eating during this holiday season.

Reminder...I'm trying to prepare you for RESILIENCE in January 2021!! As you heard in the podcast, I have an incredible group program focusing on the Food Freedom Framework starting January 11th.  
If you are sick and tired of failed New Year’s resolutions, weight lost only to be regained, promises made only to be broken and short term goals achieved only for long term hope to be destroyed.  If this is you, then you are ready for Freedom! 

This small group program will feature personal health coaching and live weekly group trainings.  This is a 6 week course that will focus on detoxification, nutrition, mindset, intention and habits.  It is education, encouragement and empowerment that will set you up for a lifetime of success not just the first month of year!! Everything is better with a friend.  So, if you refer a friend and you guys do it together, you get a discount.  If you are ready for resilience, then contact me to be put on the waiting list.  You can email me [email protected] or message me on FB/Instagram @inspirehealthyharmony.

Here are the links that I mention in today's podcast:
Grief and Despair - How to Survive the Holidays 
https://www.inspirehealthyharmony.com/grief-and-despair.html#/
 
Coping with Stress, Grief and Anxiety with professional counselor Michelle Nietert
https://www.inspirehealthyharmony.com/coping-with-stress-grief-anxiety.html#/
 
Emotional Binge Eating and Drinking - How Viriginia turned her tragic story around
https://www.inspirehealthyharmony.com/binge-eating-drinking.html#/
 
12 Days of Christmas group for Mompreneurs  - Productivity and Purpose Workshop
bit.ly/successsupportgroup

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​Where else to listen:  (note: Google is only available on android devices)

FULL TRANSCRIPT

December 15, 2020 - Episode #46 - Is it okay to Cheat and Overeat during the Holidays?

Oh, yes, it is the season for over indulgence. Delightful tasty treats everywhere we turn. So it's okay. Right? To cheat and overeat during the holidays?  Let's talk about it today on Healthy Harmony.

Hey there. Welcome to the Healthy Harmony podcast. I'm Jennifer Pickett, your host, your health coach, your friend. If you're ready to tap into the healthiest version of you. So you can live life with confidence and intentional harmony. Then my friend you're in the right place. As a Dietitian turned Functional Medicine Health Coach. I'm here to walk beside you and show you how to take control of your complete health… body, mind, and soul.

It's December. And we are trying to cope with the stress and overwhelm of the holiday season in this crazy stupid year. One of my goals is to prepare you for resilience in the new year. Most people think restriction and diet in January.

Oh, Oh. That just leads to failure and then feeling guilty and ashamed resilience. Don't you love that word. I love that word. So I'm going to give you a little inside information. So you're the very first to know if you are sick and tired of failed New Year's resolutions. Weight lost only to be regained, promises made only to be broken and short-term goals achieved only for long-term hope to be destroyed. Hey, if this is you have got exactly what you're looking for. You’re ready for freedom. I'm launching a small weight loss accountability group in January. The Food Freedom Framework is exactly what you are looking for. If you are done with the funky diets, it starts Monday, January 11th, and will feature personal health coaching and live weekly group trainings. This is a six week course that will focus on detoxification, nutrition, mindset, intention, and habits.

It is for education, encouragement, and empowerment. That will set you up for a lifetime of success, not just the first month of the year. And by the way, everything is better with their friend. So if you refer a friend and you guys do this group together, you get a discount. If you're ready for resilience, then contact me to be put on the waiting list. I've got that going already. And yes, I already have names on my waiting list. So to get on that list, you can email me, [email protected] or just message me on Facebook on Instagram @inspirehealthyharmony. So let's get right in to it.

So it's so funny, the difference between December and January. So right now, it's just a season of indulgence and that's what everybody's thinking of. Now in January, everybody starts thinking about diets. I'm going to tell you my popularity.

