Midlife Madness Podcast

Enjoying the Holidays Guilt-Free: Mindful Eating and Healthy Strategies

• Martha Savloff, Dr Marty Nalda, Dr Donna Pontoriero

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Ever wondered how to maintain your health goals while still enjoying the holiday season? Join us as we promise to unravel the secrets of healthy, guilt-free festive indulgence. Through our personal stories and experiences, we shed light on the challenges of resisting holiday temptations and present practical strategies to keep your health on track. You'll learn how preparation, hydration, and a focus on protein can be your best allies, along with Dr. Donna's intriguing approach of sticking to intermittent fasting while sampling family desserts. Together, we emphasize the power of mindful eating and planning, ensuring that you can savor the holidays without the stress of overindulgence.

Thanksgiving Day can be a feast for both the soul and the body, and we share our unique insights on striking the right balance. For me, hosting family gatherings is less about the food and more about creating a seamless experience with buffet-style arrangements that cater to everyone's preferences. Listen as we discuss how prioritizing protein and incorporating exercise can keep sluggishness at bay, and how family activities can create cherished memories beyond just the table. Discover the importance of making mindful choices that honor your lifestyle goals, allowing you to immerse fully in the joys of the season without unnecessary guilt.

Speaker 1:

All right, team, let's talk about the dreaded holiday season, while you're trying to be in your healthy journey.

Speaker 2:

Yes.

Speaker 3:

Listen, I know that I am not the only one that for years because when I was young this didn't matter, that for years, because when I was young this didn't matter.

Speaker 3:

You know, when you're in your 20s and even into your 30s, you can go crazy for a weekend and yeah, it's fine, you don't even think about it, you don't even think about it.

Speaker 3:

And now that I'm not in my 20s and 30s and haven't been for a hot minute, you know it's, it's scary almost to think of how you're going to handle all this food at all these holidays especially. You know somebody like me that I've been struggling with my weight over the past couple of years until I got a bunch of stuff straightened out. You know, the holidays were scary because I knew that if I bought an outfit for Thanksgiving, I wouldn't be able to wear it two weeks later for a holiday party because the weight just sticks to you, right. So it's. You know it was something that would kind of stress me out a little bit, kind of talk it and talk sense into myself, right, because I have new coping strategies and I have new tips and trips, new tricks and tips, and we've all learned so much over the last couple of years in our journey and inspire as well to help our clients and, you know, help women our age. Get through it and be successful.

Speaker 1:

So how do you cope with it, dr Marnie? What are your personal tips? My personal.

Speaker 3:

My personal tips and tricks is when, whatever and this is this is super easy and it goes back to the same thing of. You know, we've always been told, and I know that you guys, everybody's heard this don't go grocery shopping while you're hungry.

Speaker 2:

Simple, right, right. How many times have you heard that?

Speaker 3:

All your you know. For a long time you've been hearing don't go to the grocery store while you're hungry, because you're going to throw all kinds of crap in your cart that you don't need, that you weren't there to get. That's not good for you. You're going to give into temptation, right?

Speaker 1:

You're going to go through the aisles and just grab so um, you're spanish, you're gonna get that human bread and eat it while you're shopping. While you're shopping, the croquet doesn't get in the car on the way home.

Speaker 3:

So? So you know one of the things that I personally do now before I go to an event, before I go to a party and you know, most of the time this stuff doesn't just pop up you know that this is happening. It's not news that you're going to have that Thanksgiving is on Thursday. This is that. We know this. So I prep leading up to it, right? So I make sure that the couple of days before I eat super duper healthy, I get some extra walks in.

Speaker 3:

I hydrate, especially if there's going to be alcohol consumption happening during the main event. So hydrate, you know, start hydrating now. You could hydrate ahead of time. Right On the day of I am planning on having a super healthy breakfast. Normally I skip breakfast because I do an intermittent fast, but on Thanksgiving Day I'm planning on having a protein heavy, healthy breakfast and I'm going to start drinking some electrolytes early in the morning, my water with my electrolytes.

Speaker 3:

I'm probably going to go for a walk before I get ready to, before I start getting ready, and then I'm going to eat something before I go to the party, right? So I'm not saying I'm going to eat something before I go to the party, right? So I'm not saying I'm going to have a whole meal. Obviously I'm going to go out to dinner. I just don't want to get there and be starving.

