The Strong Mom Podcast
Moms, it’s time to take control! Hosted by 3x Olympian Lauren Regula and her husband Dave, The Strong Mom Podcast is here to help you clear the chaos, rebuild your strength, and thrive as a mom. After having three kids in three years and silently battling postpartum depression, Lauren transformed her story, creating the Strong Mom Method to support moms like you. Tune in for powerful stories and tips from experts—from athletes to Navy SEALs to everyday moms—helping you bridge the gap between fitness, fat loss, mindset, and mental health. Get ready to rewrite your story and reclaim the strongest version of yourself.
The Strong Mom Podcast
Enjoying the Holidays with Confidence and Balance: Wisdom from an Olympian Mom
Ever wondered why trying to burn off those extra holiday calories with exercise doesn't quite work? Join us for an eye-opening holiday episode on the Strong Mom podcast, where Lauren and Dave debunk common fitness myths and share strategies that actually help maintain balance during the festive season. We'll promise you'll gain a new perspective on how conscious consumption can transform not just your holiday eating habits but your overall wellness. Say goodbye to unrealistic expectations and hello to a more mindful approach to the holidays.
Our conversation is packed with practical advice and personal anecdotes to help moms navigate the holiday whirlwind without compromising their well-being. We introduce the concept of strategic holiday nutrition planning, emphasizing systems over willpower. From mindful meal planning to the art of embracing indulgence without guilt, we equip you with tools to make intentional choices that support both your health goals and your enjoyment of the season. Get ready to learn how to enjoy your favorite treats without feeling like you have to "earn" them through endless workouts.
Want to know the secret to enjoying festive drinks without the side of guilt? We've got you covered with smart swaps and alcohol management tips to keep your holiday spirits high without derailing your progress. This episode is all about finding joy in traditions and creating lasting memories while maintaining a healthy balance. So tune in as we explore the subtleties of holiday indulgence, helping you celebrate with confidence and mindfulness, ensuring this holiday season is your most balanced yet.
Links
Start HERE: 10min Clarity Call
https://bit.ly/YT-BookYourCall
The Strong Mom Method
strongmomstrongfam.com
Join Our Facebook Group
https://bit.ly/FBGroup-Pod
Follow Me On Instagram!
...
You know you have something to go to when you're hungry.
Speaker 2:Conscious consumption doesn't just apply to your food. Where else does it apply?
Speaker 1:We don't realize how many we're consuming when we drink anything that has calories.
Speaker 2:The fewer moving parts, the easier.
Speaker 1:We don't make the best decisions, sometimes in the moment.
Speaker 2:The earlier you stop, the better you're going to sleep.
Speaker 1:Look at the calorie counts before you order anything.
Speaker 2:If you can forgive yourself, your success rate is going to go up.
Speaker 1:Welcome to the Strong Mom podcast. I am so excited. I'm Lauren.
Speaker 2:I'm.
Speaker 1:Dave, and we have a program called Strong Mom. We help moms get their shit together essentially physically, mentally and emotionally and during the holidays is a very taxing time for a lot of moms, so we're going to talk about ways to stay on track during the holiday season today.
Speaker 2:And sometimes the goal we'll jump right into it. But the goal is not to lose weight or stress out during the holidays. The goal is to, for a lot of our clients, at least stay the same. Literally. Hitting the ground running in January is amazing, like don't play around in December, don't get too caught up and trying to, you know, get out ahead of everything in the beginning. Or we know how much stress comes with the holidays presents, kids, vacations, all that stuff yeah, it's funny.
Speaker 1:I don't know if you remember me saying this, but after the 49th, what felt like the 49th box of putting the decoration boxes away. I was like the holidays are no joke, it's a lot of work.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think people want to pretend right. It's like oh, it's not that big a deal, it won't stress me out, it's not. Okay, let's be honest for one second. Yeah, it can crush.
Speaker 2:Yeah, the holidays can, so, like you said, who has memories of their childhood and their mom stressing out about family coming over the meal, the presents, the Christmas tree, all that stuff. Those are kind of vivid memories for my brothers and I for sure, and I'm guessing we're not the only ones. Not to get into my deep trauma right now If I cry, I'm sorry. The good thing is my mom doesn't listen, so she'll never know.