There's a big difference in December and in January. Okay? I'm not as popular this time of year...come January,  my popularity increases dramatically. So it's funny being a Dietitian. So I'm a Dietitian by profession. I'm now a Functional Medicine Certified Health Coach. And it's so funny being a Dietitian, just that word. It literally makes people back up like it has such a negative connotation. So there are been times where I've been at like a party and someone said, Hey, what do you do for a living? And I'm like, Oh, I'm a Dietitian. They literally back away from me or they'll start saying something like, I don't want to get put on a diet. Are you analyzing what's on my plate? Y'all it makes me so paranoid. I would love to say that I've gotten used to this. I'm trying, but for the love and for the record, I have never, ever not a single solitary time been at a party and analyzed somebody's food on their plate. I've never walked around with judgment, telling people what to do and what to eat. It's just not my style. And Lord have mercy. I hope it's not many health coaches or Dietitian's style either because that would be a disaster. But I think it's because the word dietitian has that word diet in it. And like that is just a very, very restrictive mindset. I can't have these foods. These are restricted. I cannot have this right now because I'm on a diet and that mentality is destroying us. And then of course, during the holidays, it's a different ball game because we're just thinking about indulging and that's what we're talking about today. Is it okay to cheat and overeat during the holidays, November and December? It is a season of indulgence. I mean, honestly, Halloween kicks it off and then it's nonstop through the 1st of January. And then everybody kind of wakes up in a stupor and goes, Oh my word, I did it again. I think I need some help. I've got to tackle those New Year's resolutions and get on a strict diet. And that only lasts a little while. And then they go back to old habits and the weight goes up and then the weight comes off and then it goes back up because it's regained. And I am the one that get people that have tried all the programs, all the diets. And by the time they get to me, they're a little bit of a mess when it comes to metabolism and mindset, they've tried all the things.

So if we look at the holidays, I mean, let's get real. It's the season of indulgence. We love it. We enjoy it there. And all of this marketing that's taking place is bombarding us day in and day out. All you have to do is walk in your favorite grocery store and you see it so very quickly. Now, one of my favorite grocery stores, this Trader Joe's, they are my absolute favorite. In fact, I have been accused of being on their marketing team. And you know, when I'll go into Trader Joe's, especially before this crazy year, I would always treat Trader Joe's kind of like a family reunion. Like I have buddies that work there now, cause I've gotten to know them and I will, you know? Yeah. It'd be like, Hey, you got a haircut. Hey Stanley, how's your mom, Deb...give me a hug. Like I love me some Trader Joe's and I have a tendency to treat it like a family reunion. It's just, it's good stuff. Right? So all you have to do is look around and it's just, there are these things that they sell this time of year, that they don't sell any other time of year. Everything's focused on indulgence and they just yummy, yummy tasty, savory sweet decadent treats that, you know, it's great marketing. Lord have mercy.

It tastes really, really good. So it's all about indulgence. Now. I want you to pay attention to the marketing when you're in the stores, whether you're in Trader Joe's or Target or any of your other grocery stores, everything is based on that month. Okay. So right now it's all about indulgence. It's all about sure, You can have it, just it's comfort food and it's just inviting. And January, everything changes. All the multivitamins are moved to the front of the store, the protein bars, all the fancy marketing with, you know, the the diet type products, you know, quote unquote, healthy, all of these packaged products that are anything but healthy. All of that's at the front. Okay. Gone is the indulgence. So, so much of this is marketing that kind of playing into our psyche, playing into our emotions. And so we kind of have to recognize that because we end up kind of excusing some of our behavior because man, we just kind of fall prey to the, the good marketing it's clever.

And it makes sense. I mean, it is a season of indulgence, but can we kind of survive that quick side note here? If you work in food, service, things have changed so much. God bless you. I know you've got to be absolutely worn out right now. So I just, I, I just kind of a shout out to our people who work in restaurants and grocery stores. We know you're tired. Thank you so much for serving us. So I love to talk about food because I mean, we can't get past that. I am a Dietitian and a health coach that is so much of what I coach him. And just another side note, if had some of these favorite grocery stores like Trader Joe's. I like to feature some of my favorite food products because I get those questions all the time.

So if you're following me on Instagram, on Facebook at inspire healthy harmony, oftentimes in the stories, you'll see me feature a favorite food product, a favorite brand that I just really love. And that I, that I know and trust as well as being a healthier version. So just a side note there.

So as we get into this, you know, we, we have to look at what is food? What purpose does food serve? We can't, you know, we can't do away with food. We need food. But what purpose does that serve? And it actually serves for different purposes. Now I'm giving you an insight into functional medicine. Okay. That's really getting to the root of the problem. So Functional Medicine is Lifestyle Medicine. And as we look at food, Functional Medicine looks at food as four different things. Food is fuel. Food is information. Food is medicine and food is also connection.

