How did you do this Thanksgiving holiday - Did you survive Turkey Day? Did you stay true to your normal clean eating habits or did you "go off the rails" on a grain and sugar binge? This holiday was the first holiday where I really felt comfortable maintaining my eating habits - I decided that I wanted to stay as close to my normal eating routine as possible and made the exception of having more "sugar" than I normally would by having some Paleo friendly desserts. Both sides of my family humored me and made sure that there were things that I could eat - even altering traditional recipes so that I would also be able to eat it - which was very much appreciated by me!
One important thing about maintaining a Paleo lifestyle over the holidays is to stay true to your normal routine - eating clean and continuing to work out - but also finding balance. Keep your normal routine, do a workout and eat clean for the holiday weekend and then make a cognizant decision to have one dessert or eat your mom's candied yams. Just make sure you don't use the beginning of the holiday season as an excuse for why you are abandoning what you've been doing before the holidays started. In addition to navigating the holiday meals, anyone that works in an office also has to face the piles of desserts, cookies, candies, popcorn, etc that begin to show up in office kitchens everywhere between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Remember to find balance, but also decide is eating that cookie really worth it? Tasting some of my co-worker's famous home-made biscotti last year was worth it for me - plan what you're going to try and don't beat yourself up if you do have somethings that you wouldn't normally eat or drink over the holiday. What is most important is that you CHOOSE to eat it or not, and that you don't use a small indulgence or exception to your normal eating and fitness habits as the catalyst to abandon all of the healthy lifestyle changes you've made. Keep on track and know that you are in control of your food choices and maintaining your workout schedule - whatever those choices are they are yours.So remember this holiday season is yours to enjoy and the choices you make are exactly that - choices that you can make. Just like vacation (but the holiday season is a little bit longer) remember to live a little but do what you want to do! There are many great Paleo or Primal alternatives out there that you can share with others as well.
Here are some great resources that I've found to help you stay on track over the holidays, and also to give you a little guidance when you slip up. Are there any other resources you use, recipes you tried over Thanksgiving that were a big hit? Please share what you tried.
- From Nell Stephenson's Paleo Nutrition and Fitness Blog: Planning for Holiday Parties and 30 Days of Paleo Holiday Ideas
- From the Whole 9 - Great Thanksgiving Recipes (could also be used over the winter holidays) Steal this Meal Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 and the Guide to Eating Dirty
- Everyday Paleo - Delicious Paleo Pumpkin Pie recipe and Paleo Cookie recipe
