{"id":16288,"date":"2018-12-24T17:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-12-24T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/breakingmuscle.com\/\/\/uncategorized\/a-healthy-approach-to-holiday-eating"},"modified":"2021-11-22T01:07:18","modified_gmt":"2021-11-22T06:07:18","slug":"a-healthy-approach-to-holiday-eating","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/breakingmuscle.com\/a-healthy-approach-to-holiday-eating\/","title":{"rendered":"A Healthy Approach to Holiday Eating"},"content":{"rendered":"

Staying healthy both in body and mind while enjoying the holiday season can be a challenge<\/strong>. With back-to-back Christmas parties getting in the way of your training schedule and holiday treats tempting you everywhere you turn, it\u2019s definitely a change to the routine. Even as athletes who generally eat to support our performance<\/a>, many of us struggle to find a balance that works for us at this time of year.<\/p>\n

Most of us start out with good intentions of continuing training and eating well, and somehow end up a month later making a \u201cfresh start\u201d with the same old New Year\u2019s resolutions to train harder<\/a> and eat better<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Some of us give up after the first overindulgence and continue the overindulgence only to welcome in the New Year feeling unfit, heavy, and a little bit disgusted in ourselves. For others the holiday season will be a cycle of restriction then binging with far too much thought going into food, a whole lot of anxiety and guilt thrown in.<\/p>\n

Neither is a great way to spend the holiday season, nor are they going to have you feeling relaxed, satisfied, and happy with your body come New Year\u2019s Day<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Remember the Big Picture<\/h2>\n

To avoid getting trapped into the binge-restrict cycle and welcome in the New Year feeling our healthy best, it\u2019s important to have a little perspective<\/a> and a plan. Christmas dinner is one meal out of the whole year<\/strong>. It\u2019s not going to make a shred of difference to your long-term health, fitness, or body composition no matter what you do. Your body will not physically allow you to consume enough food to undo months of training hard and eating well.<\/p>\n

Remember that it\u2019s what you do on a daily basis that defines your results, not what you do on one day of the year<\/strong>. Yes, you\u2019ll probably have a terrible carb hangover (or just a regular hangover) the next day, and feel bloated and sluggish if you overindulged, but it\u2019s no reason to beat yourself up and continue the overindulgence.<\/p>\n

Make a Plan and Put It In Your Calendar<\/h2>\n

The problem with the holiday season is that it\u2019s never just the one Christmas dinner, not only are there leftovers to contend with, but more troublesome is the lead-up month full of events involving delicious food and drinks.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s easy to see why we can get ourselves into trouble, and is why those of us who struggle with naturally finding balance<\/a>, need a plan to follow in order to force some balance into the festive season.<\/p>\n

Take a look at your schedule over the holiday season and come up with a realistic plan about how you\u2019re going to manage your training and nutrition<\/strong>. This might sound a little OCD, but when you put something in your calendar you make it a priority<\/a> and it more often than not happens.<\/p>\n

Mark in your non-negotiable training sessions, making sure they fall on days you can 100% commit to<\/strong>. You may find you have time for more training, but at the bare minimum<\/a> you\u2019ll have these non-negotiable sessions that you\u2019ll get done no matter how festive things get.<\/p>\n

Allow Yourself to Celebrate<\/h2>\n

Also mark in a few days that are going to be celebration days, where you know food and drink is going to be all about enjoyment (e.g. Christmas). Some would call them \u201ccheat days<\/a>,\u201d but since they\u2019re part of the plan you\u2019re not really cheating, right? So it\u2019s not something to feel guilty about. The idea of these days is to give yourself permission to celebrate without food being an issue<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\"healthy,<\/p>\n

A celebration day isn\u2019t an excuse to eat everything in sight just because you can. It\u2019s about enjoyment of what you\u2019re eating! I\u2019m going out on a limb here in saying that indulgence is a natural and healthy part of being human. I mean, we have taste buds for a reason, right? The key point is the difference between indulgence and overindulgence<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

A slice of pudding with ice cream and custard after a delicious roast with all the trimmings is indulging. But going back for seconds and thirds of the roast and dessert, then eating the remainder of the box of shortbreads and washing it down with leftover eggnog just because you might as well since \u201cyou already ruined your diet\u201d is overindulgence<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The distinction between the two isn\u2019t just in the amount consumed, but in the reason for the consumption<\/strong>. Overindulgence happens when we stop listening to our body\u2019s reaction to the food we\u2019re eating (the smell, taste, and texture of the food) and continue eating past the point of it feeling good. In a perverse way, guilt is often a driver of overindulgence.<\/p>\n

The first few mouthfuls of anything are always the best, so eat slowly, savor your food, put your fork down between mouthfuls and enjoy the indulgence. It\u2019s part of the plan, so nothing to feel guilty about<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\"80<\/p>\n

Think 80\/20<\/h2>\n

Finally, here are a few guidelines for planning your celebration days. Ensure a minimum of 80\/20 ratio of regular to celebration days, and avoid back-to-back celebration days<\/strong>. If it\u2019s impossible to avoid back-to-back days, then try to schedule a workout in between to put some of those calories towards building muscle<\/a> rather than being stored as fat.<\/p>\n

Absolutely most importantly, the morning after a celebration day, get right back to your regular way of eating<\/strong>. No \u201cone last slice\u201d of Christmas pudding or, on the flipside, punishment in the form of starving yourself or long bouts of cardio to make up for the extra calories you ate. Simply wake up, take off your party hat, and put your healthy<\/a> hat back on!<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Staying healthy both in body and mind while enjoying the holiday season can be a challenge. With back-to-back Christmas parties getting in the way of your training schedule and holiday treats tempting you everywhere you turn, it\u2019s definitely a change to the routine. Even as athletes who generally eat to support our performance, many of us struggle to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":898,"featured_media":16289,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"limit_modified_date":"","last_modified_date":"","_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4644],"tags":[3],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nA Healthy Approach to Holiday Eating - Breaking Muscle<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/breakingmuscle.com\/a-healthy-approach-to-holiday-eating\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Healthy Approach to Holiday Eating - Breaking Muscle\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Staying healthy both in body and mind while enjoying the holiday season can be a challenge. 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