So number one, food is fuel. So obviously your body needs fuel to run. It's like putting gas in the car. Your body gets energy from that fuel. You've got to have fuel. So you want to look at what kind of gas are you putting in your car, right? What kind of fuel are you putting in your body? Number two, food is information. It tells the body what to do. So what kind of programming? What kind of information are you putting into your body? That might explain what you're getting out, right? And how you're feeling?
Number three, food is medicine. Hear me loud and clear food is not like medicine. Food is medicine. Meaning it is that healing and restorative to the body. It's absolutely amazing. What happens when you give the body exactly what it needs. Now here's the fourth one that is so very important that we cannot ignore, food is connection.

Have you ever been to a party, a gathering? And I even hesitate to say those words, cause we're still in the middle of this crazy stupid COVID stuff. But have you ever been to a party, a gathering and there wasn't food. I mean, wouldn't you like be like, wait, wait. What's what's wrong? Like who is the host? Like what is wrong here? There's no food. Food is connection. Every celebration we can think of food is at the center of it. So as we're thinking about a healthy mindset, we have to remember that food is also connection. So we want to keep all of that in mind. Now. So many people just wait until January, they have this kind of holiday mentality. Okay. Anything goes during the holidays, I will wait till January. I'll deal with it then. And then in January, you've got that very, very restrictive mindset.

I've got these new year's resolutions. I've got to get on a diet. I've got to get this weight off this year. I'm doing it for real. And those strict diets typically have no allowances. And it's something that a diet is something that like you start and then you stop. Well, what happens when you stop? Right? So as someone says, okay, I'm cheating on my diet or I'm cheating. My question is, what are you cheating on? Diets are ineffective. They don't work. What are you cheating on? I mean, it's food. It's not a relationship. It's it's food. It's fuel, it's energy, it's information, it's connection, it's medicine. But what are like, when you say you're cheating, what are you cheating?

Use the season as an excuse. And remember that what you put in your mouth food. It's not a standalone. There are other things that influence your health. So when we look at the big picture, we see physical health, mental and emotional health, spiritual health, it all goes together. Now I've shared with you. I just try to learn from my mistakes. I try to combine, you know, the knowledge that I've gained over 24 years, the experience, and then my own personal struggles and put that all together.

And I've certainly learned to practice mindfulness and see how food and mood go together. When I eat bad feel bad. And honestly, there's enough going on this year, we are already stressed and overwhelmed and anxious and I can't afford to feel bad this year. You can't afford to feel bad this year. It's not worth it.
So what's the answer. I've got two simple tips for you that I'm going to go over with you super fast.

Number one, be mindful, use some mindfulness. Do I have a diet mentality? Do I have a start and stop mentality? I can't have that food. I'm on a diet. Do you have a Monday mentality? Everything's fine. Right now. I'm going to, I'm going to start on Monday. I'm going to start dieting on Monday that Monday and mentality. Do you have a January mentality? Okay. this, this month, I'm just gonna do whatever I want to do, but dang it. I'm going to get started and I'm going to go for it in January. What's your mindset? What is that mentality? Do you have a diet mentality, a Monday mentality, a January mentality. Do you have a tendency for one indulgent meal to turn into a day of indulgent meals and then a weekend or a full week of indulgence?

It can be a really slippery slope. And then we all have a tendency to take this kind of all or nothing approach. So it's so important to recognize and be mindful of what your body is trying to say to you. This is body awareness. It's listening to your body and trying to figure out what does your body need? You know, sometimes I don't need a late night snack. I just need to get my butt in bed. I need some rest. It's so important for us to be aware of our emotions. As we dig into mindfulness, we see that man, we have a lot of issues with emotional eating and drinking. And so we want to be aware of our emotions, recognize the emotion what's driving that emotion this time of year. Like I shared with you last week in the great and despair podcast.  So if you miss that one, I want you to go back and listen to it.

But after losing my mom almost eight years ago, grief is very prevalent during the holidays. For me, it's just a tough time. And this is the time of year where she really started going downhill and losing her battle to cancer. So it just brings up a lot of feelings and emotions. And there's anxiety, there's stress, depression. And the question is, are we eating and drinking too? Try to numb the pain. So two other podcasts. I want you to go back and listen to, if you need to dive further into this topic. I did a podcast just a few weeks ago in November with Michelle Nietert and she is a counselor, a licensed professional counselor and we kind of dug a little bit into this emotional eating and drinking, but also there's a podcast with Virginia Kerr and her own emotional eating and drinking.

So I'm going to link all of those, the grief one, and then the emotional eating and drinking podcasts. I'll link those in the show notes. So if you've missed them, I want you to go back and listen to those. You might find it helpful.

