With all of the holidays being write around the corner, let's gear up to embrace a healthier mindset. I know we hear a lot of the same tips every year, but I wanted to share the most underrated piece of advice I've ever taken away when it comes to the holidays. You may not like it, but I promise it'll make a HUGE impact!
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With all of the holidays being write around the corner, let's gear up to embrace a healthier mindset. I know we hear a lot of the same tips every year, but I wanted to share the most underrated piece of advice I've ever taken away when it comes to the holidays. You may not like it, but I promise it'll make a HUGE impact!
* * * * * * * * *
Shop our apparel! --> Love Your Body Now
Follow us on Insta: @loveyourbodynow.podcast
I'm not one to entertain the idea that we should feel the need to exercise and punish ourselves or make up for the fact of how we ate. I don't like to correlate those things. I like to keep the fact that exercise is a way for me to manage my stress. It's a way for me to feel good. It's, you know, like it's this positive thing, like it's this tool that I have to take care of myself. Welcome to the Love your Body Now podcast, the podcast for women who are ready to feel confident in their body right now and redefine what health looks like for them. I'm Savannah, your host, and together we'll be having conversations about what it means to accept and love our bodies now, while simultaneously prioritizing our health journey. We'll be debunking beliefs that do not serve us and diving into misconceptions and unhealthy narratives in the fitness world, so that we can rebuild our foundation from a place of self-love. Okay, so I feel like there's a lot of tips that I could share when it comes to the holidays and navigating our health and fitness, and just like not wanting to feel super guilty, but also not wanting to feel like crap and feel like we have to go super hard at the beginning of the new year. Like you know that I'm not a new year's resolution type of person and we'll definitely be talking about that as we get closer to the new year. But for now, I want to give you a piece of advice. Like I think that this is probably the best advice I've ever received when it comes to Thanksgiving, and obviously this can get applied to all of the upcoming holidays coming up. But first, before I give out my best piece of advice, I want to share a little bit about my whole mindset and thought process around Thanksgiving and even continuing into the holidays, of how to prioritize our health and fitness but also still enjoy the holidays but also not feel guilty. Like there are all these different narratives that can play out in our head if we are not careful, and I share that because that is me. So this episode is probably going to be a short one, because I feel like every year I share a lot of the same tips that I share every year.
Speaker 1:I'm sure everyone and their dog on social media is going to be talking about what they suggest and what they recommend you should do when it comes to Thanksgiving and the holidays. So I'll just share some of the things and like the mindset that I have around it when it comes to not wanting to feel shameful for enjoying myself on the holidays, but also wanting to make sure that I'm not over consuming, overdoing it to the point where, like I just feel so awful I mean it's kind of inevitable in Thanksgiving that you're going to overeat. Like it just is kind of inevitable. But like having like some thoughts around it, having some awareness around your decisions that day, can be super helpful. Of course I'm always going to say drink lots of water, like that's always like a huge underrated tip that you can do is drinking lots of water, but I'm sure you've heard that tip before.
Speaker 1:So the other thing that I like to kind of decide, like whenever it comes to like a holiday party, like what we're going to be going and doing, because there's just so many holiday parties during this time of the year, but I kind of like to decide whether or not I want to consume more alcohol or if I want to consume more dessert, and I kind of make myself decide which one I would like I would rather like if I'm going to overdo it, I would rather to this one and the reason I try to make myself kind of like decide is because it's so many carbs on Thanksgiving Day, especially with like all of the sides going on and that can even be another one that you throw in. There is like oh, like, maybe I just like won't have all of the sides. But I know for me, like I want a little bit of everything and when it comes to like the dessert or the alcohol, like I get really really bloated really easily and I'm sure a lot of the like. If you're listening to this and you're a woman, I'm sure you experience this too. But especially like drinking stuff like wine or like like anything sparkling, you know, like with a lot of carbonation to it, I get so bloated so fast and I actually feel like I can't consume even like even more than one or whatever on those days.
