6 “Healthy” Holiday Nutrition Habits that Are Actually Obsessive + What to Do Instead
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The holiday season is here and I know for many of you this can cause a lot of anxiety around your relationship food, fitness, and your body. Many women want to take a healthy approach to the holiday season, which I completely support. But, for some, the health approach they think they are taking isn’t actually all that healthy. The approach is more obsessive and is actually fueling their negative relationship with food, fitness, and their body. That’s why I would like to explain which habits aren’t healthy and how you can actually navigate the holidays in a healthy, balanced, and enjoyable way.
What I discussed:
The healthy habits that are actually obsessive are…
Working off the “extra” cookies or pie you ate.
Working out so you deserve to eat the cookies or pie.
Not eating all day because you know you have a holiday party to go to.
Eating less the next day because of what you ate the day before.
Using all your willpower to avoid the holiday foods.
Giving up and going all in until January 1st.
The 6 steps to taking an actual healthy and balanced approach are…
Step 1: Get your macros counted.
Step 2: Budget your macros.
Step 3: Focus on protein
Step 4: Keep the same workout plan.
Step 5: Be consistent.
Step 6: If you get off track, just get back on track. It’s as simple as that.
Link mentioned in this episode:
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Instagram: @embraceyourreal | @movementwithjulie
Transcript:
Hey there, beautiful human. You're listening to Embrace Your Real with me, Julie Ledbetter. A podcast where I empower. You to just be you. With each episode, I issue a dose of real talk and actionable advice for building your confidence, honoring your body, and unconditionally loving your authentic self. Stay tuned if you're ready to. Embrace your real. Let's get hugs, girl.
Hello and welcome back to another episode on the Embrace your podcast. The holiday season is here and I am here for it, but I know that this can really cause a lot of anxiety around your relationship with food or fitness or your body. Many women want to take the healthy approach to the holiday season, which I completely support. But for some, the healthy approach that they think that they're taking actually isn't all that healthy. And you guys, this was me for a decade of my life. I thought I was taking the healthy approach, but in fact, it was the approach that was more obsessive and actually fueling a negative relationship with food, fitness and my body. And so that's why I want to explain kind of what habits aren't healthy that I don't want you to adopt this holiday season and how you can actually navigate the holidays in a healthy, balanced and enjoyable way. Before I do, I wanted to share this review. It comes from Take a trip with Elle A.D.. She gave a five star review and said Best Self-Talk. This podcast is my favorite one I've ever listened to. Spoke to my heart on my toxic relationship with food that I was in the dark about for years. God bless you for teaching me to honor and love my body. I got rid of my scales and I've never been happier. Thank you for sharing your life lessons. I love this so much. I'm so grateful that you are feeling happier than ever. You got rid of the scale that you are self-aware enough to know what you need to do and that you're taking these things to heart. That is exactly what my hope and prayer for this podcast is. So thank you in advance. If you haven't already left your rating interview, please go to Apple Podcasts. You can type in, embrace your real first, make sure you subscribe. It's the plus sign in the top right corner. And then secondly, once you're on that page, you can scroll down and leave a rating and review. It really does help us out on the podcast and blesses us so much. And who knows? Your review might be read on the show next.
Okay, so let's dive in. Number one, working off the extra cookies or pie that you ate, there was once a time in my life where I knew exactly how many calories were in the cookies, the pie. I would go to the gym, I would get on the elliptical, and I'd stay there until I burned every single calorie I ate. This drives a super extra unhealthy relationship with food fitness in your body. And this is not being healthy. This is being completely obsessive.
Number two, working out so that you deserve to eat the cookies or the pie girl. You always deserve to eat the foods that you want. And more simply put, you always deserve to eat no matter what. If you didn't work out. If you worked out, you don't deserve more or less foods you deserve to eat no matter what. This right here working out so that you deserve to eat that. That is a very unhealthy and obsessive habit that is going to be fueling the negative relationship with food fitness in your body, and B, taking you further away from having that healthy, balanced approach to your nutrition and fitness goals.