Speaker 3:

So I'm going to plan ahead by probably having, honestly, a salad, just some greens, just something in my stomach, so that when I get there, the first thing in my belly isn't some kind of carby appetizer and there's a lot of them on Thanksgiving and there's a lot of them and we enjoy them and we love them, yeah, yeah. But you know, we know and we've learned that your body will prioritize your calories and your digestion based on what you first put in it, right? So you don't want to start your digestive process with carbs, you want to slow that down so that you don't have as many blood sugar spikes, and so I'm probably going to have a salad before I leave.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, good, how about you, Dr Donna so?

Speaker 2:

I, I'm pretty, I'm pretty much similar to Dr Marty. I've actually focused this week Today's what, Tuesday, you know getting on my regular regimen and I don't eat too terribly, um, you know, through the week and I'm pretty not restrictive, but healthy, you know, um with with my meals and I do the intermittent fasting as well and I'm hydrated. I even have my water here, um with it. But I will tell you that I've already pre thought out my game plan in my head. I'm the baker in the family and so for me that works out great, Because after I baked some things, I don't want to eat it.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I don't want to eat it. Um, the sweets is what, like, really does a lot of people in. Also, I will try it, and so what I do? I don't recommend you do this with strangers. I go to my family members plates and say I want a bite and I'll take a bite to try it, but I won't eat like a whole slice of pie or not, not because I want to deprive myself, but because I just want to taste it.

Speaker 3:

I have a vision. Have you seen that extra long fork?

Speaker 1:

Yes, I have.

Speaker 3:

I mean, that's not a bad idea but maybe we need to hang this out to our clients all week.

Speaker 2:

I, you know I I'm in the kitchen a lot, so I'm very active with it. I will definitely have something for breakfast. Um, similar to what Dr Marty said. Um, protein heavy, because I don't want to go there starving. Um, there are certain things that I want to have on Thanksgiving. I'm definitely like having the Turkey, Um, you know, um, a lot of the vegetables that we make aren't terrible. Um, some mashed potatoes I'm not a big mashed potato person, things like that but last year I did this. I took the family dog for the walk. I volunteered and I did that, and I'm planning on doing the same thing.

Speaker 2:

I took him for a nice long walk, provided it's not raining or snowing or ice or anything like that, but staying active, like I make it a point when I finish my plate. I make a plate. I don't overfill it. I make it a point to remove my plate. I don't sit there with an empty plate and pick on this and pick on that. I get up from the table and, whosever house I'm at, I'll you know, maybe start putting some things away, maybe I'll start doing the dishes, maybe I'll start loading the dishwasher. You know, things like that. I move, I move away from the table and I know in my mind that any of that food that is on the table I could make at any time of the year. I don't have to have it all at once, and that's something really important to keep in mind.

Speaker 3:

Okay, because there's nothing on that table that you can't make throughout the year as a treat at some other point, as a treat or a healthier version of it.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, maybe cranberries. Maybe you can't get cranberries and there's such a big misconception about the cranberries If you add a lot of sugar to it. Yeah well, sure, but you can make. You can, you can change, change that and make it into a healthier version. So there's nothing on that table that you can't make any time of the year and make it a healthier version, and so that's something really to keep in mind with. And let's talk alcohol. Everybody likes their glass of wine cocktail. Whatever the case may be, I have found that I used to be able to drink a whole lot more wine. I have found, as I've gotten older midlife in my 50s, my body is not happy.

Speaker 2:

I'm one glass maybe two glasses, and that's it. Because as you get older, your body has a hard time processing the alcohol, so you may want to eliminate that or just have one glass.

Speaker 3:

Yeah or alternate, right you know, we've heard this one too.

Speaker 3:

If you're having one alcoholic drink, make sure you have, you know, eight ounces of water right after to go along with it, you know. So what you feel with the alcohol a lot of times is the dehydration right. So stay hydrated, make sure that you are getting in your water. And also, if you're alternating, you know one alcoholic beverage and something with a glass of water, there's only so much you could drink like there's only so many hours in the day, and so it will naturally curb your consumption.

Speaker 1:

I find yeah, yeah well you coach Martha, I don't think about it. I don't. I don't. I don't hyper think about the day, the food, this and that I I'm, not I'm. It depends on the person, their personality and and their food relationship to me. Like seeing all that food grosses me out. I just like seeing a whole plate of food like filled up, like that it gross, grosses me out. I can't. So I don't really think about it. I don't. I'm a you I host, so I'm usually running around and and for me, you know, having this, these types of events, is like a normal thing in my life. You know we have like impromptu family events all the time, so you know we have like impromptu family events all the time.

Speaker 3:

So um that that's a minimum of 12 people.

