NUTRITION - How to stay healthy during Easter/ Christmas etc.

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Summary - 

We all know how easy it is for an event such as Easter or Christmas to sabotage any new change of diet or exercise regime. But what if I told you that it doesn’t have to be that way … that you can have your cake and eat it too - no guilt, no feelings of defeat, no throwing in the towel!

Things I Mention - 

  • The one concept nutrition expert/ dietitian Leanne Ward swears by for long-term results

  • An analogy used by accountability coach Nikki Gundy that has changed the way thousands of women think about calories

  • Why you should start living life meal by meal not day by day or week by week

  • How deprivation and restriction is sure-fire way to set yourself up for failure

PLUS, I reveal 2x concepts that are largely responsible for my own nutritional transformation and the relationship I now have with food. 

Links & Helpful Resources - 

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In this episode, I’m going to share 2x tips to stay healthy that I learnt from 2 very wise women that I’ve never forgotten and that you can use any time an event such as Easter/ Christmas rolls around. I’m also going to share 2x tips that are my personal favourites that have helped me stay healthy and on track during these types of occasions too. 

First, I want to start off by saying that I am all for indulging, in fact, I think it’s an important piece of the puzzle when it comes to staying healthy for the long-term and not just for short bursts here and there but I’m also all for control and being able to indulge with control is a whole other story for most people. I also don’t believe in deprivation, restriction and things being off limit (unless for medical purposes of course) so you won’t find any of those strategies here. 

So to help you enjoy occasions such as Easter, Christmas, New Yeats etc. without losing sight of your health & fitness goals, I’m going to kick things off with a tip from Leanne Ward (otherwise known as The Fitness Dietitian on Instagram) and that is - 

JUST AIM FOR A 10% IMPROVEMENT

Rather than restrict, avoid, limit or deprive - think about what you would have done prior to being more health conscious and just aim for a 10% improvement on that. This of course will look different for everyone but the end result will be much the same. 

The most common reason people lose sight of any new health & fitness goal is because they go too hard, too early. They go from eating an entire block of chocolate at night to eating no chocolate at all, which we all know doesn’t end well. Instead, the 10% approach takes into account that health & fitness is a life-long journey and not a destination so you’ve got the time to make improvements more realistically and with more success. So perhaps instead of consuming no chocolate for the rest of your life, aim to eat 10% less than you did last time and once you’ve become satisfied and at peace with consuming that amount, reduce it by another 10% until you’ve reached a more healthy and recommended quantity. 

You could flip this approach on its head and apply it to exercise too. Say you currently do 1x walk per week. Rather than say you’re going to smash out 6 days of exercise and nothing less, aim to walk just 1x extra day until you’re satisfied and at peace with that change and in which case, you can begin to improve another 10% on that. 

Consistency is all about setting small and achievable steps. Big journeys begin with small steps! 

THE BACKPACK ANALOGY

Now this next one is great if you’re a visual person and need to be able to visualise something in order to be able to fully process and understand it. This one comes from a woman I follow on Instagram (thank god for Instagram right!) Her name is Nikki Gundy. 

Nikki likes to visualize a backpack and within that backpack you can fit an average day's amount of food and/ or calories for you - an amount that keeps your weight at maintenance. If you eat an average day's worth of food or calories, then you know you can zip up and close your backpack quite easily and be on your merry way. Now imagine though that you consume more food than you usually would, you’d likely have a tough time trying to zip your backpack. The zip might even bust open. Now also imagine that any high calorie foods are the size of say, a soccer ball. So using this analogy, you’ve just eaten something that’s quite large in size, so you’ll want to re-adjust a few things to ensure you can still zip that backpack come the end of the day. This might mean having to make smaller portions, perhaps eating less food or filling up on lots of low calorie foods for the rest of the day. 

I love this analogy because it’s not about saying no or stopping yourself from eating something that you really want to eat, you just need make some adjustments to allow for it - this is how I like to have my cake and eat it too! 

CROWDING OUT OR ADDING IN

These two concepts are largely responsible for my own nutritional transformation. You can choose whichever one you think will suit you & your lifestyle best or even experiment with both for one week at a time to see what works for you. You can start straight away and they are easy to implement especially during the silly season when their is usually an abundance of food on offer -

CROWDING OUT  

Crowding Out is based on the idea that by slowly introducing healthier foods into your diet, you will gently crowd out the ones that no longer serve you or those that may be hindering your health & nutrition goals. So piling your plate up with fruits, vegetables, whole grains and drinking lots of water, will naturally lead to consuming less caffeine, sugar and processed foods.

ADDING IN 

Adding In is similar to crowding out in that it should achieve a similar end result which is a healthier, more balanced diet overall but the way you go about introducing this concept into your own life is slightly different - When you make a meal, ask yourself, is there one thing that I could possibly add to my plate to make this meal more nutrient dense? Just one thing?! (eg. if you were sitting down on Christmas Day to prawns & potato salad, could you add a pile of greens to your plate too?) 

And my final tip for staying healthy during these types of occasions is to - 

GET BACK ON THE HORSE

I used to be notorious for writing off an entire day or an entire week for that matter, after eating one meal that may not have brought me closer to my goal. I’d essentially just give up, call it a day and try again next Monday … sounds familiar right? Thankfully, I no longer have this mindset. 

Instead, I like to think about things on a meal by meal basis as opposed to a day by day basis or a week by week basis. So say it’s Easter time and my family are having a champagne breakfast, complete with chocolate eggs, croissants, all the trimmings. I’m not going to say no to this. Food, family and over-indulging make me happy so I eat all the food and drink all the drinks. Now, rather than write the rest of the day off, I’m going to get back on the horse and use the very next meal as an opportunity to re-fuel my body with healthier, more nutritious foods. 

If you’re serious about improving your diet and the way you feel long-term, then you need to think long-term. A few less than ideal meals here and there aren’t going to affect your progress. As James Smith would say, I don’t think giving up 95% of the things you love for a 5% change in body weight is worth it. Honestly, I couldn’t agree more. 

So on that note beauties, may you eat, drink & be merry!

Elisha CasagrandeBrisbane Personal Trainer, Brisbane Health Coach, FEEL BE LOOK, Womens Confidence, Confidence, IIN Health Coach, Healthy Eating, Staying On Track, Nikki Gundy, Leanne Ward, The Fitness Dietitian, James Smith PT, Food Psychology, Festive Season