Part 2: FOOD – The “Telling Month” of October
Last week I emphasized that preparing for a healthy and happy holiday season doesn’t start in November; it starts in October.
So, in this 4-part series, I’m giving you one important (and totally doable) suggestion per week around each health habit you’ll want to stay on top of this month (Sleep, Food, Mood, and Exercise) that I hope you carry into the holidays.
Last week I talked about SLEEP.
Today, let’s focus on FOOD, because the reality is that shorter days mean you’ll probably be spending more time at home in the evenings, which can easily become a breeding ground for the temptation of comfort foods.
If you want to be proactive when it comes to managing your sweet tooth this fall, you’ll want to check this out.
Here’s what I’m doing to control my sugar intake this month and I know you can do it too.
First, understand that this is the time of year when I start getting requests from my partner to make some pumpkin treats – you know, everything pumpkin – cookies, brownies, muffins, etc.
It’s fun for me to get in the kitchen and try a new recipe, but what are two people supposed to do with a batch of 24 cookies that are now in the house?
Here’s what we do:
Find the strongest-willed person in the house (when it comes to sweets) to create a guideline for everyone to follow.
It’s important that everyone in the house is on board with this guideline (if possible), because the more who agree to accept it, the easier it’ll be for everyone to follow (and keep each other in check… with love, of course).
At home, the strong-willed person when it comes to sweets is me, so I created the guideline of only having one cookie a night on weekends – a specific, measurable, and realistic goal for us.
But, proclaiming it isn’t enough sometimes, even for the strong-willed one in the bunch, so now the next step is for that person to take action.
More specifically, you must tweak your environment to make the right behaviors easier and the wrong behaviors harder.
For example, if I displayed the cookies out on the kitchen counter all week, it’s much easier to walk by and grab one, so we have to make that “bad” behavior harder.
So, what I decided to do was to freeze ALL the cookies and when Friday morning comes around each week, I take out a few (just enough for the weekend and no more) and let them defrost.
By the way, I chose to freeze the cookies because it makes it harder for us to “break” our guideline…
Here’s why:
If we decided to “break our guideline” on Wednesday and pull a few cookies out of the freezer, while they’re defrosting, it would give us all that time to rethink our decision, “Do we really want to do this?”
Because keep in mind that in October we want to train our minds to think logically when it comes to our food choices, as opposed to emotionally – the training for the holidays starts now.
Emotional decisions about food usually come in the moment, so we want to give ourselves a little delay before “going for it” to reconsider our decision.
This is where the “strong one” who made the guideline needs to jump in and save the day.
The take-home message is to create some guidelines around sweets and treats this month.
Be creative.
I shared with you what works for us, but figure out what’s going to work for you and your family.
Remember that it’s not about depriving yourself necessarily, because that can lead to going “hog-wild” during the holidays.
Instead, practice creating a specific, measurable, and realistic guideline around sugar.
Do this now and see how much easier it’ll be when the holiday temptations arise.
Stay tuned, because next week in Part 3, I’ll be sharing something you can do to remain happy and positive with the intention of carrying that into the holidays.
I know you’ll dig it.
In the meantime, get started on that sweets and treats guideline!
It’s your turn to take care of you,
P.S. Miss Part 1 on SLEEP? Check it out HERE.
Don’t “fall” back into old habits this season…
I’m here to help.