Speaker 1:So I just kind of come to terms with myself because I'm like, if I'm going to drink alcohol, like I don't drink it just because I like the taste of it. Usually, like you know, if I drink it, I kind of want to feel a little bit so like for me, this is the way I like. My thought process around alcohol is like I'm not going to have like one little drink just to have one, because and then I'm not going to like feel anything with it and I don't ever like I actually don't ever like, intend or want to like get drunk. So when I say I feel something, I don't mean that, I just mean, you know, like feeling a little bit looser. That is really like the only reason that I will drink alcohol, usually just because I'm not again, I'm not one to like oh, like I'm craving a beer, I'm craving a glass of wine, like I I rarely crave that.
Speaker 1:So if I'm going to drink on the holidays, like I'll probably have more than one drink, and if I know that I'm going to have more than one drink, then I don't know, like, if I add in a piece of dessert, like it's going to it's going to really impact me physically because I'm going to feel like super full after all of that consumed. So I don't know if that's going to help you at all. But that is one of the things that I actually kind of make a decision on. When it comes to like Thanksgiving or meals, or if you want to have both, there's no problem with having both, but, like maybe you are intentionally like spacing it out a lot throughout your day, like if you're the one that like, oh, I want to have some wine while I'm cooking the Thanksgiving dinner, because you know that could be a fun part of your tradition too, and you know you just want to be super aware of like, okay, if I'm consuming all of this all at once, like how is this going to make me feel?
Speaker 1:I just know me personally like I don't like to feel super heavy after I eat. I don't like to feel like I have to take a nap because that's how much I ate to where my body's like exhausted, trying to like figure out what to do with all this food I just consumed. So that's just like my thought process of like I know I don't want to feel that way. So what are some ways that I can be intentional about? Either how I'm spacing out what I'm consuming, or maybe I'm choosing one thing or the other, maybe I'm opting for smaller portion sizes this year, whatever, figure out like how you want to enjoy the day and make decisions based off that. So I know that that's like very random advice, but that's kind of like my thought process when I'm there enjoying the holidays and again trying to do it in a way where I'm not going to feel awful, I'm not going to feel shameful, but I'm also going to enjoy the day the way I want to enjoy the day. And obviously, the other tip is that you can always add in movement throughout your day, especially on Thanksgiving.
Speaker 1:The one thing that I really hate to see when it comes to like Thanksgiving specifically, is sometimes I'll see like people say, or I'll see gyms like promoting this like whole, oh yeah, like we're doing this huge like work off the Thanksgiving food the following day, type of thought mindset process, and I don't really like that. Just because, like, if you've been following me for a while and you listen to this podcast, you know that I'm not one to like, I'm not one to entertain the idea that we should feel the need to do exercise and like punish ourselves or like make up for the fact of like how we like ate. I don't like to correlate those things like. I like to keep the fact that exercise is a way for me to manage my stress, it's a way for me to feel good. It's, you know, like it's this positive thing, like it's this tool that I have to take care of myself, and I don't like thinking of it in a way of like oh, I have to exercise because of the way I chose to eat. Like I like to keep them separate. I mean, I know that they're not, like, they're not completely separate, right, but I think that it's like we're better off. But like, compartmentalizing them in a way of like okay, like these are all like, exercise is a tool, it is something positive for me. It is not a form of I need to do this to make up for something I did like you know, almost like a punishment, and I know it's such a little, it's such a little thing, like it shouldn't be a big deal.
Speaker 1:But for me, a lot of people like I believe a lot of people carry that narrative of like, believing that they have to work off the calories they ate and so then, anytime I see like fitness companies or gyms, like talking about it in that way, I just I'm like I don't like that or I don't agree with that because it feeds into that narrative for people and I just don't think that that's a healthy mindset to have around health and fitness and exercise and nutrition, especially because you know that I'm one to promote loving who we are and listening to our bodies and just being kinder with ourselves. And when you promote this idea that we have to work off calories that we ate even if it were, even if it was like a lot of calories, like I get that right. Like there's a lot of overconsumption that happens on Thanksgiving, but that's believing that narrative is like tied to, like shameful and like feeling guilty, feeling guilty for eating. Again, I know that it's kind of like just this little thing that probably shouldn't matter that much, but when I analyze, like how people like portray health and fitness and like the narratives that they carry, I just really try to be mindful of like not feeding into or like I guess like feeling the fire of some of those beliefs and narratives. Because, yes, it may not mean that much when it comes to like Thanksgiving, but if people are continuously like reinforcing those beliefs and those narratives on their day to day, on a regular basis, that's not really a healthy way for them to live their life, if they're really trying to optimize their life when it comes to their health and fitness. So I know that that was a whole tangent, but that shows like my thoughts on it. All right, so let me share the well also Sorry, side note. So where I was going with that before I went on my whole long tangent was opting in for movement on the day of Thanksgiving can be super helpful and, again, like not doing it because you feel guilty or Like you should feel bad for the overconsumption, but just because it's going to Make you feel better, even if it's just like a walk.