Number three, not eating all day because you have a holiday party or you have something to go with, with your friends and family. This mentality drives you to be all or nothing. You're not going to eat so that you can overindulge and eat all the treats later. Having this all or nothing approach is not healthy for your mind nor your metabolism. And I know it all too well because this was me for a decade of my life. I did this all the time. Whether it was a holiday party, it was a work party. It was time with friends and family. It was some sort of party or celebration. Showing up at that party, though feeling completely overwhelmed with hunger is going to trigger you to eat more than you would have if you just would have eaten a regular breakfast and lunch beforehand. You wish you would have been able to go to that party and eat a couple of cookies, have a slice of pie and feel satisfied. But because you're showing up at that party, super hungry, hungry, beyond the point of control, you're going to feel like you need to keep eating, eating and eating to be satisfied. And then you're going to feel so physically sick by the end of the night and you're going to feel lethargic and not have any energy. And I don't want that for you. I know that feeling so well, you guys and I do not want that for you, so please learn from my mistakes.
Number four eating less the next day because of what you ate the day before. This was me also. This was something that I regularly did. I'm here to tell you that no matter what you ate yesterday, you still need to eat today. You do not need to skimp on your calories to make up for yesterday. That's not really how it works. Your body still needs food today to function properly regardless of what you ate yesterday. Do not deprive yourself thinking that you can make up for it. What happened yesterday is yesterday and you need to move on. You still need to nourish your body with what it needs today.
Number five Using all your willpower to avoid the holiday foods being healthy means that you have a healthy relationship with food. Being healthy means that you can still eat a cookie without having to eat all ten of them. But when you try your dang hardest to avoid all holiday foods and then finally give in and eat ten cookies in one sitting. How is that healthy? Being healthy means that the food doesn't control your mind. It means that you can eat a cookie and be okay with it and you can eat it and enjoy it and move on. There's no trying to avoid it and then finally giving. In and trying to justify it. That mentality is obsessive and not healthy. It's the holiday season and you should enjoy your favorite holiday foods. And guess what? You can still enjoy your favorite holiday foods and nourish your body. You can do both. You don't have to be on one end of the spectrum or the other. There is middle ground there, and I encourage you to work hard to find what that is for you.
And number six, giving up and going all in until January 1st. On the other hand, some of you just toss in the towel and devour all the holiday foods day and night, even if you're not really craving it. Your mentality is what? Well, whatever. I already ate bad, so I might as well just keep eating bad. And, you know, I'm just, you know, I'm going to start January 1st. January 1st is when I'm going to start. I'm telling you, this is not healthy. You know what that's called? It's called the yo yo dieting. And you know what yo yo dieting does to your body? It kills your metabolism and it makes you gain more weight in the long run. And I don't want that for you. I want you to eat in moderation. I want you to enjoy the holidays. I want you to enjoy the sights, the sounds, the taste, all of those things. But I don't want you to have this all or nothing mentality because I'm telling you it will be a rude awakening come January 1st when you realize, Oh dang, I can't just flip a switch and completely change that. It takes intentional work through out the difficult season of the holidays so that you can master it and it can be sustainable long term. So there you have it. Those are some of the habits that people have when they think they're being healthy, but in fact, they're actually being obsessive and it's triggering or reinforcing a poor relationship with food, fitness or their body. So you're like, okay, you just told me all these things. I feel guilty. I'm doing X, Y and Z. What do I do? Well, I want to share a few things that you can do instead.
Number one, you've got to know what your body needs in order for you to feel nourished and properly satisfied. Personally, I have found that the best way that you can really find moderation throughout the holidays and have a healthy, thriving relationship with food is to know how much your body needs. I personally love the tool of macro accounting, so whether you use that or you at least at the very least know how much protein your body needs. That's super important to know because you can go into the holiday season and you're able to take what you're learning from properly, feeling your body on a weekly basis, and apply that to the times that you are eating at a holiday party. Because you know what it feels like to feel properly said. You know what it feels like when you are fueling your body in accordance with where you're at and what your goals are. So if you're curious, I do have a program for that. I will link it in the show notes. I don't want to talk to too much about that because if you want to learn more, trust me, this page has all the information that you need to know. But I'm telling you, just having kind of a baseline at the very minimum, knowing how much protein your body needs is so, so important.