Speaker 1:Hi Mom. No, for real, though. There's all those memes that say what we think people are going to do when they come over and it shows them getting the magnifying glass out on the baseboards. We take care of so many things when we do have people over, when we are hosting, when we do want to make sure everything is quote unquote perfect, which we know it's never going to be perfect. So, yeah, it is a lot of work, and the goal, I think, is to enjoy the holiday season.
Speaker 1:We hear it's a magical time of the year and it's supposed to be about those that you love, it's supposed to be about family, and it can easily get out of hand if we don't reel it back in. I can tell you there were many past holiday seasons where I just wanted it to be over, and it comes around once a year and then I get all excited and I set these unrealistic expectations on can't wait for this time. Oh, the holidays are coming. I love the holidays, and then, all of a sudden, that turns very quickly into I just can't wait for this to be over. It's just, it's a lot.
Speaker 2:I wish you would have told me and we could have talked about it kind of commiserated together, because I probably felt the same way watching you.
Speaker 1:I have no doubt, but that's what we're talking about today. The reason why it matters to continue to take care of ourselves, no matter if it's the holiday season, if it's not is so that we're able to show up all these amazing gains at the moment. But we are just doing our best to stay consistent so that all the progress that we have made during the year doesn't go anywhere and we're able to feel more at peace, we're able to be more present.
Speaker 2:So let's talk about hacking.
Speaker 1:I hate the word hack, but yeah, I get your point.
Speaker 2:Okay, no one's listening to this, if they didn't think they were getting some hacks. Everyone loves hacks.
Speaker 1:That's true. People do love hacks.
Speaker 2:All right, so let's talk about tricks and tips.
Speaker 1:Well, we're going to talk about those for sure. I just hate the word hack, I guess. So really quickly, and I'll let you-.
Speaker 2:Is that because of what you did at the plate?
Speaker 1:I hope subtle people do listen to this. Okay, here we go. I'll let you take this because you have a better context, so let's talk about.
Speaker 2:I mean not really, but I'll take it anyways.
Speaker 1:Okay, well, let's talk about at the holidays in particular.
Speaker 2:Quickly, we want to talk about nutrition versus exercise and really the purpose of each, because I think it gets mixed up, twisted around. People think they need to, and this is still a thing I know from talking to people. They think they need to do more exercise during the holidays to not put the weight on, to not head into the new year feeling we get these crazy words right. People say like soft and mushy all these type of things, and even the people that need to lose like five pounds feel that way. So it's a common thing. But I want to touch nutrition. Let's be clear Nutrition is for your body composition. Exercise is for your wellness, your physical fitness and your mental fitness. Those are very different things, right? Can you exercise like crazy and lose weight? Yes, the likelihood of it. It's not great. It's a great compliment to the eating piece. Again, it's for the physical, mental, wellness and and fitness. So the idea that you can burn the dessert off or with the drinks champagne, whatever you're doing, the cranberry jelly or whatever, what is it? Jello?
Speaker 2:yeah our son loves, uh the like ancient recipe, cranberry jello from my grandmother, will's's great grandmother, that we hold in such high esteem. It probably came off the back of like the jello box in like 1962, right.
Speaker 2:But we think she invented it Like it's this great thing. Anywho, let's just, as we get started, let's erase that out, exercise the food thing, cause it's especially at the holidays. Your odds, like during the year, are, let's just be clear, probably better because you're eating at least moderate calorie food at the holidays. I don't know you, but I do know you. You're probably gorging dessert and ice cream and those big meals and parties and you should like. It's okay. Food on some level is part of our kind of social fabric and the sharing of memories with people, family especially. So we're not trying to get rid of it, but we're going to teach you how to be smart about it. Lauren wants to teach you how to hack it. I don't love that word. I don't love the word.
Speaker 2:All right, here's a great example, though I know tired of me talking. The average cookie has 150 calories. Average person, say, eats three of them. Yeah, no one's eating. These are like low-cal cookies. Don't even hit that Starbucks where you can see the actual calorie counts. Or Panera, big Panera guy for me. Right now you are Drop Grace off at volleyball. Take my computer, maybe. Do a maple braid yeah, but at the holidays it's terrible the odds. Braid, yeah, uh, but at the holidays it's terrible. The odds of you burning that, those 500 calories off in a workout. Not good right not good.
