I can't believe it's the week of Christmas already. Seems like we just celebrated Thanksgiving. Time has flown by and I'm scrambling to get things in order to take a week off to head out of town (Why the heck is she writing a blog post then.. you might ask. Basically, to hold myself accountable over the coming 10 days!)
We just finished the evening and morning session of Slim & Strong with some amazing winners (check out the details below). I'm actually amazed that so many participants were able to create a difference despite holiday parties, late night dinners with friends and the holiday stress that inevitably hits most of us, whether we want it or not. After the holidays everybody's focus will be renewed and we'll all be working on getting back to feeling and looking good.
This year I don't feel the need to share any special instructions as to how you should manage your diet over the holidays because quite frankly what's the point? We all know we shouldn't overindulge in sugar and alcohol and shouldn't eat so many cookies and sweets and we all know what we should do, but it's almost impossible to escape the temptations entirely. Enjoy the holiday foods that you love because they're only around at the holidays. Don't feel guilty about the occasional indulgence because the guilt will get you on that yo-yo diet spiral, which will keep you focused on restrictive dieting, which you really don't need. Keep your sanity by focusing on spending time with the people you love rather than the food and you'll feel a lot more fulfilled.
I'm looking forward to a week off to catch up on sleep, get my nature fix, spend some time with my favorite people and my pup. I can't wait to take long walks in the woods, enjoy a good nap in front of the fireplace, and have meaningful conversations over a glass of wine. Tonight I'm picking up my mom from the airport. I'm excited to see her again after a year. I look forward to showing her my new stomping grounds upstate and catch up on life with her.
At the same time I'm also a bit nervous about her visit because she - probably just like your parents as well - likes to make sure her daughter is well taken care of in the x-mas cookie department. During my first years in the US she would arrive for her visits with a suitcase the size of Texas and in it she would always have packed at least 10 bars of all types of Milka chocolate (it used to be my favorite and I couldn't get it here back in the day). Of course I loved that stuff, but 10 bars in the fridge? I always felt forced to get rid of the chocolate because it was so tempting. Guess how did it? I would eat it - naturally. Makes sense, right?! With every visit my request is to not bring me any sweets because inevitably I wouldn't be able to say no to them if they stared me in the face. I'm terrible in that regard. Tempt me with something I love and I have to fight very hard to say no. So, when I say - create the environment in which you can succeed - I sure know what I"m talking about!
I love to tell the story of how my mom visited me a couple years ago and she arrived with a bake set so she could bake me cookies. (I'm still convinced she's looking to turn me into a German housewife sooner or later :-) Since I'm all about keeping a pretty clean kitchen I wasn't too thrilled about the idea of having boxes of cookies sitting around, waiting for me to be eaten (they wouldn't have to wait too long because my mom's cookies are pretty darn good...), so I asked her not to bake any and after a bit of back and forth she said she would still like to bake them and I could simply bring them to my class and give them to my clients. Well, at that point I had to tell her that I was a Nutritionist and actually preach to my clients that sugar is bad and if I handed out sugary cookies I'd likely be perceived a bit as a hypocrite. That was that and no cookies were ever baked. I know she meant well but I knew that boxes of cookies would send me down a bad path so I stood my ground.
You see, the thing is that I like to have the say in when I eat something bad rather than having it in my face and constantly having to fight the urge to cave in. I'm no different than my clients, plus I have a pretty bad case of hypoglycemia, which makes my response to sugar even worse. So, not having any at all is a lot easier to handle than having one cookie and then saying no. At that point my blood sugar is already spiked and ready for the next one...
So, the coming 10 days should be interesting and my goal is to keep it together on the diet front. Yes, there is another DETOX lurking around the corner. We're starting January 4th and I will be a participant in it again, blogging about it, but I'd rather not make it worth my while.
I hope you are off to a great start to the holidays and will be surrounded by people you love and who inspire you. I look forward to seeing you in the next year, with renewed energy, new ideas and goals for a fantastic 2012.
