How to Handle Holiday Treats

Today we're talking about what to do when we are struggling with holiday treats. What do you do if somebody suggests eggnog, or hot chocolate, or they hand you a bag of goodies, or they hand you a plate of cookies? What do you do with that? We're going to talk about exactly what to do in those situations today!

I do want you to know is that this is tough and it's tough for everybody, so you're not alone. I also want to let you know that there are really good reasons why people use these treats around the holiday times.

If you don't already know me, I'm Dr. Angela Zechmann. I'm a medical doctor, and I help people lose weight in my clinic in Olympia, Washington, and also in my my course "Journey Beyond Weight Loss", which is an awesome course. We teach everything you need to know to lose weight and keep it off!

So what do you do in those situations?

The first thing I want you to understand is there is a reason why people are passing out these kinds of holiday treats this time of year. Sugar and flour products affect the brain chemistry. They create a hit of dopamine. Dopamine is the pleasure hormone. They also create a hit of serotonin.

Serotonin is the comfort hormone or the 'feel-good' hormone. It's different than pleasure. It's just a sense of calmness. They also promote oxytocin, which is the love hormone. So these treats actually change our brain chemistry and help us to feel more connected to each other.

Broccoli doesn't do that, right? So that's why these things are so popular this time of year. So at least you sort of understand the brain chemistry about that. The problem is that these treats are also very addictive, and many people have brains where you can't just have one. One just triggers you to want more, and more and more and more and more! You want to recognize that if that is your brain, then you have to protect yourself.

So we have all of these traditions, my sister likes to make gingerbread cookies. I think what's happening these days is many people are not having the cookie baking parties that they usually do. They're just making them at home and then distributing them. Leaving them on people's porches and that sort of thing. It's still really making it hard for people.

I have some ideas for how to help you wade through this. The first thing is, let's say that you got into sugar and flour products and you found that you couldn't stop at just one, and now you're feeling really bad. What happens in our brain is we get what's called the 'Buck-its'. Actually, if you take the "B" off, and put an "F" in there instead... I don't cuss so I'm not going to use the word.

I just want you to think about how that is actually something that happens in your brain, and that what then ends up happening, is you're just saying "I just give up" and "I'll just figure it out after all of this stuff has gone after the holidays."

I want to encourage you not to follow that part of your brain that says 'let's just give it up'. I want to encourage you to get yourself right back on track as soon as you can.

The first thing that you want to do if you've been struggling is to use your tools of self-compassion. Everybody struggles. Just allow yourself to feel whatever it is that you're feeling. Name that feeling! Use that prefrontal cortex part of your brain to name that feeling so that you know what's going on.

The next thing that you want to do is you want to have super good compassion with yourself and allow yourself to recognize that you're not the only person that struggles and then be super kind and gentle. What we have to do now, if you've slipped, is we have to get you back on track. So one of the best ways to get back on track is to go through sugar detox again, and I will put a link to the sugar detox menu in the comments so that you have that.

The next thing is that I want you to start thinking about being a little bit proactive. So if you have an event coming up, and you know that there's usually treats involved, you want to make sure that you go to the event with a full stomach. Have your dinner first, or whatever meal is appropriate. Have a meal first, don't go hungry, because you never know what you're going to find there. Bring some snacks along with you. Nuts, cheese - like string cheeses, baby bell, cheeses, cheese that is very portable. Those are great snacks to use.

The other thing is you can make your choices ahead of time about what it is that you will splurge on and what you won't splurge on. If somebody offers you something and you have made a choice ahead of time that you're not going to eat that, you can just say 'no, thank you'.

And remember, 'no, thank you.' Is indeed a complete sentence! You don't have to offer any explanations whatsoever. Feel free to say 'no, thank you!'

The next thing that you might want to do, is if there are people who have every year given you treats, you might want to let them know ahead of time that you would prefer if they didn't. And you can let them know ahead of time, and say 'You know, I'm really trying to work on my health this year and I don't want to have any sugar and flour products. So I don't really want any cookies this year.' Let them know ahead of time.

This is where the talk that Nancy Levin did in the summit this last weekend could come in very handy. She talked about boundaries, and she talked about how sometimes when we make statements of truth like this, we can worry about how the other person is going to take it.

So we're like, 'Oh gosh, we're thinking about trying to manage their feelings.' You don't have to manage their feelings! You don't have to worry about how they're going to take it! This is your truth!

I do not want to have this stuff in my house. This is my truth. And you explain that and then let them handle it however they want to handle it. Don't get involved in their feelings. So that's called setting a boundary.

Nancy gave a really great talk. I can't emphasize enough how much value there is in that summit! If you want to get the recordings again, I'll put a link in the comments for you.

The last thing that you might want to do is this. If somebody does go ahead and give you something, I want you to know that the act of giving and the act of receiving doesn't have anything to do with what the gift is! So it is entirely possible to receive the gift, and then not eat it! You can do that!

You can receive the gift and acknowledge the person for their generosity, thank them for thinking about you. And then you can take the gift home and actually throw out the cookies. I don't recommend that you give it to other people because you don't want to be passing drugs around, right! So so it's fine to do that. It's fine to say, 'thank you so much' and then throw it out. You don't have to eat it.

Don't feel obligated to eat something. And if they come back to you later and say and say, 'Oh, what did you think about that?' You could just say, well, you know, you can just, you can either be honest and say, 'well, I'm not really eating much sugar and flour these days.' Or you could just have a little fib, and say 'they were great! But I tried not to eat too much.' Something along those lines - do what feels right to you. That's the important part.

The more you can train other people around you that you really want to be a healthy person and not have all of this stuff anymore, the better off you're going to be. The important thing about all of this is, first of all, if you're struggling, don't beat yourself up and get yourself back on track as soon as you can. Don't allow your brain to give you a case of the 'Buck-its"

Second thing is to do not be afraid to acknowledge your truth, and don't try to manage other people's feelings about what your truth is. They can say whatever they want, but what's true for you is what's true for you and it's up to you to stand and hold your boundaries.

The third thing is it's okay to accept a gift and be very, very gracious. And when somebody gives you something, that's an important thing, and you want to be gracious with them, but it doesn't matter what you do with a gift afterwards.

Then lastly, if you weren't at the summit this last weekend, we had a lot of talk about all of these different Ninja skills, Florence Christopher's gave a great talk on sugar addiction. Nancy Levin gave a great talk on setting boundaries. Those two in particular really will help you through the holiday season.

We had all kinds of other great talks, too. We had talks about emotional eating. We had talks about sleep. We had talks about meditation. The whole weekend was just beyond my wildest dreams in terms of how amazing it was.  If you weren't able to attend, the recordings are available HERE.

So thank you so much everyone. I appreciate the feedback. I wish you all a very wonderful holiday season, whatever holiday it is that you happen to be celebrating this time of year. And again, remember that there is a reason why these types of foods are so common this time of year, but you can get through it without indulging. And if you have already indulged, it's okay.

I will see you next time. Take care.

To your health,

Dr. Angela

5 Day Sugar Detox Menu:

https://www.journeybeyondweightloss.com/5-day-detox

Summit recordings:

 https://www.journeybeyondweightloss.com/ktwo-VIP