Speaker 1:Well, what I was going to say, too, was a lot of times we want to take things off of our plate. We're like I'm too busy. So we moms in general, we want to simplify. So if we think that we're going to go into the holiday season with the mindset that I'm going to burn off my dessert with extra working out, you're not spending an extra 30 minutes in the gym every day, you're not spending an extra hour. I'm not talking 30 minutes, I'm saying an extra 30 minutes. So let's just also be mindful of we have an idea that we want to burn it off, but doesn't mean it's going to happen.
Speaker 2:Time is at a premium. What's the way to think about it?
Speaker 1:So we like the words conscious consumption and we're actually going to teach you some ways that we've managed to stay on track and feel like nothing's changed. I don't feel like I'm ever depriving.
Speaker 2:So what exactly Give us a good soundbite? Conscious consumption is.
Speaker 1:Conscious consumption is just understanding where your calories are, where they stand, where they're coming from, how many calories are in a serving, understanding what a serving is. Holidays, it's easy. I know this like I'm a huge peppermint bark person. I could reach my hand in that peppermint bark bin I don't know how many times and go back for more and more and more, but the minute I'm reminded of how many calories are in one little square, it stops me. I need to understand.
Speaker 2:Before you grab the thing. That's the problem. I think it's too late for most people. They eat, eat, eat, consume unconscious consumption and then at the end of the day they're like oh wait, I had 17 cookies. Oh, and, by the way, they're each a hundred calories. Right, conscious consumption doesn't just apply to your food. Where else does it apply?
Speaker 1:Everywhere. Conscious consumption and what you're taking in from social media. Conscious consumption of everything that's going on around us Exercise. We want to be sure that we're being conscious of Alcohol. We want to be sure. Right, it's so easy to be on your third drink and say, well, it's just my second, it's because we forget or someone tops you off and you don't count it. You're like, well, it is still my first glass.
Speaker 2:How many people have said that they go to the restaurant. Maybe they get the glass of wine, they get the big pour from the rookie waiter or waitress gives you the big pour, but it's just one. It's just one, it's actually two maybe three, to be honest yeah, it's crazy, and we're not advocating, uh, for zero drinking, by the way no, conscious consumption just means you're.
Speaker 1:You have some type of awareness right. Think about the holiday foods like the chocolate covered almonds, the things that are so easy to just put your hand in.
Speaker 2:Grab a whole bunch and things that sit on the counter during the holidays. For sure, peppermint bark has got to be the worst it's so good though I mean I live, I love.
Speaker 1:I'd say I live for peppermint bar. You don't live for it, but I love peppermint bark anyways, anything mint, I'm a mint. I feel like mint chocolate is polarizing. I could be wrong. People either think mint and chocolate go together or they think it doesn't.
Speaker 2:Disagree. I don't think anyone who doesn't like.
Speaker 1:I know lots of people who don't like mint chocolate. They think it's.
Speaker 2:Do you know what's polarizing what?
Speaker 1:Lauren.
Speaker 2:What David? Pineapple and pizza. That's polarizing. What no, lauren? What David?
Speaker 1:Pineapple and pizza. That's polarizing, what? No, maybe, I see it. We grew up on Hawaiian. It was called Hawaiian Ham and pineapple.
Speaker 2:Do you know why that makes sense?
Speaker 1:Can't wait for you to break this down.
Speaker 2:No, you're Canadian. Don't understand pizza, kind of like you know what I mean, like you're just on the fringes of pizza culture up there, all fringes of pizza culture up there.
Speaker 1:All right Facts. Anyways, let's talk about how I don't like again, I do not like the word hack, but you're going to talk about how you yes, let's talk about how we can manage. How about that? Be in control of what we are putting on our plates and into our bodies during the holiday season without taking up a lot of brain space or feeling like you're making, you're a bad person because you're eating, you know, dessert or whatever.
Speaker 2:Quickly just address the hacking part. Can you hack?
Speaker 1:Oh, you cannot hack it. You can't. You can make a decision. It's a decision. Everything we do is a decision. There's no hack it, just let's find ways to make.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there's no short, there's no shortcuts. Yeah, people will say like uh, the hack, the nutrition hack, is don't eat something.
