Happy Thanksgiving!
Tomorrow kicks off the Nutrient Rich Holidays and for most of us and this means lots of food!
Do you find it difficult to eat healthy during the holidays?
If so, you are not alone. Most people find it hard to resist the pies and the candies amidst all the homemade foods that go with the season.
What’s makes the difference?
Simply put, your standards and the philosophy’s you have about how to handle holiday situations for the best outcome.
If you go into the holidays with nothing but the standard holiday jargon and worries and fears that are planted in your mind by the media and the diet industry, you’ll probably act that way and experience the same ole outcome; eating lots of nutrient poor, junk food.
If you go into the holidays with a standard for eating at least 80-90% or more Nutrient Rich food and the intention to promote your health and enjoyment regardless of the “holiday”, you’ll have a completely different experience.
A holiday does not mean you have to overwhelm your body with nutrient poor food.
Either way, you’re likely to overeat because of the environment you’re in, but that’s OK. Get this, when you overeat Nutrient Rich food, you’ll be satisfied longer and won’t need to eat soon again.
Hunger won’t come back until your body needs more nutrients. You can also just pick up your activity levels after the holiday and get back to energy balance.
If you eat predominantly nutrient poor you’re going to have the same old experience you’ve always had, which is you’ll get super full, then get hungry soon thereafter, then you’ll have
to deal with withdrawal, you won’t be in any mood to be active, your body will get overwhelmed and you’ll get sick.
Doesn’t that sound like most holiday seasons for most people?
Now I know that doesn’t include you, but maybe you know someone who’s experienced this 😉
If 10 % of your meal(s) were nutrient poor tomorrow, you would still have had plenty of Turkey and then some pie, and you would still be eating Nutrient Rich, on a total dietary intake basis.
But keep in mind that we don’t come from a place where we convince people to eat less of nutrient poor foods, there’s allot of wasted time in focusing on that, since there is much more involved with why people eat what they eat other than mere “choice” or because the science says so; especially on a holiday!
What we do focus on is, is eating Nutrient Rich foods and all the reasons why maintaining this standard makes sense and how to do it.
There is a reason why Nutrient Rich eating is so successful. It’s a quality standard you decide to maintain throughout the year including the holidays, because you want to, not because you have to.
You can eat whatever you want and everyone’s has a diet it’s just a matter of what quality! So in the balance of this Nutrient Rich Holiday email, I will communicate this way ok?
Of course if you have medical conditions and other influencing factors that require you to be more rigid, you’ll want to be careful, about any thoughts we share about tomorrow.
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I am much more liberal in my eating when it comes to Thanksgiving since it’s a festive time and in the grand scheme of things if you eat a healthy, high performance Nutrient Rich diet throughout the year, Thanksgiving just a bleep on radar screen.
You will overeat and who cares. Eating Nutrient Rich, you can deal with it; eating nutrient poor is a different story.
People who eat Nutrient Rich successfully don’t eat the way they do to save up points to eat poorly. They eat the way they do because they enjoy it first, and because they know it promotes their health and success.
Once you have a taste of a body free of diet, weight and health issues, which only comes as a cumulative effect of eating Nutrient Rich foods most of the time, you will always seek out the best quality food, and no longer fight for poor quality foods. This is what most people do. Why is another story.
Tomorrow is an opportunity to build an experience of eating the most Nutrient Rich foods on that table in great tasting ways. After which you’ll have little room room for the nutrient poor foods. You may still eat them, but in far smaller quantities and you’ll be happy.
If you made Nutrient Rich versions of traditionally nutrient poor foods, like cakes and pies and ice creams then you would have little issue anyway.
The only reason why our flags go up when it comes to eating cakes pies and ice creams, is because they are nutrient poor and are so far away from their natural state that, while they do taste good, they compromise our health and cause us grief.
The key is making Nutrient Rich versions of the foods you love to eat.
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Most people want to eat better, but they are simply swamped with great tasting foods served with love; that are often times and unfortunately, poor in nutrients and junk.
They “give in” for social reasons, and are forced to start the New Year following another season of gut wrenching overwhelm with a body that not only has too much food in it but is loaded with nutrient poor food at that.
They face the uncomfortable reality of cleaning their body from all that junk they just ate and no matter what time of year it is that’s not easy.
It doesn’t have to be this way.
As you head into Thanksgiving tomorrow and frankly the whole holiday season. Go into it with your mind set for success.
You can eat whatever you want! Yes, this is true and a maxim if you want to not be diet trapped; but now that you’ve established that, focus on what you now know to be true about food (it’s either nutrient rich or nutrient poor) and eat according to new standards that you set.
You are always eating according to your standards and your philosophies about how you handle different situations, including holidays. Notice this tomorrow as you are in a holiday situation.
1) You want to enjoy it
2) You want feel good after it
3) You want to look forward to your next holiday!
You set yourself up for success, when you eat predominantly Nutrient Rich food, 80-90% or more!
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Few people will refuse a food served or a gift given with love, so why put a friend or loved one on the spot, to have to consume yet another nutrient poor junk food?
The holidays don’t have to be synonymous with refined sugar, saturated fat and non stop animal foods, like turkey etc.
Have some Turkey tomorrow, but go light here. There are so many other foods on the table, that you don’t have to eat the whole bird! 😉
I know we talk about meat as nutrient poor food; rich in some nutrients but as a whole nutrient poor for reasons of what it doesn’t contain, and because of what it does contain that your body doesn’t need.
Tomorrow you don’t need to crazy enforcing this. If you are a flexitarian and are not idealistic about not eating meat or animal products, having some turkey tomorrow is fine. Remember eating 10% of less of your dietary intake from animal products pretty much ensures you’re going to be
one healthy person. So don’t worry if tomorrow it exceeds that amount, just eat.
It’s not what you do on one day that matter, it’s what you do cumulatively that matters. Or should I say “accumatively”.
If you are eating Nutrient Rich year round, there are times when weeks go by and you’re not eating meat, so if you eat more tomorrow, big deal.
The key is to be successful, not diet trapped. Remember this!
When you enjoy Nutrient Rich foods, great tasting foods that are rich in the nutrients you and your family like, health is just the benefit, not the main reason why you eat that way. Taste, enjoyment, satisfaction and performance become your primary reasons!
You do not have to give up your favorite foods to eat healthy during the holidays; what you want to do is eat Nutrient Rich versions of the very same foods! Replace them with higher quality versions.
This is a small adjustment that will make a big difference in your experience of the holidays.