The Keto Success Podcast

Navigating the holidays on keto

November 23, 2022 Stephanie Wilson Episode 6
The Keto Success Podcast
Navigating the holidays on keto
Show Notes Transcript




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With the holidays fast approaching TIS the season for all things, family gathering, social events with friends and coworkers. And. It might feel like these things are all centered around food. Holiday parties, potlucks the family traditions. It can really feel daunting or almost impossible. To stick with your keto nutrition this time of year. It's really that time of year where food and drinks seem endless temptations at its highest pressures. The strongest. And all of the triggering environments, circumstances, events, foods, drinks, all of it. Are right there in our face for us to try and navigate. Now. I did write a blog on some of the more tangible tactics and strategies that you can use. To navigate the holiday season. I'm going to link that up in the show notes. If you want to check that out. But today I'm going to speak into more of the intangible things, the internal feelings and thoughts that come up when we're in these situations. To help you really navigate with yourself. How you're going to approach the holiday season First. Let's just zoom out for a second on the reality of the situation. I find that we spend so much time and energy and. Mental bandwidth. Thinking about. The holiday meal and worrying about it and stressing ourselves out about it. That's before we even get there. Then when we're in the situation, should I eat the things? Should I not eat the things and all of this? Uh, internal chaos. Bubbles up the cravings. Are there the temptation? Is there the pressure is there. And then. If we don't eat the thing. We might feel regret or like we're missing out. And if we do eat the thing. Now we have a chance where we might be feeling guilty or worried that we've ruined our progress or start beating ourselves up about it. So like, let's really think about this for a second. We are giving so much time, energy, mental bandwidth. To a meal that lasts what? 15 minutes, 20 minutes. Just think about that for a second. How much energy are you wasting? Worrying about something. And then. Negotiating with yourself in the moment and then beating yourself up afterwards when really. It's a meal that's 20 minutes long. Is that really worth it? So whether you stay keto or not over the holidays is A decision that we really need to make ahead of time, make a plan and stick to it. When we make a decision in advance. What you're staying keto or not. You're using your rational brain. We're not letting emotions take over or the temptations take control. We're not just defaulting back to old eating patterns and behaviors. We really need to think about what we feel will be best for us. Make that plan, make that commitment to ourselves. And honor it. We can't rely on willpower or motivation alone in these moments. We really need to be true to ourselves and plan ahead so that when the time comes. We just honor that commitment and act on the decision we made ahead of time versus waiting till we're in the moment when we know tension will be high, we know stress will be high. We know that pressure from friends and family around us will be there. And we're not relying on those moments to make the best decision for Ourselves As I mentioned before. The holidays really can bring a lot of anxiety and stress around the decisions and choices we make around food. But I would really love. For you to practice the idea that. Maybe this is actually a beautiful opportunity for us because. With all of the hustle and bustle of the holidays with all of the time with friends and families, with being in different environments than we're used to. This is where our triggers are most likely to surface. And instead of being afraid of that or denying that, or pretending it's not happening. We can now look at them. These triggers are going to bubble up. They're going to surface. And we can look at them now and shine a light on them and face them head on. And just imagine if you navigate. Through the holidays in a way that feels aligned for you. For your intentions and goals. What could be on the other side of that? How effortless would things feel. If you've managed to navigate through the most challenging time, if these triggers are brought to the surface and instead of judging yourself for them or feeling shame around them or ignoring them. We get curious with ourselves and explore what's coming up for us. And use it as an opportunity to do this deeper work so that we can actually heal our relationship with food. And how much easier will our Quito weight-loss journey be after That. So the first thing we really want to do is bring awareness to your triggers. Bring awareness to the emotions and feelings coming up, the things in your environment, who's around you right now. What's happening in your mind and in your body, do you have a pit in your stomach? Because you're feeling so anxious about what you're going to eat. Do you have a tightness in your throat or your chest because you're around family members where you feel like you can't speak into your truth. Notice all of these things go into these events and gatherings. Like you're an observer and you're observing yourself. You're observing the thoughts that come up, the storylines, you start spinning. You're observing everyone else's behavior, the environment you're in. And literally just have that awareness. Within yourself, just acknowledge it. It doesn't mean we need to react to it. But if we can just bring this awareness. In