Speaker 1:Right, it's a strategy. So whenever people give you hacks, it might be a strategy that's a little bit more simple to follow maybe, yeah, okay, I could see that, but it's still a strategy and people love to use the word hacks because everyone's like. It's like psychologically if we know that it's going to be easier, even though I say the exact same thing. But this is a hack and this isn't.
Speaker 2:it'll probably stick in, people get drawn to the hacks 100%.
Speaker 1:So let's talk about strategies Because, really, what it comes down to, a lot of times people try and rely on willpower. So if you can think about going through this holiday season having strategies my favorite I have a lot of favorite quotes. One of my favorite quotes is we don't rise to the occasion, we don't rise to the goal that we're trying to hit. We fall to the level of our systems. We fall to the strategies that we have in place, but most people don't even have them. Like, if I say, hey, what's your holiday strategy to just make sure you stay on track, most people look at me like I'm crazy, whereas if I say, hey, to keep on track nutritionally specifically, most people are like, oh, I'm just going to do my best not to eat as many desserts. It's like they rely on willpower and I hate to break it to everybody but me, you.
Speaker 2:There isn't a person who's Well, there's science around willpower being limited, right Like it's like for all the video game nerds, which are probably zero moms. Did you play video games?
Speaker 1:Well, like I had a Sega growing up yeah, but like did you play? I feel like I, I mean, I played duck hunt.
Speaker 2:I remember duck hunt bro, duck hunt was like the worst nintendo game I didn't even know it was on nintendo.
Speaker 1:I had a sega I'm older nintendo.
Speaker 2:Okay, if there's any atari people out there that would be interesting.
Speaker 2:Yeah, okay, anyways again fringe of video game culture too. So what I was going to say is willpower is like your power bar in a video game. Let's say you're playing Punch Out old school or any video game where you have. You know, you see, the power bar. It drains sound effects. It drains during the day and so, like you have more willpower in the morning than you do at night, which is why people tend to go off the rails If you're hungry at night, losing strategy.
Speaker 1:Yeah, go off the rails if you're hungry at night. Losing strategy yeah, and you're normal. Just normalize that, like I think. Sometimes people think well, it's easy for you guys, because if there's peppermint bark in the house and it's easily accessible, I can only walk by it so many times before I start picking off little pieces and then the next thing, you know, I ate like I walked by it zero times, like the strategy for me that raisin bread.
Speaker 2:Like I'm a lauren knows this. I'm a bit of a pastry baked goods kind of guy a bit. It's just who I am, I think. I think it's genetic. I saw that on 21 and me what is it called? 23 and me. People are gonna think I don't have enough chromosomes now. Oops, uh, I just tipped everyone off um you love pastry. There's a lot of ancillary jokes to that one, so anyways.
Speaker 1:I think I just bought more raisin.
Speaker 2:I know if it's in the house, like I've already. I'm old enough now that I know I'm just it's. I'm eating the whole loaf, so I might as well just eat it in two days, like I've had four pieces today already.
Speaker 1:Bought it this morning.
Speaker 2:I know, but the strategy for me is like I can't have it in the house Again. Willpower doesn't work. I don't want to eat it all.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's true. I won't buy it anymore, but I know you like it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so again, it's the balance. But at the same time, like here's how my brain works Like, if I'm doing that, I'm building like meals around it. Right, so I'm having super clean lean protein shake like water and protein powder for 50 grams, and then in my head I'm like, okay, this is my carbs and a little bit of fat, and so I'm basically building a meal around that. I'm not eating a meal and then eating that and then having peanut butter something or other where it's just tons of calories. So I can manage easily actually kind of manage my weight around the toast. Is it the healthiest? No, Am I okay with it fitting into my overall bigger strategy?
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:So again, willpower no, strategy yes.
Speaker 1:Yeah, conscious consumption right there. But let's talk about some strategies we have how many things. We have seven and a bonus. Seven and a bonus. So let's talk about the seven things that are very easy for you to do. I always look at it as short-term pain, and it's not even pain at all, it's like short-term work, but it rhymes. Short-term pain, long-term gain If you just spend a little bit of time. This is strategy number one plan.
