Food Guilt During The Holidays

Photo by Tima Miroshnichenko on Pexels.com

Can you believe that today is the last of October? That means that Thanksgiving is only three weeks away and right around the corner from Thanksgiving are all the wonderful holidays celebrated around the world such as Hanukkah, Christmas, and Kwanza. By the way in Canada Thanksgiving is celebrated in October!

During this of the year, many of us may experience something I would call food guilt. Meaning you feel guilty for eating badly during the holidays. But bad is something you should not feel during these special days especially when these holidays are meant to be a time of coming together and a time of joy. With that joy comes delicious foods and a variety of foods! Some of us may cook traditional foods during Thanksgiving such as turkey, stuffing, ham, sweet potato casserole, and some people put their own spins on Thanksgiving cooking creating dishes that they like and enjoy. For me, I love doing a mix of traditional and non-traditional foods during Thanksgiving.

Now when it comes to food let me tell you I used to be scared to consume so many calories during these holidays and be overly full to the point that I couldn’t buckle my pants. I used the think that during Thanksgiving you have to eat a lot of food but actually, you don’t. There is no rule that says you have to eat 3 plates of food during the holidays. The best way to approach eating during the holidays without feeling any guilt about it is to start with one plate of food and go in with the mindset of portion controlling how much food you take, then after that, if you feel like you still have some room for more then take another plate but do not overeat and most importantly allow your body some time to digest your first plate.

You should be able to enjoy what you eat during the holidays without feeling restricted. Eating is all about balance, find your balance and enjoy food!

Written By: Vanessa J.

Blogmas Day 18 – Keeping Christmas Simple

I love the holiday season even though Thanksgiving is my most favorite holiday because I just love to eat! Over the years I always kept Christmas pretty simple. When I was younger I love Christmas and opening presents. But as I got older and into my teens there were Christmases that I did not receive any presents and that was ok because to me I just loved spending time with friends and family. I still continued to buy gifts, especially for my younger cousins because I wanted them to enjoy Christmas but it wasn’t a big deal if I didn’t receive anything. My goal was just to see everyone else happy.

This year now that I have a child all the holidays are extra special. At first I wasn’t going to buy a tree but then my husband was like we have to get a tree it’s our son’s first Christmas. So we decided to get a 4ft tree and just buy Christmas lights no ornaments and it looks just as beautiful as any other tree. Sometimes during the holidays we set up to much expectations for ourselves and get stressed out. But the beauty in the holidays is already there and all we have to do is keep it simple!

Our Christmas Tree!

Our Christmas Tree

Blogmas Day 17 – Breastfeeding Bags

As a new mom breastfeeding was a high priority for me but I struggled to do it and my son could not latch on correctly. Even though I was sad about it I still wanted my son to get the nutrients from breast milk. So a little after giving birth I got my breast pump and was excited to start. Little did I know pumping is a full time job and can get messy at times. For me I don’t have a large supply of breast milk but even if it was a little bit I wanted my son to have it. 

I didn’t realize how messy it could get to transfer breast milk into breast milk storage bags and back into the bottle. So I finally stumbled upon the Kiinde bottle. My husband had gotten a free bottle in a sample box sent to us but I didn’t notice how good the storage bags are. The kiinde storage bag allows you to pump directly into the bag by using adapters that can connect to any breast pump and the storage bags come with a cap which makes it easier then the traditional storage bags to use.

I absolutely love it and now i’m not spilling  all over the place!

Blogmas Day 16 – Let’s Stay Hydrated

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You hear it pretty much all the time drink 8 glasses of water a day. Even though it seems simple, it’s not always easy to do. Many times I have even struggled to get in 4 glasses a day. Why is that? I’m not sure so people say that it is because they do not like the taste of water, or water is just plain for them. To be honest I love drinking water it’s refreshing but sometimes I do forget and have to remind myself.

When you do not drink water, the body becomes dehydrated and it can happen very quickly. Our bodies need water because our cells need water to carry out its functions in the body. Water is the most essential part of life and we can only survive 3 days without water. Thank goodness we can obtain water from other food sources but there is nothing like drinking water itself.

While I was completing my nutrition coaching course there was a chapter on drinking water and it brought up some interesting things that I didn’t associate with not drinking water. This part of the chapter explained that not drinking water can actually cause some of the most common symptoms we experience just because the body may be dehydrated such as heartburn, backaches, and headaches. I will leave the link below so you can read about this:

Reference:

http://www.watercure.com/wondersofwater.html

Remember this holiday and into the new year to stay hydrated!