The Last time I spoke to you, I was worried how we would all make it through the Holiday season without ruining all our hard work getting healthy. This is the toughest part of the year for me, as it must be for many of you. The willpower we all have when we go to the supermarket and prepare our meals is not always available when we attend party after party. In fact, it may get more difficult with each one we attend. There are so many! You may feel you blew it at the first one so you may as well give up completely until January 1st. Do not give up! Do not listen to that little voice! Do you really want to have to start all over again from scratch? Of course not! You have done too much work to get where you are. Remember how sick you were when you started and how much better you feel now!
There were some strategies that worked really well for me at Thanksgiving. In my last letter to you, I told you of my quest to perfect my grandmothers’ pie recipes. I let go of that and in turn relieved myself of a great deal of stress in preparing for Thanksgiving. Someone offered to bring dessert and I knew I would not be tempted by what they brought. It worked.
I went in with a buddy and a plan! I talked to my sister before hand and we made a plan. What did we really want to cheat on? Can we help each other stick to it? It worked. We decided we would have some wine and bite size pieces of desserts that were favorites. Having her there was a big helping hand in the willpower department. In years past, I would consume quite a few of my sister in-law’s magic bars, in addition to apple pie and pumpkin pie and brownies etc…. This year, because I made the plan ahead, I ate one magic bar and savored it. I truly enjoyed every bite. I really tasted it and it was enough. It was much sweeter than I remembered.
If you do not have a friend going to a party with you that has a similar goal, you could try the idea Joy had in this month’s newsletter. It was to wear your watch on the opposite hand you usually do in order to remind you of your goals. I thought that was terrific! I am going to try it at my next function.
I served a festive but non-alcoholic beverage, as so not to indulge in too much wine, which I new would weaken my willpower. A sparkling water with a few cranberries and a wedge of lime in a pretty glass was perfect. Most guests had at least one, which I figured was one less glass of wine they had.
If you went into Thanksgiving and did not have much success, please do not give up. We are all human, and tomorrow is a new day and think of it as such. Start brand new, go for a walk, drink a lot of water and start with your first healthy meal. You will find yourself getting right back on track. Remember, we have to feed our bodies what they need to run well and not get sick.
In my last article, I talked about magazine and advertisements that made me feel like I wasn’t the perfect host or mother if I didn’t have homemade cookies decorated perfectly on every table. I told you that I had canceled certain subscriptions. I feel so much better! I have replaced baking with crafts and my sons are just as happy doing that. They picked out some ornaments from a book at the library and we made some for the tree. We put their names and the year on them. I like knowing that someday they will put them on a tree of their own and remember making them. I am sure many of you already do something like that, but I was always so busy baking, I never seemed to have the time.
This is probably the most relaxed Christmas season I have ever had. I have stuck to my self imposed limit on Sunday shopping and some surprising things have happened. It has turned into a real day off! I started with just making sure I had everything I needed so I would not have to buy anything, but it has morphed into a real day off! I make sure I get everything done that absolutely needs to be done and I take the day off! Sit down, watch a movie, read a book, sleep, do whatever you enjoy! These winter months are the perfect backdrop for really relaxing and getting that much needed rest. This has forced me to think about what I am going to buy everyone and really helped me stay on a budget. Even if you think you can’t do this every Sunday, try it one Sunday a month and see what you think!
Wishing you good health and happiness this Holiday Season,
Melissa Zonfrilli