And step two is really kind of budgeting that like once you know how much protein you need. Really being intentional about that. So if you're going to a holiday party and you know there's going to be like a sugary cocktail or two, just making sure that you are focusing on your protein throughout the day so that you have, you know, carbs leftover for those cocktails. And of course, this is not going to be perfect. I just talked about this in another episode that I don't feel like counting your macros, especially on Thanksgiving or Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, like there are a few days throughout the year where I'm just like, I'm going to be intentional. And the beautiful thing about learning first how to properly feel your body is that you're able to make those subtle adjustments throughout your day. As you get more more confident doing this and knowing how to properly feel your body. And so for me personally, like, if I go out to eat, I know that typically. So let's say, for example, we're going to Texas right now. So you guys know me. I am a big Texas Roadhouse fan. Let's say we're going out to eat. We're going to Texas, right. As we're celebrating something. Right. I personally I will still have breakfast. I will still have lunch, just like I mentioned. But I will be way more intentional about protein. So maybe one of my snacks throughout the day is just strictly protein. I've been on this kick of loving Greek yogurt. I do Greek yogurt with just a tiny drizzle of honey and it is so good. And Greek yogurt is the one that I have. It's the 0% fear and it's just all protein. And so it's great. And so not only am I making sure that I'm prioritizing my protein, but I'm feeling fuller longer because it's the most satiating of the three macronutrients. And I know that I have, you know, carbs and fats left over from what my body needs to be fueled properly for that delicious meal at Texas Roadhouse, whether I decide to count every single macro of what I eat or not, at least a mindful and I'm mindful throughout the day with what I'm eating, I'm not starving myself to the point of feeling so incredibly hungry that I'm just going to devour like a rolls, honey. Cinnamon rolls. Which I could honestly. At any point. But you guys know what I'm talking about. So really, really important there.
Step number three, like I was just mentioning, focus on your protein, protein, protein, protein sometime during the holidays. It's really hard to be super intentional and on top of your nutrition because you're unsure of, you know, the carbs and fats in the holiday treat and you're also surrounded by way more carbs and fats and protein. So what I like to do is, like I just mentioned, just focusing on that protein first and making it a goal daily to hit my protein intake. And so that means that I have to rearrange my day and I really try to focus on protein, heavy lunch and a protein heavy breakfast. That way. I'm not scrambling by the end of the night, which is typically when the holiday parties are to achieve my protein goal. So definitely recommend that. And then if you're at the party, I mean, you can always try to scope out the protein choices first and eat those first before eating the holiday sweets and treats, but don't always rely on the parties to have protein choices. I found, you know, eight times out of ten, they don't have that. And so, again, just kind of reworking your day so that you really prioritizing that protein.
Step number four, keep the same workout plan. Don't convince yourself that you need to do more. I talked about this on a previous episode. The time the holiday season is meant for you to just maintain. I don't think that the holidays is a time where you should be in an intense body fat loss phase. I just don't think that that's sustainable and that's not enjoyable around this time of year. So try to just stick to what you're doing. If you're regularly doing demo workouts three times a week, just keep doing that. You don't need to add in more, you know, because you're feeling guilty or you feel like you need to work something out that's not sustainable. You're likely not going to stick with it. And so just try to do the best that you can with what you have and stay consistent, like aim for that maintaining and consistency. And if you do want to have extra movement to get your digestive system moving, go for a walk, be intentional with your steps. That is proven to be just as effective and something that can really change your physiological state as well.
Step number five be consistent. Now focus on being consistent, not perfect. Consistency is what truly matters, not perfection. If you are consistently hitting your nutritional goals, whether that includes holiday foods or not, or maybe you're going over your nutritional goals from time to time, it's not that big of a deal. It's really what matters. What matters most is what you're doing the majority of the time. So focus just on being imperfectly consistent and know that that is something that will serve you long term. And I just personally I love you know, I love that motto because it gives me so much peace, but it also gives me something to work towards. Like, I just need to remember on the days that I don't want to do it. Like, it doesn't have to be perfect, but consistency trumps perfection every single time.