Speaker 2:Now tell me about planning.
Speaker 1:Take five minutes, think about where you're going, the timing of it, what's going to be there, what's going to be your kryptonite. Like, are you going to a holiday party where you know there's going to be a ton of booze and you know there's going to be a ton of pastries? Are you going to a sit-down dinner? Like, take five minutes and think about it and then, if you can think about it beforehand and ask yourself and make a plan beforehand, you're not caught off guard like, oh, I didn't know we were going to have all of this dessert and I'm just going to have some anyways the cocktail party where you walk in saying, okay, I'm going to have two drinks.
Speaker 2:The cocktail party where you walk in saying, okay, I'm going to have two drinks, yeah Right. Like if you can, in your in your head, know that you're going to have. You're going to a restaurant, dessert is coming, you're going to choose sorbet versus cheesecake, by the way, about an 800 calorie difference.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, a hundred percent, yes. And one thing we also, I would say, recommend, or a strategy that we think of, is, if you know there's going to be a lot of food and dessert, pick appetizer or dessert, don't do both. That's just one simple way. Like just, I'm going to a dinner, there's probably going to be appetizers and dessert. So just pre-think of it when you're in your right mind. And what I mean when you're in your right mind is you're not stressed and you're not overwhelmed, you're not starving, you're not starving, you're just. You make a plan and you stick to the plan. Pick one appetizer or dessert. That's strategy number one. You want to take strategy number two?
Speaker 2:Sure Number two simple Know yourself. Stick to the relatively, relatively the same routine that you've always had. If you are normally a breakfast person, eat breakfast, right, if you don't try and starve yourself out at certain points in the day. You can eat a smaller breakfast If you know you. Again back to number one, planning. You can eat a smaller breakfast If you know you've got this gigantic afternoon. You know you're going to the what are they? What do we do with the kids? The Polar Express. If you're hitting up the Polar Express that night and you know hot chocolate's going to be up and down and candy and the kids and this, that and down and candy and the kids and this, that and the other thing, you can eat less, but don't try and play too much with it. The fewer moving parts, the easier.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and when you know yourself and we have people on both ends, right, we know people who need breakfast, otherwise they feel like crap and they can't manage and they actually do better during the day. Otherwise they get starving and then they overeat and they can't help themselves. And then there's people who are like you know what, I'm actually not that hungry right in the morning and I push everything out and that just helps me manage my day better too, because I'm not shoving in calories when I don't need or want them. So there's no. I look at it like there's no right or wrong, but I have seen this happen a lot where it's like, okay, I'm just going to starve myself, even though they know they need breakfast, and then all of a sudden lunch comes and 2,000 calories doubled down, especially during this time of year, because you know people have all the pastries and the cookies and more things are available than normal. Right, like we have more shit in our house right now than we normally do. Like miss eileen dropped off cookies that we would normally not have. We had peppermint bark, which never comes around. I bought that cinnamon toast but, or the raisin toast, whatever it is. But we do have more. We just have more shit. We just do so anyways, know yourself Love it. Another one I'm a huge believer in just having your own back.
Speaker 1:Strategy number three bring snacks and always carry gum. So if you bring a healthy snack and you put it in your purse we're moms, we always carry things put it in your purse, put it in a jacket pocket, whatever you want. You know you have something to go to when you're hungry. This could go for I mean, maybe you're not going to pull something out in the middle of a dinner but say you are running around doing shopping and trying to get last minute things or you're running a bunch ofs, or the busy part comes in that maybe isn't necessarily at a dinner. Have your own from home food. You know what's in there. What happens is we don't eat, we're starving, we're out. We go buy a Starbucks and we say that peppermint frappuccino and the gingerbread loaf is great and the next thing you know you're 800 to a000 calories in for no reason. So bring your own snacks. There's no reason not to.
Speaker 1:The other thing that I want to share as a strategy that's a huge. It's a huge me strategy. So it actually is a huge, strong mom strategy is bring gum wherever you go. And if you are someone who is drawn towards sweets, like I am right, I love my gummies. I always have watermelon gum because it gives me that dose of sweet and I know you hate watermelon gum, but I get that sweetness and I'm chewing. There are people who like mint gum, there are people who like cinnamon gum, like bring gum or mints, but that could hold you over because we have those urges and if we can just let that urge pass, maybe we need like a little bit to get over that urge. All of a sudden, now what, we would have taken 500 calories in on an urge as we're in the mall next to a coffee shop in the mall. All of a sudden, now you're got your gum, you've moved past it and now you're in your car and you can't eat anyways.
