Blog written by Dietitian & Nutritionist Helena
Christmas can be confusing. You want to eat all the good food, but you don’t want to wind up totally overdoing it and “falling off track”.
Plus, according to everyone on the internet, you’re either being way too restrictive and damaging your relationship with food if you say no to anything, or you’re “ruining all your progress” and setting yourself back if you decide to indulge.
Get off the all or nothing rollercoaster and start enjoying the silly season, without the guilt, by following these steps:
Don’t
❌Eat “clean” to save up for a big cheat day
It can feel sensible to eat clean (or eat less) in the day or week leading up to events to “save up” for a big cheat day, and then let loose without doing as much “damage”.
In reality, this backfires almost every time.
By the time the event rolls around, you’ll likely be feeling so deprived that you’ll end up hyper focused on food and feel like you want to eat EVERYTHING. It’s the same feeling as when you’re super busy at work and don’t get the chance to eat all day, then get back home needing a massive dinner and the entire pantry to make up for it.
At the event, you’ll likely feel out of control and end up eating way more than you would have if you’d just eaten your regular meals and snacks. Afterwards, you might feel guilty and beat yourself up about it, which only reinforces the idea that you can’t trust yourself around treat foods. Naturally, you’ll feel like you should restrict again to make up for it. That is, until the next event rolls around and you find yourself on your third helping of pavolva, even though you promised yourself you wouldn’t have any dessert.
❌Skip meals
This cycle – going from one extreme to the next and constantly saying you’ll start again Monday - can go on forever if you don’t start doing things differently. Believe it or not, it IS possible to find a happy middle ground with food, where you can go to an event without feeling like you want to eat the whole buffet table to yourself.
The very first step to overcoming this is to let yourself eat normally, no matter what you have coming up. I get that it can feel scary – I hear you saying “but if I eat all day AND then overeat at the dinner it will be even worse!” Trust me. You will be able to make way more rational decisions and regulate your eating when you don’t deprive yourself. It’s like magic.
❌Go anywhere hungry
A mantra I have for all my clients: “hungry brains don’t make rational food decisions”. To give yourself the best chance of making balanced food choices at an event, and not fall into the trap of self sabotage, eat your normal meals, and have a high protein snack just before you go. This isn’t to spoil your appetite, but it does take the edge off your hunger so you don’t arrive ready to eat everything in sight. So for example, you might start your day with your cinnamon churros protein oats (so fun for all the festive feels) for breakfast, tofu scramble on toast for lunch, then a high protein berry smoothie an hour or so before heading to dinner.
❌Start again Monday (or January)
If you do happen to overdo it, don’t fall into the trap of making the whole month a write-off. It’s what you do consistently that makes the difference, not what you do on any one day. Remember, we have about 1092 meals every year. Keep perspective. Every single meal is a new opportunity to make a decision that aligns with your goals.
❌Treat December like every day is Christmas
Along the same lines, remember that Christmas is just one day. It doesn’t need to be a reason to go rogue at every meal and snack time. Keep up the basics – like a solid source of protein, carbs, healthy fats and plenty of colourful fruit and veg. Although if you do want to get into the festive spirit, get your hands on one of Macro Mike’s festive range of protein powders and baking mixes. The perfect way to get into holiday mode while staying consistent with your healthy habits.
Do
✅Set realistic goals and expectations
You might have your heart set on a goal like weight loss or a gym challenge, but will it really be the best time to pursue that? If you’re someone who only has a couple of Christmas events to think about then you might be fine with a body composition goal. But if you know you have a really busy few weeks, then it’s probably smart to focus on maintaining your weight and keeping up a health forward routine, rather than committing to something like a weight loss goal, which might be pretty challenging at this time of year.
✅Plan
Consider when you’d like to indulge, and when you’d like to be more conservative with your food choices. Being intentional is key to getting out of the all or nothing mentality.
For example, if you had work drinks on Friday, a special family lunch on Saturday, and then brunch with a friend on Sunday, you could create balance with a plan like this:
Friday: stick to either 1-2 drinks, or just have diet soft drink, and eat at home instead of the pub
Saturday: suggest catching up over a walk and coffee instead of brunch
Sunday: enjoy whatever you fancy at the family lunch, still aiming to strike a balance between fun foods and colourful foods
This way, you’ll likely feel way more relaxed about what you have on Saturday, and far less sluggish than if you’d eaten heavy meals out all weekend long.
Note – this tip is not about restriction. It’s about prioritising the food that you’ll truly enjoy, rather than eating just for the sake of it, or taking an all or nothing approach.
✅Build a balanced plate
The key to staying consistent and enjoying festive meals without the sluggishness or regret, is to maintain a balance between health forward choices, and more indulgent foods. This means that even when having a special meal like a big Christmas lunch, loading up half your plate with colourful vegetables, then fitting all the other fun foods (hello roast potatoes) in around them. This way you’ll naturally feel full and satisfied, keep your portion sizes reasonable without missing out on anything, and finish the meal feeling good, instead of over-stuffed. Of course, it's fine to eat past fullness now and then, and you can go back for seconds of anything you like! But give yourself a little time to digest before you dive back in.
✅Get everyone asking for the recipe
Make it your mission to nail the best salad recipe and take it everywhere. Even when no one asked you to. Why? It makes it even easier to maintain a good balance between health-forward choices and indulgence, because you’ll WANT to load veggies on your plate, rather than resenting that you “have to” suffer through the world’s most boring garden salads. Don’t be scared of adding an amazing dressing, loads of herbs and things like pomegranate, caramelised nuts and feta. These are the things that make the difference between a salad that sucks, and a salad that blows you away.
✅Stay intentional
Food isn’t growing legs and running away. You can pick your battles a little and not need to eat everything at every opportunity. Maybe you love a glass of wine, but you don’t really care about Christmas pudding – you don’t have to eat it just because it’s there. Think about the little trade-offs you can make and be discerning about what you truly do and don’t enjoy. And don’t forget, just because you’re not having pudding this time doesn’t mean you can’t have it at the next Christmas party. It’s all good.
I hope these tips help you feel confident going into the festive season. Most importantly, eat, drink and be merry! You’ve got this.
Hi, I'm Helena! Dietitian, nutritionist and plant-forward eater providing tailored nutrition services to women navigating their gestational diabetes and postpartum journey.
Instagram: @nutrition.by.helena
Website: https://nutritionbyhelena.com/