Happy Holidays!
Ariane
We just finished the evening and morning session of Slim & Strong with some amazing winners (check out the details below). I'm actually amazed that so many participants were able to create a difference despite holiday parties, late night dinners with friends and the holiday stress that inevitably hits most of us, whether we want it or not. After the holidays everybody's focus will be renewed and we'll all be working on getting back to feeling and looking good.
This year I don't feel the need to share any special instructions as to how you should manage your diet over the holidays because quite frankly what's the point? We all know we shouldn't overindulge in sugar and alcohol and shouldn't eat so many cookies and sweets and we all know what we should do, but it's almost impossible to escape the temptations entirely. Enjoy the holiday foods that you love because they're only around at the holidays. Don't feel guilty about the occasional indulgence because the guilt will get you on that yo-yo diet spiral, which will keep you focused on restrictive dieting, which you really don't need. Keep your sanity by focusing on spending time with the people you love rather than the food and you'll feel a lot more fulfilled.
I'm looking forward to a week off to catch up on sleep, get my nature fix, spend some time with my favorite people and my pup. I can't wait to take long walks in the woods, enjoy a good nap in front of the fireplace, and have meaningful conversations over a glass of wine. Tonight I'm picking up my mom from the airport. I'm excited to see her again after a year. I look forward to showing her my new stomping grounds upstate and catch up on life with her.
At the same time I'm also a bit nervous about her visit because she - probably just like your parents as well - likes to make sure her daughter is well taken care of in the x-mas cookie department. During my first years in the US she would arrive for her visits with a suitcase the size of Texas and in it she would always have packed at least 10 bars of all types of Milka chocolate (it used to be my favorite and I couldn't get it here back in the day). Of course I loved that stuff, but 10 bars in the fridge? I always felt forced to get rid of the chocolate because it was so tempting. Guess how did it? I would eat it - naturally. Makes sense, right?! With every visit my request is to not bring me any sweets because inevitably I wouldn't be able to say no to them if they stared me in the face. I'm terrible in that regard. Tempt me with something I love and I have to fight very hard to say no. So, when I say - create the environment in which you can succeed - I sure know what I"m talking about!
I love to tell the story of how my mom visited me a couple years ago and she arrived with a bake set so she could bake me cookies. (I'm still convinced she's looking to turn me into a German housewife sooner or later :-) Since I'm all about keeping a pretty clean kitchen I wasn't too thrilled about the idea of having boxes of cookies sitting around, waiting for me to be eaten (they wouldn't have to wait too long because my mom's cookies are pretty darn good...), so I asked her not to bake any and after a bit of back and forth she said she would still like to bake them and I could simply bring them to my class and give them to my clients. Well, at that point I had to tell her that I was a Nutritionist and actually preach to my clients that sugar is bad and if I handed out sugary cookies I'd likely be perceived a bit as a hypocrite. That was that and no cookies were ever baked. I know she meant well but I knew that boxes of cookies would send me down a bad path so I stood my ground.
You see, the thing is that I like to have the say in when I eat something bad rather than having it in my face and constantly having to fight the urge to cave in. I'm no different than my clients, plus I have a pretty bad case of hypoglycemia, which makes my response to sugar even worse. So, not having any at all is a lot easier to handle than having one cookie and then saying no. At that point my blood sugar is already spiked and ready for the next one...
So, the coming 10 days should be interesting and my goal is to keep it together on the diet front. Yes, there is another DETOX lurking around the corner. We're starting January 4th and I will be a participant in it again, blogging about it, but I'd rather not make it worth my while.
I hope you are off to a great start to the holidays and will be surrounded by people you love and who inspire you. I look forward to seeing you in the next year, with renewed energy, new ideas and goals for a fantastic 2012.
Happy Holidays!
Ariane
Ariane, that was my first year in Bootcamp. I was actually looking forward to home made cookies. Enjoy your mom.
ReplyDeleteThanks for continuing to inspire people to make better choices.
ReplyDelete