50+ Lifestyles

DON’T Eat That Holiday Treat (Just Yet.)

By Logan Anderson, BA, CPT, CIFT
Owner of All Strong Fitness LLC

The time frame of October-December is by far one of my favorite times of year. Not only do I love the changing of the seasons, but enjoy seeing the decorations from a variety of different holidays. (I do enjoy my fair share of peppermint and pumpkin spice treats as well.) With these holidays, and season change comes lots of opportunities to be with family, friends, and of course, food. Although it is something that most people don’t like to address or think about when having family events, this does not mean that it isn’t important to talk about. If you are someone who is watching your weight, or trying to improve your health to any degree, navigating through the holiday months, specifically with eating, can seem nearly impossible. Because of this, I wanted to give a few quick reminders about eating around the holidays (or any time in general.)

When talking about watching your weight, specifically, it comes down to one thing. Calories. Calories are a measurement of how much energy is in a certain food. If you eat more calories than your body needs to maintain weight, you will of course gain weight. This is why most people gain weight when eating “junk” food. Because many of these foods are extremely high in calories, and low on satiety (ability of the food to keep you feeling full.) These foods do not make you gain weight because they have some special property about them that forces you to add on fat. They are simply much easier to overeat on, thus increasing the calories you eat in a day. If there is one takeaway from this article, it should be that you can eat ANY food and still maintain or lose weight. You just need to remember that your apple pies, deep dish casseroles, and high sugary holiday drinks have a large amount of calories and will not keep you very full, when compared to vegetables, lean meats, and whole grains.

In addition to this, there is something else that I have noticed throughout the years as when it comes to your family and friends. Most people in society simply do not focus or care about their health as much as (hopefully) you do. When eating at these holiday meals, this lack of attention can show in the dynamic of the meal. If you refuse to take seconds on something your family made, or skip dessert, you may get criticized or even made fun of for “watching what you are eating.” This is something that comes with the territory and is often done out of both insecurity of the person commenting on it, but can also feel like an insult to this person as well since you are refusing to eat some of the food made. Food is usually a way for people to show love, so for some of your loved ones and friends, they may feel like you are turning down their love. At the end of the day, hopefully they will respect the changes you are trying to make for yourself to live a happier, and healthier life.

When looking at the holidays, don’t stress yourself out too much. Enjoy the time with friends, family, and food, but remember your goals and why you have them in the first place. Slipping up is bound to happen, so don’t beat yourself up when it does. It happens to everyone.

Logan Anderson is the owner of All Strong Fitness LLC. For more information, please visit allstrongfitness.org.