Practical Holiday Eating Tips

My most-read post, to date, was the one on weight loss and maintenance.  Seems that's quite a popular topic!  And maybe never more so than during the holiday season when we are presented with holiday goodies at every turn.  How in the world do you maintain any kind of sensible eating plan, much less a full-fledged diet, when you have 5 holiday parties, 2 church fellowships, office workers bringing cookies from their parties, and the pressure to be a regular Martha-Stewart-type-baker in your own kitchen?  Most of us don't -  maintain any kind of eating plan, that is.  We either chunk the diet out the window during the holidays, or we restrict ourselves to only eating carrots dipped in ranch dressing at each and every holiday party.   Right now, I'm in the midst of a year-long (with no cheating....well, except that one time on my birthday) eating plan that rules out the vast majority of holiday goodies.  I knew this gauntlet of holiday festivities would come and decided to go right ahead with my commitment anyway. There will be no holiday baked goods for me this year. However, that may not be practical for everyone, obviously. So, I wanted to write down a few tips that might help you navigate the cheese balls, chocolate peanut-butter fudge dipped Oreos, and 3 kinds of cornbread dressing you'll face in the coming 6 weeks!

1.  Holidays are not about the food.  Maybe I should rephrase that - holiday are not only about the food!  While we may have traditional favorites we cook ourselves, or holiday treats baked for us by others - this is not the crux of the holiday season. Food is just food.  Sometimes, it's not so much the food, as the chance to spend time around a table with the people you love most in the world.  It's not just another chance to bake 3 different kinds of pies, but the opportunity to share that pie with people you care about.  It is possible to enjoy the holidays and all the togetherness and joy that comes with them, without overindulging in all the food.  It is possible to sit at a table with your family and be a part of a wonderful holiday feast without your plate so full that it's dripping gravy off all sides.  Try to look past the food to the other parts of the holiday - family, friends, special occasions, thankfulness for all the many blessings we have.  Yes, the food is wonderful and special - but it's not the only thing that's important or meaningful during this time of year. 

2.  There's always next year.  If you are in the midst of a real effort to lose weight, or honestly feel that the holidays may derail your entire eating plan; then maybe it's time to say, there's always next year.  Honestly, every year it's the same old food trotted out over and over again!  Our traditional family meal has remained the same for the past umpteen years, and as much as I love it (hello, Mom!), we will have the same dishes next year and the year after that.  People bring the same things to the same parties each year.  You don't have to blow your diet on something that you can most assuredly have next year when you've reached your goal. It's OK to pass it by once, knowing that it'll come around again.

3.  It it's not great, don't eat it.  If that pumpkin pie is not the very best, then don't eat it.  Don't slop whipped cream on top to make it more edible.  If you're going to eat the holiday food, make it count!  Choose the richest dessert and eat half....instead of trying each of the other 10 desserts on the table.  There's no sense in indulging in something that's not worth indulging in!  If the turkey dressing is dry, why continue to shovel it in?  Pass it up and then make some yourself at home that's really good....if you're still wanting it the next day.  I think we get guilted into eating to pacify other people, when often the food is just not good or we don't want to offend.  If you're worried about offending, take a tiny bit of everything, eat your tiny bit and be done. You can say you had some, but not worry about trying to finish off an entire helping.  There's nothing wrong with being picky about your indulgences.

4.  Just eat it, already.  If you live for the holiday season because it's the only time you get this dish or that dessert and you just can't pass it by - then eat it!  Eat as much as you want.  But then, on Friday morning (or the day after that big party) get up and start right back with your former plan.  Don't eat leftovers for days.  You had your fun, ate your fill - now it's time to move on.  Don't turn that one day of indulgence into a weekend, or a week, or before you know it the holiday season will be done and you will have indulged 10 times and gained 10 pounds.  Choose the occasion for indulgence, go for it, and then start right back up.

5.  Keep maintenance as a goal. Anyone who tries to actively lose weight during the holiday season is just crazy. It can be done, but seriously what fun would that be?  A good goal to keep in mind is to just maintain your current weight until after New Years and then actively start again with trying to lose weight.  There's nothing wrong with trying to maintain your weight...especially when the vast majority of people will gain 5-10 pounds over a 6 week period of time.  Remember that weight loss and maintenance is a very long journey.

6.  Don't let your diet be a downer.  Be careful not to constantly belittle yourself for failures, but also not to have an "Eeyore" attitude about the fact that you're trying to lose weight while everyone else is shoveling in the food like there's no tomorrow.  You made a choice to try to lose weight and be healthy. That doesn't mean you have to limit your food choices to such an extent that you feel constantly imprisoned by that choice.  Define your limits before the season starts, and then do your best to follow those limits; however, realizing all the while that your weight loss/maintenace is a life long pursuit...not something that will be completely derailed if you eat 2 slices of pie instead of just a bite!  Also, don't let your diet be a downer to others.  It's no fun for you to go to a party or family dinner and regale everyone with the restrictions of your eating plan and how you know this or that is bad for you or them.  Be quiet and eat what you can without drawing attention to yourself or your eating plan.  If you're still hungry later, fill up at home. But you'll make a hostess feel bad for their "unhealthy" cooking or you'll make friends/family feel guilty for their own choices and/or pity you for your restricted choices.  There's more to the holidays than eating. Enjoy them and don't broadcast the fact that you're watching what you eat!

These are just some very practical tips that might help.  Let me know if you have any questions or further observations about what has worked for you. I'm always open to new ideas for my own eating endeavors!  Happy Thanksgiving and I'll "talk" to you next week.