Speaker 1:

So um practiced uh, it's like for me it's just like another day that we're getting together and and and I I'm coordinating, I'm putting the things in order. You know that it has to have a flow. You know I'm more, I'm more like into, like the the process of um of. I know it's crazy, but how the things have to be set up. You have to have the protein first and then the sides together. My husband puts one side over here and the protein over there. It doesn't make sense. You got to put the protein in your plate first, right, like it has to be. We set up like a buffet style because we're so many people, so it has to flow.

Speaker 1:

So my brain is more so about that than the food. And then I always wait less to get food for some reason. So now when I see people like eating and all that food, it just kind of grosses me out. So I don't really think about it at all. I don't even plan for it. To be honest, I am, I just haven't, I don't. I'm just not that person.

Speaker 1:

But what a couple things that I do do at the moment in time is. I usually load up with protein the most than the other sides, and I also like exercise beforehand, if I have the time, and then go for an exercise after, like go for a walk or something after, like, I don't like. I don't like the coma sensation in my body. I don't like like the turkey coma, the carb coma, like laying like I feel, like I feel already feeling inflammation in my body, like immediately. I just don't like, I don't like that feeling. So my brain goes to, I don't want to sweat at night because I ate too many sugars and I drank wine. I don't want to be achy in my body. It's not worth it. It's not worth it. But also I don't, I don't, I don't, um, I just don't worry about it. Like you know, I'm an adult and if I want to take a day to stuff my face, then fine, I'm gonna make that, I'm gonna make that decision and pay the consequences of it. And if I don't want to do that because I don't want to sweat at night and I don't want to feel inflammation in my body, then I don't.

Speaker 1:

And I, you know and this is like a very unpopular thing, but I tell that to my clients I said, look, you know it's, it's a lifestyle program. It's one day a year if you feel like you want to, you want to make the decision to stuff your face, and then you know, take a couple of days after to recuperate, then that's your decision. It's a lifestyle program. So you know, go for it. But just make sure you know that these are the consequences and if you're okay with that, you're at peace with that and you can regroup quickly and keep keep going quickly, then go for it.

Speaker 1:

If you're one of those people that you stuff your face and you self sabotage and now you can't get yourself back together for another week or two, then don't even don't do it. Don't do it. So it's very, it's very specific to the person and I think people, people stress themselves out so much about this. One freaking day of you know, of food. It's like that can even be worse your cortisol levels are freaking high because you're so stressed out that this, all the food is gonna be in front of you.

Speaker 1:

Stop stressing like let's just like, let's calm down. You know it's one day, it's okay. You know you want to eat stuffing? Eat stuffing. You want to eat cranberry, go for it. Enjoy your family. Enjoy. That's the way that you can really make sure that your lifestyle is a lifestyle. There's. Life is going to happen. A birthday party is going to happen, a cruise is going to happen, a this is going to happen. That's going to happen. The whole, the whole um thing is learning how to manage yourself when you're in these positions and enjoying life and knowing how to to keep going afterwards. That's fine, yeah, no, that's my take on it. You know it's, it's um. It's a day to enjoy with a family, and let me tell you that enjoying family doesn't mean stuffing your face with them. It can mean something else. It can be great conversation, that can be going on a walk with them. It can be, you know, having games like we. We like to do games in my family, so I already have a list of all like wacky games.

Speaker 3:

Go on in on instagram and all those things keep you active, too afterwards. So instead of instead of stuffing your face and sitting down to a carbon food coma, you stuff your face and then you do something afterwards. Yeah, you know, and so that's part of the lifestyle, though, and that's something that a lot of people don't do. A lot of people, the tradition is stuff your face and then sit down and watch football for a week, or go to sleep.

Speaker 1:

That's like you can do so, like stay up and enjoy your family, but stop stressing about it.

Speaker 2:

You know, you know what to those those little games and activities that you do in between? It gives you time for your body to register and say I'm full, yes, right, you know. And getting up, having something to eat, you know, having protein heavy, and then getting up and doing something. It gives you that 20 to 30 minutes that your stomach can signal to your brain that you're full and when you feel it especially if you've been doing like the reveal lifestyle program and you've been eating really, really healthy and this is a little off track your body's going to let you know. Your body's going to let you know and say, hmm, no more.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, scream back at you, and you know what To do, like games with your family members is so out of the norm that these happy hormones start coming up. You're laughing, you're, you know, hugging with your family. Your competitive nature is coming up. There's, like other feelings that are coming up that you don't normally have time, you don't do during the year you know what I mean and it's so fun to see, like your grandma, your mom, you know, become this kid doing this game with you. It was. We had a game last year where I got a whole bunch of cash. I got a bunch of like ones and tens and twenties and I threw like $200 bills up there and I scattered it in a big table and we blindfolded our family, our family. You should see my grandmother doing this and it could be a spatula, spatula, spatula.