Speaker 2:I think that's a money move. Yeah, I agree. Think about the cocktail party or if you're, you know, before dinner with family or whatever, and people bring out wine or champagne or whatever. And then there's always like not to get too fancy. I don't know if you guys do these charcuterie board that's just out with the drinks or whatever. It's literally just like a gigantic plate of calories. All good, like again, if you're comfortable and you're feeling good about yourself, like eat whatever's on the board. But most of us on some level are trying to be relatively mindful. Right, if you, maybe, if you pass on that charcuterie board, quite fancy. I just learned that word this morning.
Speaker 1:Saying it very well.
Speaker 2:Thanks. If you pass on that, you have more calories in the bank for later, right? So it's just a shell game to begin with. But back to the gum. How many times have you been stuck somewhere and you're like, hey, do you have a napkin, do you have something I can throw my gum in? If you have nowhere to put your gum, then you literally can't get rid of it to eat, right? I just picture walking around, mingling with people, like we would have the track or gym's holiday party. You're just kind of on the go, put your gum. Maybe I put it in Lauren's hand and walk away, whatever, but it's a great strategy, yeah.
Speaker 1:It will that will elongate the drink in your hand, Meaning like that one drink will last you an hour instead of maybe yours Well the other thing, about gum too, and this is a strategy not just for the holidays. But we have told moms like, hey, just go brush your teeth, not a lot tastes. No, no, no that's rude I don't mean.
Speaker 1:I mean if you snack at night. I need to give more context. If you snack at night, go brush your teeth early, go brush your teeth at seven, because after you're done brushing with mint toothpaste, nothing, nothing really tastes good. You know, nothing follows mint up very well. So that's the other thing that happens with mint gum as well, is you'll chew it and then when you go to think about drinking a glass of whatever, it might not taste as good. So maybe you'll have a glass of water instead beforehand to kind of get that mint out of your mouth. So anyways.
Speaker 2:That's why you tell me to brush my teeth.
Speaker 1:All right, I think this one's yours, right oh?
Speaker 2:number four Whoa, whoa.
Speaker 1:Someone's up.
Speaker 2:Number four eat before the party.
Speaker 1:Tell me more.
Speaker 2:Well, you're not as hungry when you get there. You can be in control of the food you're putting in your stomach. Right, if you eat, think about if not heavy, but if you had protein fills you up a little bit, takes a little bit longer to digest. You're going to be full and you're not going to grab the maple braid at Panera or whatever. The thing is right. Again, it's just about managing and strategies Fill yourself up so you're not hungry, or as hungry when you get to the party or the gigantic Thanksgiving, christmas, new Year's get together. Whatever your thing is, everyone's different, right, I don't know what everyone does, but I know every time our family gets together there's a lot you can eat forever, like my mom makes. Back to mom what is that thing called, that cherry thing she makes? Oh, the cherry dump. It is called cherry dump. It needs rebranded, it's called cherry dump.
Speaker 2:She calls it cherry dump. You, it is called cherry. It needs rebranded. It's called cherry dump. She calls it cherry dump.
Speaker 1:You're like oh, that sounds really awful.
Speaker 2:Oh, it's awesome, it's so good it has dried cherries in it and you look, have you ever looked at it? Dried fruit is like maybe the highest, like per ounce calorie. It's like concentrated fruit, added sugar, and so it's one of those things like I know, if she's bringing that and I'm hungry, it's gone.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's so good. With vanilla ice cream it's almost like. It's almost like an upside down, like where it's got the crumble on the top and then the cherries. It's so good. So can I just really quickly share a strategy, a strategy I personally like to use when it comes to the holidays and eating, because sometimes people are like, well, why would I eat dinner?