Approaching the Holiday Season....Appropriately

As it gets closer and closer to the holiday season, I get closer and closer to freaking out.  My mind goes a mile-a-minute while I lay in bed, or drive to work, or sit in my chair at work (ssshhh....don't tell!) trying to plan, prepare, and schedule our increasing load of holiday appointments and activities.  Somedays it seems I can handle it all - no problem!  And other days, it seems like it will all come crashing down and that party we're hosting will be a total disaster and I'll hide in my bathroom with the door shut.  And ultimately, what I end up doing is bypassing this wonderful season of Thanksgiving and everything that it includes - gratefulness, praise, time with family, some of my favorite colors and weather - to focus on what is coming down the road.

I read a recent blog post by a wonderful Christian woman and she referenced the verse in Ecclesiastes: 'to everything there is a season and a time to every purpose under heaven.'  This kind of hit me like a load of bricks.  How often do I get caught up in looking forward?  A lot.  There's nothing inherently wrong in looking forward.  I'm a planner and organizer, so I'm always looking foward and planning some part of my life.  But...what sometimes happens is I get so caught up in looking foward and planning for the future (and sometimes worrying about the future), that I totally miss the "now".  I need to remember that it's not time for that future season yet.

We are planning for retirement and have lots of hopes and dreams about owning this mountain home, or that beach condo one day.  But in my planning and preparation for 20 years down the line, do I forget to enjoy the beautiful house that God has given me right now?  In my anxiousness to see my kids mature and grow into independent beings, do I miss being here - right now - with them to experience all the immaturity and sillyness of their youth?  In my quest to have the perfectly decorated home, do I miss the opportunities to have people over TODAY even though things are not "just the way I want them" yet?  So often, I get wrapped up in the "not yet", instead of enjoying and appreciating the "right now".

So, my goal as I enter this holiday season is to appreciate where I am today.  I will celebrate Thanksgiving fully without glossing over it to get to Christmas.  I will spend the day at the farm tomorrow with my family instead of trying to finish the curtains in the kitchen so they'll be perfect for our holiday parties.  I will enjoy the clothing I already have instead of constantly dreaming and shopping for just the right Christmas day outfit.  All of that will come eventually....but its "season" is not here yet.  I would encourage you to appreciate and fully embrace wherever you are in life right now.  There is so much joy that can be found in the here and now....the journey can be just as fun as the ultimate destination!

The True Measure of Comparisons

Since I wrote my last post, I've been pondering how we are to view ourselves.  And having trouble coming up with something to write.  You see, I usually blog about stuff that I'm struggling with, or things which God is showing me or working on in my own life.  And I do have vast experience with comparing myself to others.  What I don't have much experience with is viewing myself and others in the right way.  I'm still trying to wrap my head around the fact of how much I do compare myself to others; sometimes without even realizing it.  I, honestly, have not even gotten to the point where I have a handle on a right view of myself in relation to others.  So, my goal to write 3 posts on this subject was a bit ambitious, I guess.  I've tried to start writing this post at least 3 times and end up deleting it each time.

Here is all I know right now.  I will compare. It's fallen human nature to compare what I am or have with someone else.  It's the reaction to those comparisons and what I tell myself in response that can be damaging.

Michael (my husband) and I were talking about this subject earlier this week, and then our Pastor preached on it this morning.  Maybe God's trying to tell me something!  The Bible says we were created in God's image.  Human beings, although not gods in and of themselves, are an image - a direct reflection - of God Himself.  And because of being His image bearers, we are also accorded some measure of dignity.  This would seem to refute the idea that I are worthless, unlovely, or unwanted.  If I am made in the image of God, then I have worth.  If I are made in the image of God then I am uniquely lovely and beautiful.  If I am made in the image of God, then He had a purpose for making me and putting me here.  When I constantly berate myself because I don't measure up (in my own mind), I am essentially telling God that His image is not acceptable to me.  He should have made me differently, given me more, designed me like "her".  It seems the height of arrogance to imply to a Creator God that He didn't know what he was doing when He made me.

But on the flip side of this thought, I must also realize that others were made in God's image.  The homeless person begging for change who I avoid at the gas station, the liberal news pundit on CNN whose views I despise, the Muslim terrorist who threatens my freedom, my homosexual relative, the lady next door who's young, fit and drives a new Lexus - all bear the same image of God that I bear.  This fact renders me no better than them.  They deserve the same measure of worth and value that I do.  I am not a better person because I am a Christian.  I am not a better person because I'm more stylish, more conservative, more organized, or more theologically sound.  Often, I wrap myself in my aura of "betterness" and look down on those who are different - never remembering the fact that God made them exactly as they are, for a reason only He knows and for a purpose that He is working out for His glory. Believer or non-believer - they are image bearers of God the same as I.

I guess, at this point, I'm learning that I am no better or worse than anyone else.  I am just different.  And different is OK!  God has accorded me dignity and value by making me in His image.  He has also given that same dignity and value to others, which means I need to show them respect as His image bearers.  But, there is something that sets me apart - God has chosen me and set His love on me.  Through nothing that I've done or not done, but for His own glory and purposes.  That fact should shove all of my insecurity and arrogance to the curb.  Out of all His created image bearers, He chose me....and maybe you can say the same.  When I reflect on that truth, it makes all the temporal worries about my physical flaws, material possessions or talents seem inconsequential.  Who cares if my body is softer than hers if I've been chosen by Creator God?  Who cares where I live or what car I drive if I've been chosen by Jehovah Jireh (The Lord who Provides)?  God is all and in all.  I will choose to focus on Him and His all-encompassing and redeeming love.  Hopefully this will help to put into proper perspective the comparisons with which I'll continue to struggle.