Speaker 1:

The spatula, they had to they had 30 seconds to pick up as much cash and put it in a basket. And whatever they put in their basket, um, they were. They kept so when my grandmother was doing it. Oh, and I threw some lottery tickets in there too. So when my grandmother was doing it, she didn't know that we were putting stuff on top of her spatula because she's blindfolded. She was like hardcore, wanting to get these hundred dollar bills and these lottery tickets, like that kind of stuff brings life to your soul, you know, more so than stuffing your face with food that you're going to pay for later, right. But if you choose to do that, just free yourself, guys free. Just free yourself all the stress, right.

Speaker 3:

Well, a couple of things, Okay. So we, we all have strategies, but they're all kind of the same strategy, if you think about it. Ok, as Dr Donna said, you're a grown up. You can make this food any time of the year. So quit making the food the center of the universe. In this case, as all of us have said, load up with protein. Protein keeps you full. Protein keeps you satiated. You will not be wanting as much of the carby stuff if you're not hungry, okay, so focus on the protein.

Speaker 3:

That turkey you know most people don't make turkey all year. So eat the turkey, eat the meats first. Right, you know it is a lifestyle, right? So what do you value? Enjoy the time with your family, play games, have fun, be active, right? I think all three of us said that. So if you're normally not the most active one, well then, you know what. Help clean up. We're not talking. Be active, as in go run a marathon.

Speaker 3:

When you're done with Thanksgiving dinner, we mean, don't sit on the couch and vegetate entirely. Be involved, stay awake, go for a walk, play with your grandkids, play with you. Know, be playful, because that brings you happiness. And when you're you know, when you're happy, those stress hormones don't pop out. Don't pop out as much, right? The other thing I'm going to say if you are on a GLP-1, you know that this is not going to be a good day for you if you go crazy, right? So again, hydrate, maybe take some digestive enzymes If you're planning on going crazy with stuff that you know your body's not going to do well, because I know people that get themselves into a. You know they start eating out of where they should be eating on some of these injections and they end up in the hospital throwing up dehydrated Like it's. It's hardcore. So if you are on a GLP-1, please take extra care to you know, again, you can eat this food any time of the year, it doesn't have to be all at once in one day.

Speaker 1:

And if you are on the Reveal Lif lifestyle program and you decide to go for it, then make sure you do a protein day the next day. Yep, yep, yep and allow yourself two to three days to get.

Speaker 2:

Get back to February mode and make sure, and make sure to be honest with with yourself number one and your health coach. If you know, if you're doing a program, be honest with yourself, be honest with your health coach, because we're not going to judge you. We want to help you. We want to help you get through that point and get you back on track, because it's hard Sometimes. It's hard because then you have the leftovers right, then you have the leftovers, and we want to help you get past that and get you back on track and not get you stuck in that roller coaster oh, I'm off track, I can't get back on.

Speaker 1:

You can pack up those leftovers. This is what I do pack them up, make sure you stock your pan with a bunch of ziploc, big ziploc bags. And when everybody that that leaves your house should leave with a bunch of food, yep, but I do. I just like. By the time everybody leaves, there's no leftovers, and that's on purpose and that's just also because my husband and I don't eat stuff regularly. So, um, set yourself up for for leftovers, make sure you you have. And if you're a guest.

Speaker 2:

If you're a guest, don't take the leftovers. Just say no, thank you. I probably won't eat this. Yeah, that's it.

Speaker 1:

Don't overcook either, like, just like. I mean, I'm, I'm, we're guilty of that. I'll be, just, you know, preparing too much food. We've, we've gotten a little bit. You know better at that, but just be intentional with all of these different things. I hope this helped you guys. I, you know, we, we hope that you have an amazing holiday and let me tell you, christmas is around the corner.

Speaker 3:

Well, these things that we're talking about, all the things that we're talking about, apply to pretty much like Coach.

Speaker 2:

Martha's.

Speaker 3:

It's a lifestyle right, so this is really good practice for the rest of the holiday season.

Speaker 2:

It's your choice. It's your choice on what you decide to do, but just know that you can get back on track, and it's just the one day.

Speaker 1:

Just the one day, don't kick yourself in the butt, don't you know?

Speaker 3:

go on a depression thing, just because don't turn it into thanks christmas right like one day, yeah, thursday yeah, don't turn it to thanks christmas, it's so true.

Speaker 1:

all right, guys, we hope this helped you out. Listen, you're not're not alone. We're all in the same boat here. We're all in the same boat. We will be doing all the things that you guys have to do as well, and so here we are to help you guys. We hope this helped Until next time.