Healthy Holiday Articles - Helpful or Negative?

Healthy Holiday Articles – Helpful or Negative?

Last Updated on October 25, 2022 by Amanda Brooks

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Bear with me as I do a little Think Out Loud Thursday…on Wednesday…everything get’s thrown out the window on Holiday weeks!

I’m done with “lose 10 lbs in 10 days” or “six minutes to six pack abs” articles, but I’m ok with still seeing them in magazines and blogs because they are usually filled with some interesting moves or tips that a lot of people will find helpful on their journey.

I am 100% over the idea that we must look or eat a certain way – whether that’s thin or strong, vegan or paleo – which is why I love Carla Birnberg.

She says it like it is. She has shown me what it means to be a phenomenal mother. She has helped so many realize the “what you can when you can” motto is about learning to be easier on yourself.

BUT I disagree with her on “no more health holiday articles”
{paraphrasing her idea, please go read the entire well said story}.
I will most certainly be enjoying everything I want tomorrow and have been eating cupcakes, pizza and many other “not healthy” foods lately with absolutely no guilt. However that only happens now because I am able to eat as she recommends MINDFULLY.

Meet my turkey cupcake, I’ll call him Harry, decorated at last nights Jillycakes party. I will be licking the frosting off guilt free today, thanks to lots of experiences…that started with reading all of those articles.When I first began losing weight, I needed to count calories.

I had to learn about food to start leaning in to a life filled with vegetables.

I needed articles that told me a piece of pecan pie was a 4 mile run; at that time I was lucky to make it 1.

I certainly wasn’t aware of emotional eating or how that might be amplified during the holidays.

I didn’t realize I might be eating that extra pie, stuffing, ok everything because I was bored.

Eating mindfully or exercising mindfully isn’t something I was able to simply step in to…I had to go through the process of learning about it all to now be able to live that way. While I agree with the idea that we should all strive to live from that place, I think it’s harder for some and I think there is value in educating everyone about what is healthy.

HOLIDAY ATTITUDES
Holidays are also a time where we have perpetuated the ideas that “it’s ok to overeat” and holiday meals are inherently unhealthy while simultaneously living up to the “I’m so busy over the holidays” stigma that we stop working out.

Many of the holiday articles I’ve seen have also been to help us all restructure these ideas.

Why can’t our green beans or mashed potatoes be a little healthier??
Why can’t we embrace a little more movement (built in workouts with snow shoveling)?
Why can’t we buck the trend of being overly busy?

Sure for those who have been around fitness or healthy living for years these might seem like intuitive ideas, but I remember when they were not.

I remember holidays being an excuse to sit for hours watching TV under a blanket and heck yes that will happen this year too {I adore the Hallmark movies}, but it will be balanced with moving and not coupled with eating my way through a bag of hot tamales.

So yes please enjoy the food, enjoy the friends, enjoy the festivities.

Let go of the guilt.

But it’s also ok to be mindful of your health and your choices too…so maybe that’s where I fall at the end of the day…balance between choosing veggies and choosing a treat between marathon watching Hallmark movies and an extra walk with David.

So let’s talk, what do you think?
Are healthy holiday articles actually helping?

Are you tired of the healthy holiday discussions?

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Twitter: RunToTheFinish