Speaker 1:Before going out to dinner, the one thing that I've done is I'll eat like a late brunch, maybe 11 to 12, and it will just be straight protein. So my yogurt, straight protein, not a lot else. Right now I'm obsessed with banana, the banana oikos. 20 gram of protein is so good. So, anyways, I'll have two of those, which is just pretty much pretty much pure protein, and maybe I will add a shake if I work out. Okay. So let's just say that that's my morning, that's just that's at 11. That lasts me all till noon. Then what I'll do is like eat. You don't have to eat a dinner right before the dinner, in terms of like 5 pm and your dinner's at 6. But if my dinner's at 6, at 4, I can also just have chicken eggs, lean protein, egg whites, whatever that may be on a bigger scale, not even a lot but I'm not looking at it like a dinner.
Speaker 1:So I think sometimes it screws people up when they think, well, why would I eat a dinner before dinner? I just look at it as I'm getting as much lean protein as I can early in the day. Cause number one it's hard to get protein in. And number two, when we go to these big dinners it's easier to eat the other stuff Anyways, it's easier to eat the potatoes and all the beans and the things that aren't protein anyways. So at least I know okay, I've gotten a, I've gotten a decent amount of protein in.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's the same thing as me. Supplement like making a meal out of raisin toast. Yeah Right, little carbs and fat. Bring in a protein shake and all of a sudden you have a full, macroed out meal. All right, number five.
Speaker 1:I love this one. Number five choose a small plate. There are so many different sizes of plates. There's the appetizer plate, there's the I don't know Salad plate.
Speaker 1:Salad plate. Thank you. There are a lot of different plates. Just choose the smaller one. That's a strategy that I love, because people want to limit how much they eat and there's something psychological where, if it's on your plate, it's like you want to clean your plate, you want to eat it all. Well, even if you fill that sucker full, it's still going to be less food than you would have had if you had a bigger plate. It's literally environment for your food and if you decide to go back for seconds, at least you're going back to seconds on a small plate. So just the sheer fact that you grab a small plate, you cannot pile it up with as much food as you would have. I don't know very many people who grab a big plate and then put a 10th of their plate full of food and the rest is just open plate. It's just not what happens.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you tend to fill it, you tend to fill it.
Speaker 1:you know you grab that extra scoop, so you can't do that if you have a small plate.
Speaker 2:All right. Number six manage your booze Booze. I know people are probably pissed about that one. There are so many ways. Probably do a whole episode on drinking. We actually have a like a healthy locale cocktail guide. We should put that maybe in the show notes. But again, when Laura and I go out to dinner, we'll have a drink. Go on vacation, we'll have a drink the straight away. Have a drink the straight away. It's not healthy, like we all need to be clear about that. Yeah, um, I do.
Speaker 2:I personally get a little bit frustrated around the dialogue and discussion around alcohol because I think people try to pretend that it's healthy. They say that red wine has resveratrol when, like, the amount that you need is like equivalent to like 100 bottles to get a health benefit, while at the same time it's unhealthy for your brain. For other things it's toxic. That's fine, but we still enjoy it. Once in a while we build it into a bigger picture of health. So if you're going to do it, do it right. If you've ever looked at the calorie counts on, say, a margarita versus a vodka soda, it's's drastic. It could be 200 to 300 calories per drink, difference based on sugar and so per drink.
Speaker 1:Per drink and no one's, for the most part, having one.
Speaker 2:It's easy, especially when your in-laws are around and you're like they don't listen, mine don't listen either, so it doesn't matter I know I'm I love, honest to God, love my in-laws. I'm just going to say Me too. I feel like that was insurance. I was honest, yours was insurance policy.
Speaker 1:That's not true, your parents know I love them. They're the best.
Speaker 2:Okay, back to the holiday drinks. So you think margarita is a tough one, right, with calories, sugar, the whole thing. What do you think eggnog has like? Here's a vat of heavy whipping cream with extra sugar in a dip of alcohol have this. Yeah, I mean, do people still drink that right?
Speaker 1:like that's a thing, it's good, it's good you've tried it yeah, we used to have eggnog how'd that go on your stomach? Not good. My stomach does not do dairy and cream. Well, dave knows this. Every time I I something up in the restaurant that has any cream. Nope, oh yeah, no. So it's quick swaps, though Just think like Coke to diet Coke, just something simple like that Diet soda Just every time.
