Surviving the Holiday Season

Christmas has always been my favourite time of year. I grew up in a small town as the oldest of two children, to parents who were hard-working factory workers. We were not a family of means, to say the least – so there was never an abundance of anything material, but there was certainly an abundance of holiday traditions. Everything you could define as “holiday spirit” was part of our celebration: a real tree we cut down ourselves, garland my brother and I made with popcorn and cranberries, candy canes, eggnog, whole nuts on the table with a nutcracker on hand, a real fire in the fireplace, stockings on the mantle, tacky tinfoil garland EVERYWHERE, etc. You name it, we did it.

 My fondest memory however, was the food!

 My brother and I were allowed to open our Stockings as soon as we woke up on Christmas morning. This was a very clever tactic by my parents to prevent us from waking them up at 3am when we woke up vibrating with excitement over Santa’s visit. Our stockings were full of delicious treats that were not exactly ideal for a 3am snack. Aside from small toys to keep us occupied until a more reasonable wake up time of 6am, there was wax covered cheese, chocolate Santa’s, Clementine’s, candy canes, M&M’s, and Toblerone bars. Great start to the morning, don’t you think? Dad would then make us a big breakfast of pancakes, bacon, and hash browns, all of which got covered in maple syrup, and washed down with orange juice. Following our gift opening however, was the very best part – the feast with the extended family.

 Both of my parents came from large families so we literally had dozens of people in my Grandmother’s house for the Christmas feast. Each would bring a dish to accompany Grandma’s traditional dishes. We would always have a HUGE turkey, a ham, as well as meatballs and my personal favourite – Cabbage Rolls. There would be stuffing made with ground sausage, onion, sage, and SO MUCH BUTTER. Mashed potatoes were made with butter and milk, the turnips and carrots were covered in butter and brown sugar, and of course there was gravy – Lots and LOTS of gravy. Dessert was nothing small either – homemade pumpkin pies, apple pies, strawberry rhubarb pie, butter tarts, and ice cream to go with it all.

 We would eat for HOURS. Sound familiar?

 Now that I have a goal of competing in a body building competition in 2012, there isn’t a lot of room in my diet for feasts like this. It doesn’t mean that I won’t be attending, it just means that I have to make different choices. My current diet allows me a small amount of carbohydrates from starch only before and after my workout and the rest of my carbohydrates come from vegetable sources. I eat two small servings of fruit a day, and I time my healthy fats as well. So instead of this meal being a free-for-all, I will make the best choices I can. IF I was in official contest prep, I would be bringing my own meal – however, I am not!

What will I be eating?

The bulk of my meal will be protein, and turkey is one of my favourite protein sources. I eat 4 oz of protein per meal, which is about the size of a deck of cards. No, I won’t be bringing my food scale. It’s a guessing kind of day!

 Stuffing is my FAVOURITE part of turkey dinner. As I mentioned above I get two ¼ cup servings of starch a day. I will be using my daily allotment for this purpose, unless the stuffing is from a box. If that’s the case, I’d use it on something more delicious, like potatoes or even bread if there is a baguette.

 I won’t pay too much attention to what the vegetables have been dressed with because besides bringing my own vegetable dish, I won’t have much control over it. The important part is getting the greens in.

 I am very picky with my desserts now that I have them so rarely. It just isn’t worth it to me to go off my diet for store made pie or cake, or even cookies. I know how many carbohydrates are in them and how long it will take me to burn them off before I get to fat burning again, and the flavour of store bought baked goods just isn’t worth the extra work to me. This is the only time of year I make my very own Pecan Pie, and it’s worth every calorie. However, I will have a very small slice, and I’ll skip on the whipped cream.

 Of course the table will be covered with extra goodies and eggnog – but again, I’m making my choices in advance based on how far I’m prepared to set myself back the following week. My food choices are ALL a little bit off plan for me, so there’s no need for me to all the way off the deep end.

 But what will people SAY?

 Everyone has a different level of tolerance when it comes to their diets, even in every day life, outside of “dieting”. The number of people afflicted by diabetes, high blood pressure, food allergies, and sensitivities to things like gluten/soy/sugar; is on the rise. Is your CHOICE to eat leaner any different from a diabetic’s choice to avoid sugar and excess carbohydrates? NO! A diabetic will make their choice in the interest of their health – the very same reason you make your choice! It doesn’t have to become a medical issue in order for you to address it.

People who bring your food choices to your attention (and everyone else’s) are speaking from a place that has absolutely nothing to do with you – unless it’s supportive. Most people wish they felt empowered enough to make better choices, but do not – so when someone is making an empowered choice, it reminds them of their inability or unwillingness to do so also. Their reply to your choice might be “BAH! It’s the holidays! I’m eating whatever I want, I don’t care!” But if they really didn’t care they probably wouldn’t choose to announce it, particularly to the one making empowered choices.

 I’ve heard some really interesting responses to my choices, even from people who are otherwise supportive. Let me give you some reminders just in case you don’t hear any positive messages about your food choices this holiday season:

 You are NOT selfish for not eating Grandma’s famous pie. EVEN if she made it knowing it was your favourite.

 No one’s happiness should be connected to the volume of food you eat, no matter who made it and for what reason.

 If someone is “worried about you” because you’re “so skinny”, you won’t be able to fix that with a lumberjack’s portion of stuffing and gravy – so if you don’t want to eat it, don’t.

 The power to make good food choices is entirely yours. You don’t have to explain them, nor do you need permission. You are a grown-up and it’s your right to make the best choices for you ANY time of year, the holiday’s included. If that means you have extra – GREAT! It’s entirely up to you.

 You’ve made the plan – now how do you stick to it?

 The answer to this is accountability. My partner is very supportive of my training goals and he has a very good understanding of how hard I work to meet my goals. Contest preparation is no small task and having a good network of support is very helpful. In fact, anyone trying to make any kind of change in their life should have a solid support network. There is no shame in saying “You know, this is what I’d like to avoid at dinner, but it’s going to be tough for me – can you help me out?” I will make my partner aware of my plan before we leave and he’ll help me stay on track. So if I come to him and say “I think I’ll go for a WHOLE slice of pie this time”, he asks me (because we pre-arranged his reply) “will that piece of pie help with your training goals?”. My reply will likely be “UGH, NOOOOOOOOOOO!” as I shrug his supportive hand off my shoulder in a pouty huff. But guess what? I’ll thank him in the morning after my training session!

 Remember, just because the holiday’s are typically a time of dietary free-for-all for most of the population, it’s doesn’t HAVE to be. The choice is ultimately yours and there is no right or wrong choice. We all have different goals and just as we want others to have compassion for our choice, we need to have it for the choice of others as well. Whatever choice you make, make is consciously and confidently – and remember to enjoy the traditions unrelated to food as well!