our mind and in our body. One of the thoughts we're having, what are the storylines that we start spinning around these triggers and our circumstances? Then we can start to really tease apart. What's true and not too true. We can start to unravel. How it is. We actually feel as these things are happening and. When we're reaching for food in those moments. Are we doing it? In reaction to these things. Are we doing it to feel numb because we don't like what's going on around us. Are we doing it because. We just feel that strong sense of FOMO. Like it's the holiday, screw it. Like. What is coming up for you? That is really the first step. And if you can navigate through the holidays, Just bringing this level of awareness to the things that are triggering you to reach for food in a disempowered way. We can now start to get curious and explore what that really means, how that's really manifesting in your day-to-day life. Like I said, like the holidays are such a great opportunity for this because you're likely going to be triggered. More. Over the holidays, then you will in your everyday life. So let's use this as an opportunity to just do this deeper work and get super crystal clear. With how we behave and react what patterns we fall into when we're in these triggering moments and circumstances now, I'm not saying pull out a journal and start writing in your journal. Everything that's coming up for you. In this exact moment, but at least make a mental note of it. Acknowledge it. Notice it's there and you can kind of tell yourself, like, aha brain I'm onto you. I know that you're trying to tell me all these stories, but those aren't true for me right now. And I'm choosing not to engage in that right now. So it's about bringing that awareness. To the surface and once you're there. Can we create. Enough space around it. Can we create a pause? So that we're making a conscious choice on whether or not we're going to eat something higher carb or higher sugar. It's not just a default reaction. Where all my family stressed me out so much. So like, screw it. I deserve this. It's going to bring me comfort. It's going to make me feel better. No. Can we acknowledge that that is happening within us. And just create a little bit of space and a little bit of pause so that we are now making a conscious choice, not just a default reaction. And it doesn't even matter if you eat the thing or not. What matters is you're doing it from a conscious place that you can feel good about. It's not that you're just totally out of control. You're completely in control. And if you eat the higher carb thing you're doing it because you chose to do it you're not doing it because you're just reacting to it. Remember when I said in the beginning, it's all about making that plan ahead of time. And making. Choices that honor that commitment for yourself. Are you making choices consciously that honor the plan that you put in place, or are you making choices that pull you further away from yourself from your deeper desires and what it is you truly want for yourself? As I mentioned. This can be the most triggering time of the year. But it's in those moments that healing happens. It's in those moments where you are feeling so triggered and you just want to eat all the things, because that's going to make you feel better in the moment. Or that. Everyone's stressing you out and you just want to numb and ignore everything happening around you. It's in those moments that healing happens when you have all the temptations around you, the foods you're craving the social pressures around you, but you decide to be true for yourself. And honor yourself in those moments, by making conscious decisions that align with your intentions and your goals. And what it is you truly want for At yourself. Another piece that we need to be aware of as we're navigating through the holidays on keto is reframing the language that we use. So often we all say statements like, oh, I'm not allowed to eat that. Or I shouldn't have that. And when we've run with those storylines in our minds, or when we're saying it out loud to people they've really have a negative connotation to them. And those in themselves can trigger you because now you're falling into this restrictive grippy diet culture place where I shouldn't eat that wall. You can eat anything you want, or I'm not allowed to have that. Well, you could have anything you want. And. We need to practice reframing the language that we use into a more positive. Note, because. Instead of saying are not allowed to eat that. We have to practice saying I'm choosing not to eat that, or I'm choosing to eat this instead. Or I get to eat that. Because those all bring an energy of positivity to your choices. Those are now conscious choices that you are caring for yourself and loving yourself through the decisions you're making. Not. Shunning yourself because you're not allowed to have something or that you shouldn't have something When it comes to making our decision ahead of time, whether we are going to stay keto or not over the holidays. Some things we really want to ask ourselves are what expectations. Do we have for ourselves over the holidays and are they realistic? What will happen? If nothing goes according to plan. So say you totally plan on staying Quito for the holidays. You are. Going to say, no, thank you. When everyone offers you the carbs and the sugar and the desserts and all of that. But say you take a little bite here and there of a few things, and next thing you know, you tell yourself, well, I've already screwed up this much. I might as well have all the things. What will happen if nothing goes according