So as we dive a little bit further into this, can you pause first check in with yourself? What am I feeling what's going on with me before you make that decision for that food item pouring a drink, you know, check in with yourself, Hey, what's really going on here. Am I trying to just numb the pain? Am I trying to cope with the stress in a very unhealthy manner? Part of this is really so much of where that personalized coaching comes in. So often I'll call myself a mindset coach because so much of this is not just a matter of eat this, don't eat that. I mean, it's, there's so much more to it and it's that mindfulness and practicing body awareness. And so this is something that I work on. I work on first with my clients is that mindfulness and it's so very, very important. And my clients, well, you know, sometimes they get kind of tickled because they'll practice that self-awareness and you know, they'll say, you know what? I was really feeling like this and that. And I recognize that this is what was going on with me. And I get so excited and I really applaud that self awareness because it's so very important because once we're mindful, then we can be intentional.
So that leads me to number two, be intentional. Remember I told you food is also connection. So we can't neglect that part of it. Family meals are so very important.

Our meals with loved ones, whether we can actually do that in a really small group setting, or we're having to share a meal over zoom, which I know is so different this year has been awful on us, but food is also connection. Every celebration revolves around food. So when you're having a really good meal, can you slow down, taste it, savor it, enjoy it. So I had a client and her name is Rachel. And this was part of this kind of a little bit of emotional eating and drinking. Excuse me, just emotional eating was, was a challenge. And she was going through a really stressful time. And her tendency is to go to Whataburger. We live in Texas. And even though I say clients all over Whataburger is huge in Texas, and that's a dang good burger. And so she's kind of confessing this.

And it was a time where, you know, she was out and about, she needed to eat out somewhere. And so I told her because of the situation, I was like, okay, if you're going to have Whataburger, here's the deal. I just want you to slow down and enjoy it. That's it. Slow down and enjoy it. So if you're going to indulge, I want you to slow down. I want you to savor it. I want you to enjoy it. I want you to choose thoroughly. I want you to enjoy the conversation that you're having. I want you to be in the moment, be present. And in the moment, it really does make a big difference. That is being intentional, by the way, when we are indulgent, sometimes we use that as an excuse for continued indulgence, and it's a very, very slippery, slippery slope.
So I compare this to a flat tire. If you're driving along and you get a flat tire, what do you do? You fix the tire. You don't slash the other three tires to match the flat tire. That's what happens sometimes when we overindulge, it's like one indulgent meal and then we're like, well, dang it. I messed up. And so there goes this month and it's only December 10th. So I want you to, if you're going to have a beautiful indulgent meal, that's something, no matter what it is that you really enjoy, be mindful and enjoy it. Okay. So after mindfulness, we set an intention. So that's where mindfulness leads to setting an intention. So we don't need to have an indulgent meal, you know, every single meal every single day. So all the other meals that you need to consume, can you be intentional, have some sort of easy meal plan. So you have some good, healthy options at home. I know us around here. If I don't have a plan, if I have not gone to the grocery store, it's a absolute disaster. So even having a really, really simple option at home, again, our home cooked meals are going to be a better option than restaurant take out meals. And just having a game plan helps. So so much. Can you be intentional about getting good sleep? Remember poor sleep directly affects what you're craving the next day. Can you be mindful about managing your stress and recognizing what you really, really need instead of just turning to food and drink?

So these are the two tips, mindfulness and being intentional really do go hand in hand. It starts with being mindful, being aware. Y'all these are some really tough times we're navigating. I want to encourage you, show yourself some grace, forgive yourself so you can move forward. You cannot keep moving forward and make progress when you have the guilt and the shame. And actually that is the topic we're talking about next week, food guilt and finding freedom from the shame. I think you'll like it.

Now, before you go, there is something exciting. I need to share with you. It is just for work from home mamas or those who want to be work from home mamas. And it started on Saturday and Sunday, December the 13th. It is a completely free workshop for all of you who were about living with more purpose and productivity in your life and in your business.

It is 12 speakers over 12 days. And every one is teaching you to become more mindful, productive, and create healthy habits for your life and for your business. And I'm so honored. I'm so excited to be one of those speakers. So if you've been searching for more success in your business, more time and space in your motherhood, more intention in the way you live your life. I invite you to come join us, go to bit.ly/successsupportgroup. And I cannot wait for you to be a part of this the 12 days of Christmas. And I will see you there.
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That wraps up today's show. I hope that you find a moment to experience some joy and some peace this holiday season, and know it's not easy. I'll see you next week. Bye y'all.