Is it terrible of me to say, on Thanksgiving Monday, that I can't really get behind holidays that seem to be about eating your face off? I mean, Thanksgiving is one, but Christmas and Easter are pretty much the same: at their epicentre is a ginormous meal where the tradition is to eat until you have to undo your pants. Now, I know lots of people would argue that these holidays are wonderful times where one should surround oneself with family and friends and enjoy the abundance of good company and good food. I wouldn't profess to knock that tradition if it's something you look forward to and thoroughly enjoy...
My family and I elected to stay home and have a quiet little Thanksgiving this year. One reason for that is because we are all reclusive trolls in our hearts, but that's for another post. What I want to take a closer look at today is the anxiety that surrounds the food aspect of the Eat Your Face Off Holidays. For anyone who has struggled with their weight, the EYFOH's are about success or failure, and as such there is a lot of anxiety: you're going to war with yourself and a lot of careful planning and preparation and strategizing has to happen in order to come out on the other side without needing therapy.
Ok, you think, how am I going to approach the EYFOH? What will I eat the day before? How will I prepare myself on the day? Maybe I should just starve myself beforehand. No, that won't work because I'll have no willpower and I'll eat a hole in the fabric of the universe when I see all the food. I'll just have a light breakfast. I won't go too hungry. I'll have a snack beforehand too. I won't obsess about it. I won't feel guilty. I'll skip the bread. I'll load up my plate with salad. I'll just have a little bit of the things I really love. And then I won't feel bad about myself later. I'll work out beforehand. I'll work out after. I'll do an extra hour of cardio for the next week. And how will I get around the (insert aging female relative) who will tell me to eat more? I won't feel guilty when I tell her no. I'll just take it and leave it on my plate. I won't pour more wine when (insert whatever offensive person) comments on my weight, lifestyle, parenting, etc. I will eat and I will enjoy it and I will not feel bad and I will not let all the other garbage affect me. I will not FAIL AND EAT TOO MUCH.
Anyone else ever felt like that? I've been fighting with weight problems long enough that the anxiety over EYFOH's starts weeks or even months in advance. Talk to me in July about Christmas dinner and my blood pressure will go up and I'll start wondering how I'm going to get out of it. And I'll tell you one thing: it's a piss-poor way to celebrate the abundance and beauty and love in our lives! Because honestly: I am not a Gratitude Grinch, really I'm not. I try to cultivate gratitude on a daily basis. I love that we have a special long weekend for it just before the snow flies and it's all gorgeous and colourful outside. I'd just totally rather go for a hike or something than spend three days preparing the approach, the strategy, the fail-safes, and finally the battle.
So I'm not playing that game anymore. I prepared a delicious but simple and healthy meal for my immediate family, and we talked about the things we are grateful for over dinner...and it was wonderful. Best Thanksgiving ever.
Also, incidentally, my family is still speaking to me after I made the cheesecake crust out of cricket flour.
Okay team, I haven't done a crazy nutrition experiment in a while and I think it's time. Lately there has been a lot of research bubbling to the surface about artificial sweeteners and gut health. I have been a staunch defender of artificial sweeteners (in moderation of course! FFS) for a good long while now so believe me when I say it hurts a little bit to say this: it looks like they really aren't very good for us. Now, before you laugh at me and run to the store for some Coke, allow me to just stress for a moment that too much sugar isn't good either. When I first started hearing and reading this new information, my first thought was "well, I hardly get any of that stuff so it doesn't affect me much." I drink maybe one or two cans of coke zero a week and I've never had cause to feel too guilty about it...but then I started thinking: I have a Quest bar for breakfast every day. There is sucralose in greens powder and protein powder, pre-workout, intra-workout, and post-workout drinks (not that I use any of those on a regular basis but, you know, sometimes). Maybe my guts could stand to improve if I ditched that stuff! So I waited until my last box of Quest bars was empty (had my last Quest bar yesterday - and you know what I found in it? Like, actually IN the bar? A big-ass chunk of cardboard. Made it not so hard to say goodbye and good riddance to them!) and starting today I will be artificial sweetener-free for thirty days. Should be interesting.
If you'd like more info on the artificial sweetener/gut health correlation, here's some recommended
reading:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/artificial-sweeteners-linked-to-obesity-epidemic-scientists-say-1.2769196
http://www.prevention.com/health/diabetes/artificial-sweeteners-diet-soda-affect-gut-bacteria-and-weight-gain
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/09/140917-sweeteners-artificial-blood-sugar-diabetes-health-ngfood/
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/09/140917131634.htm
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