to plan, how will you be with yourself? In those moments. Are you going to feel guilty? Are you going to be worried? You've ruined your progress. Are you going to beat yourselves up that things didn't go to plan. What I would love to offer is should this happen? Can we hold space for ourselves? Can we hold space and get really compassionate with ourselves that. We are learning and unlearning and that we are practicing new behaviors and we're practicing new thoughts and ideas and emotions. And that might not go according to plan because our brains are so hardwired to default. Our old eating behalf behaviors and our old eating patterns and how we've always done things. So if shit hits the fan and things go right off the rails. Can we hold space for compassion for ourselves. Can we get curious with ourselves around why it happened? Can we trace back. Are eating behavior and our eating pattern. Can we trace back to what triggered us? In that moment to make those decisions so that we can now explore that for the future and learn from this setback Back The reality is for a lot of us, we have been so conditioned. To receive love through food, and there is no time more prevalent and obvious than over the holidays where this feeling can be triggered in us. Special meals and dishes prepared by friends and family members who have this expectation for us. To eat these things because they lovingly prepared them for us. This can create a lot of guilt. And shame that if we don't do it, we're being rude. And. Can we receive the same amount of love and connection. If we don't eat these things. But does eating a certain food really translate to. Receiving love. Does it have to. Is it true that in order to feel love and connection at a holiday event? That we need to eat a higher carb or sugar food. What if you went to a holiday party and none of those foods were there, just imagine for a moment, if you went to your Thanksgiving feast or your family Christmas. And none of these foods were even there. They didn't even exist at the gathering. What would that change for you? How would you be able to show up in that environment? Would you still be able to feel love and connection in the same way? I don't know. But that's something to possibly explore and get curious around. The holidays are really about. Connecting with our loved ones and making memories and spending quality time with them. It's not about. Receiving love through food. And can we choose to love ourselves in those moments? Can we honor ourselves. In those moments. Or are we going to abandon ourselves? Are we going to abandon our goals? Are we going to abandon our intentions? Are we going to abandon the person that we're trying to become in those moments? Just something I would love for you to consider something I'd love for you to sit with. Because when we're in those circumstances, those situations, when we're around. You know, food pusher, family members. We don't need to rely on the food that they're offering us. For love. We can love them for, regardless of that. And we can love ourselves more in those moments by. Making choices that align with what we truly want for ourselves and who we truly want to be. Now if your plan before the holidays is to eat higher carb things or sugar, or just not stick with your keto nutrition. That's fine too. That is completely fine too. The most important thing is that you're making this choice ahead of time and that you're doing it from a conscious place. Not a default reaction place. And just know that. You'll probably put on some Waterweight. And it will go back down in a few days and it's not a big deal. And in fact, this is a beautiful opportunity for you too. Practice self-trust and build that level of. Determination within yourself and discipline that I can have these things. And I can get back to my usual keto nutrition because that's where I feel my best. And it doesn't have to spiral out of control into some sort of car binge, whatever. So either way. Whether you're going to stick with your keto nutrition or not. Doesn't really matter. The most important thing is that you make that decision ahead of time. That when you are in triggering environments, around family members or whatever. That you're bringing awareness to the thoughts you're having the feelings, you're feeling the emotions that are bubbling up, the storylines that you're spinning. And just acknowledging that. Then from there, we try to create a little bit of a pause before we make any food choices, because now we are coming from an empowered place where it's a conscious choice and decision, not just a reaction. And finally we can explore this idea that. Does food really bring me love and connection. Do I need it to be there in order to feel that with the people I'm around or can I feel that regardless? So I hope you found this helpful. If you did please message me. I would love to hear your thoughts or takeaways from this episode. You can find me on Instagram. I will link up that in the show notes as well, and just know that. No matter what happens over the holidays, whether you stay keto or not. This will provide you such a beautiful opportunity to learn more about yourself, to learn about the things that are triggering you so that we really can do this deeper work and heal our relationship with food. So that. Moving forward beyond the holidays. Everything feels more effortless because we have now explored what is really coming up for us. And how we can navigate that in a new way that aligns with our intentions, our goals and who it is we're really, truly want to become. I hope you enjoyed this episode and we'll see you in the next one