Speaker 1:I remember like one Thanksgiving my family came down when we were living in San Diego and the day of Thanksgiving we all went on a hike before we like did the Thanksgiving meal and I loved that so much. Like that was like the most amazing thing was to Enjoy the weather, enjoy the day. We got to be super active the day of Thanksgiving and then come back and enjoy an awesome meal together and not, you know, try to feel super guilty for the food that we were eating and Not feel guilty because of the fact that we work, like we did it, exercise or whatever, but just like, really just be super present that day and enjoy it for what it was. That just like was a really special day. That day I'm getting to do that, experiencing Thanksgiving in that way and yeah, so that's just like one, one tip that I would give there as well. So the number one piece of advice that I can give I want to share with you and maybe you've heard it before, but I feel like this is probably such an underrated piece of advice that I've received when it comes to Thanksgiving and even carrying into the holidays, which is Not keeping any of the leftovers from the day of Thanksgiving and I know what you may be thinking which is like what?
Speaker 1:That is so much food going to waste and I get it. I don't know if there's somewhere that you can bring leftover food. I don't know. And the only thing that I would recommend maybe keeping is the turkey, because you can, you know, eat turkey. Like turkey is pretty good for you, right? I mean, I know we all cook turkey or turkey in a different way, with, like, lots of butter and blah, blah, blah, but Turkey's still, like you know, really lean meat that you can keep and make sandwiches or, you know, mix it with vegetables, whatever. But when it comes to like the other foods, like the desserts, the side dishes, the dinner rolls, all of that, I do not recommend keeping it the day after Thanksgiving.
Speaker 1:If you do decide to keep it like, don't keep it any longer than a day after Thanksgiving. Like, yeah, okay, enjoy, enjoy it on Black Friday, whatever. But like, if you enjoy it on Thanksgiving, black Friday, saturday, sunday, and maybe you take some of it to work with you, that's where it can get like super, like it just can you, it can just be super impactful when you do that, especially when you do that the entire holiday season. And Again, like you know, I'm not one to tell people like, oh, you should feel like crap because you gained weight or whatever. But, like I know, a lot of people do end up feeling that after post holiday guilt Into January and then feeling the need to like set these new year's resolutions and like feel shameful and feel like crap about themselves because of the decisions that they made over the holiday season.
Speaker 1:And I just think that this, this is just one easy, simple way that you can take control, not feel tempted to eat more food than you need to During that whole season, like towards the end of the year. Like you can still enjoy the parties and the food when you go to the gatherings, but then just not take any of it with you back home. That way you're not tempted, that way You're not continuing the overconsumption past the holiday and you can just carry on with like your regular habits and then feel free to enjoy the food on the day of whatever. So that is my number one piece of advice that I would give you this year is, if you are hosting or if you are Going to Thanksgiving dinner and they try to send you home with a bunch of leftovers, just just politely decline. Or if you were the person hosting, try to give all of your food away to people. Tell them to take home leftovers, pack it up for them, so then that way it's not staying in your house. So that is what I would recommend and I, with that, hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving this week. I hope that you Are feeling the gratitude and I hope that you get to spend time with loved ones and really just enjoy the day. And yeah, I will talk to you next week.
Speaker 1:Thank you so much for tuning into today's episode. You have no idea how grateful I am to have you as one of the love your body. Now listeners, if you are loving this podcast, it would mean the world to me if you subscribed and left a review. This helps me get the message out to more women just like you who are also committed to their journey, and if you love this episode, please be sure to share it with someone who you know needs to hear today's message. Together, we can help more women recognize their self-worth and build their confidence from a much deeper place, just like you're doing right now. Let's help change the world, one woman at a time. All right, talk to you soon, friend.