Tricks for Savoring Treats While Keeping Your Lifestyle in Check
The leaves are changing color. Temperatures are dropping. Pumpkin spice everything has taken over coffee shops and grocery aisles. So, this week, we’re talking about the fall season and all the celebrations that come with it. As much as I love this time of year, it starts that slippery slope of parties and gatherings that take us to the end of the calendar. Every year, clients and friends ask for tips, tricks, tools, and reminders to approach this season with their lifestyle in mind while still enjoying themselves. Here are some of my favorites to help you feel empowered through what, for many, is a challenging time of year.
The best place to start is the end. That means decide the outcome you want. Take a minute, right now, to decide your end game for 2024. Once you know, you can map out what needs to happen to get there. How do you want to feel after a celebration? Maybe you want to feel in control. Perhaps you want to feel like you’re in charge, not the treats. Maybe you then decide you want to enjoy only the treats you love most, your favorite varieties that define the season for you. For many of us, treats and food are critical elements that truly define the celebration. From every culture and every geography, food is integral to community and gathering.
Once you know how you want to feel after the festivities, ask yourself two more questions — how difficult do you want this to be? And how many treats do you need to feel satisfied? Personally, I’m not a huge sweets person, but there are certain ones that I really love: three words…Sour Patch Kids. Having a single piece isn’t going to cut it. At the same time, I don’t have to eat the entire “Family Size” bag to feel like I enjoyed my favorite treat.
Now that we know how we want to feel in the end, how easy or difficult we want this experience to be, and how much we’ll have to enjoy without feeling deprived, we’re ready to use some tools to execute the plan.
If you have a bite of something and it doesn’t taste as good as you hoped, toss it out. You don’t have to finish it. And it’s okay to throw it in the garbage. Controlled exposure can help you feel empowered around treats and food, and it’s something you can practice every day. Create a plan where you allow yourself to treat each day, no matter what. By doing this, you’re shifting the power away from the treat because you know you’re going to have it again tomorrow. We don’t have to behave like it’s the last time we’ll ever see that food.
Minimize temptation by avoiding bringing treats into the house that you know are hard to resist. If you need treats for guests, minimize temptation by choosing something you don’t love or waiting to open the package until guests arrive. The key is to understand your personal challenge and decide in advance how you want to handle it.
Work with your body. Hormones like leptin, which signals fullness, ghrelin, which tells us when we’re hungry, and cortisol, the stress hormone, can go haywire when we don’t get enough sleep or proper nutrients. We can make it easier on ourselves when treats are around by taking care of these other aspects — like sleep and balanced meals — to keep hormones in check and maintain empowerment over our choices.
Consistency is key. One day isn’t what got you to where you are now, and one day won’t derail your progress. You’re going to be fine. Maybe part of your plan is to focus on the day after a celebration, so you can return to your lifestyle right away, no matter what happened while enjoying yourself.
Whether you use this guidance for a fall gathering, a Thanksgiving celebration, a birthday party, or even a New Year’s Eve event, know that this isn’t one-size-fits-all. Everybody can take a different approach. The approach you choose for one celebration may differ from the one you choose for another. Take what works, leave the rest. Simply choose what fits best for your lifestyle, your empowerment, and your goals. Enjoy the season and your celebrations with confidence.