And step number six, if you get off track, just get back on track. It's as simple as that. Don't overthink it. You don't need this completely new, elaborate plan of, you know, getting rid of calories that you ate or trying to beat yourself up mentally or deprive yourself or work out more, whatever it is. Let yesterday be yesterday and focus on today. Focus on what you can do with what you have today. There's nothing special or extra that you need to do. You just need to keep doing what you were doing, and you need to be honest with yourself and see if there are ways that you can improve certain things but don't beat yourself up. I truly believe that when you let what happened in the past be in the past and just keep focused on moving forward, that's when true sustainable change comes from and that's what's going to be most effective in the long run.
Let me quickly recap those six healthy habits that are actually obsessive. Number one, working out the extra cookies or pie that you ate. Number two, working out so that you deserve to eat the cookies or pie. Number three, not eating all day because you have a holiday party to go to. Number four, eating less the next day because of what you ate the day before. Number five, using all your willpower to avoid the holiday foods. And number six, giving up and going all out until January 1st. And then the six steps that I believe will help you have an actual healthy and balanced approach this holiday season. Number step number one know how much your body needs to be properly fueled. So if that's getting your macros calculated, if that is at the very minimum knowing how much protein you need, super, super important. Step number two, really budgeting your food and knowing and planning it out so that you are aware of how you can properly fuel your body as well as have the balance of the delicious sweets and treats. Step number three, focus on that protein, really putting together a game plan so that you can ensure that you're eating enough protein throughout the day. Step number four, keep the same workout plan. Don't try to overthink it. Don't try to add all this additional stuff in that's not sustainable. Just try to stay with what you're doing. Which leads me to step number five, being consistent. Remember, consistency trumps perfection every time. Be consistent, but do things imperfectly. That's okay. We're not perfect. We're not going to get it perfect every time. In fact, perfection. Shin is going to be the highway to failure. It just well, when you try to be perfect all the time, you're likely just going to fail. And number six, if you get off track, just get back on track. It's that simple. You don't need to overthink it. Just try to do what you can with what you have and let what happened in the past be in the past and move forward.
If you want to learn more about how to properly feel your body, I do have an online academy. It's called the Macro Economy Simple Online Academy. You can learn how to properly fill your body. We will calculate that for you step by step, show you how we did it, and we will set you up for success so that you can properly feel your body and feel your best. If you want to learn more, you can check it out. It's called macrocountingmadesimple.com. Again, that's macrocountingmadesimple.com. I link it in the show notes below, but I hope that this helped you. I hope this gave you some tips. I know for me, you guys, I was really stuck in those unhealthy, but I thought that they were healthy habits. And I don't want you to be obsessive. I don't want you to do things that are creating more negativity in your relationship with food, fitness in your body. And so if you need to bookmark this and go through these again, I encourage you to do that. If you have a friend or coworker, someone in your life that you feel like would really benefit from this specific episode. I just ask that you share it out with them. You can copy the link is send it to them in a text message. You can also screenshot this and post it up on your Instagram story and link the direct episode there. That is all that I have for today's episode. I love you so much and I'll talk to you in the next one.
All right, sister, that's all I got. For you today. But I have two things that I need you to do. First thing, if you are not already following me on the gram, be sure to do so, @juliealedbetter. Yes. It's with an a in the middle for that Daily Post workout. Real talk. Healthy tips and tricks and honest accountability to keep your mind and heart in check. The second thing be sure to subscribe to Apple Podcasts to never miss an episode. Thank you so much for joining me. It means the absolute world and I'm going to leave you with one last thought. The most beautiful women that I have met in my life are the ones who are completely confident and secure in being authentically themselves. Remember, that beauty goes so much deeper than the surface. So go out there and embrace your real because you're worth it.