This may come as a shock to you- but I simply don’t believe in striving to be the healthiest version of yourself during the holidays. Now, this doesn’t mean that I believe in completely ditching your healthy lifestyle (because I never think there’s a time or place for that!), but I simply don’t believe in missing out on all of the holiday fun just to stick to your strict workout or diet plan that you normally keep throughout the year.
The holidays (for most of us) are a time for rest, spending time with loved ones, and enjoying a LOT of food. It can be hard to stay healthy during this time of the year, since there are so many temptations surrounding us 24/7. I always believe in eating mindfully in ANY situation, and I don’t think that the holidays are ever an excuse to start binge eating and eating as much junk food as you possibly can; however, I do believe in letting loose a bit during holiday season and enjoying foods you normally wouldn’t otherwise.
I see so many people talking about how much weight they gain during the holiday season and how guilty they feel, and I think this needs to change. We, as a society, have formed this idea in our head that if we eat foods that aren’t perfectly healthy once in a while, we should feel guilty about it. We think that indulging in not so perfect foods will make us 10 pounds heavier. Well guess what? The only thing making you gain all of that weight is feeling guilty about what you’re eating in the first place.
The holidays are not a time for completely ditching our healthy lifestyles, however, they should be a time to not focus so much on eating perfectly healthy or working out 6 times a week. Instead, we should focus on enjoying life- baking cookies with our loved ones, watching a movie in bed with our significant other instead of rushing to the gym, and sipping on some real hot chocolate instead of the healthy kind. Let’s ditch the guilt, ditch this idea of perfection we’ve created in our heads about what a healthy lifestyle should look like, and ditch the body shaming. Once you let go and give yourself permission to just enjoy life and be happy, you will realize that the only thing you’ll gain is a few extra smiles.
xx
Rachel