Speaker 2:please just trust us on this, please. Because ideally you know it's much, much healthier to get less sugar and calories in those cases, especially if you're going to have a few.
Speaker 1:Exactly, I was just going to say that it's because you know you're going to have multiple and it can just add up very quickly.
Speaker 2:The tonic soda is a big switch. It's the exact same thing, but it might not taste quite as good, right? Right, I wonder, if they have diet tonic, they must, right the thing is is tonic water.
Speaker 1:That's what it's called, right. Tonic water is very misleading because people think that it's just sugar water, right well, yeah, but you think it's water like you, don't? There's you, most people. Well, you know what? I'll speak for myself. I didn't realize how many calories were in tonic water, because I'm like, but it's tonic water, it's water. I think the marketing of it itself, it's again being conscious and even knowing what you're putting in your body, I was like shocked. Yeah, anyways all right those are quick, so it's okay.
Speaker 1:the other thing about manage managing your booze during the holidays again, this goes. Everything we're actually talking about goes back to number one, which is plan. Plan to have a glass of water before your first glass of booze. Now I'm that dork and I'm more than happy to say this. Like I love the fancy glasses, I love the bubbles. I used to hate the bubbles, but I like the bubbles, I love the festivity of it. I've been known to like put some sparkling water, a little lime on the side in a champagne glass and have water to start. So make a plan or this is what I do make a plan to do sparkling water instead of champagne or Prosecco or Rose, and then-.
Speaker 2:Wow, you never drink.
Speaker 1:Those are my go-tos. I don't often, but then I will have a glass and then I'll go back to a sparkling water and it just it still gives me that feel and festive. I don't feel like I'm missing out. But the next thing, you know, I've got three drinks in my stomach. Two are water, one is not, and eventually, like I can't only hold so much water like liquid in my stomach.
Speaker 2:So yeah, that's a little bit of the gum strategy. The water between it's obviously healthy to stay hydrated.
Speaker 1:But the kicker with the water is you got to plan for it, because guess what's going to happen If you don't have that as your plan and someone's coming around like saying, hey, can I top you up? Like you're going to say yes, when we're in the moment. We don't make the best decisions sometimes in the moment, but if we have pre-thought about it, we will say to ourselves like no, I'm going to drink this one and have a water. So when they ask, you can say no, actually, you know what I'm good for right now.
Speaker 2:One more thought on managing your booze. Earlier in the evening is better.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:For your sleep. It's kind of the science and study around it and it makes complete sense. You shouldn't even really need science and study around it, but alcohol absolutely disrupts your sleep patterns. If you can drink a little bit earlier in the day, slash evening dinner and not carry on late late. The earlier you stop, the better you're going to sleep. And again, sleep is a big part of the health picture, especially during the holidays. Managing stress, all the other things, better decision-making yeah.
Speaker 1:Now I'm going to get into strategy number seven because I want to actually piggyback on what you just said Do it, Do it earlier, Drink earlier, because some people might be like, well, I want to have a good time. I'm looking at this from. If you're having an entire holiday season, we know that there are multiple parties you can go to. There's always something to celebrate. There's, you know, family coming over, friends coming over your work holiday party, something for the kids.
Speaker 2:There's stress.
Speaker 1:There's stress around the holidays, but there are going to be times if it's New Year's Eve and you're like, yeah, I'm going to have a great time Awesome. So strategy number seven is forgive yourself and just kind of like, turn the page. Know that it's not going to be perfect. Know if you're going to go out and you're going to have, you know, more drinks than you normally do and it's New Year's Eve and that's your plan. Right, like you plan to do that, because I'm a big believer in if you know, that's just going to be your night great.
Speaker 1:It's where people get in trouble is where they don't. They want to stay on track and then they feel guilty because they drank more than they wanted to Like. I always talk about this on vacation. I look at vacation. I have two different ways of going on vacation. I look at the holidays. There's two different ways to tackling holiday days. Am I just going to like let go and not care, and then I know tomorrow I'm back on track, or am I really trying to keep? You know the course? So long story short is, if you are going to drink and it is New Year's and you're not like me and you don't go to, I have a shirt that says most likely to be in bed at 9 PM. Shout out to our daughter, grace she got it for me because that's true.
Speaker 1:So, fun, just forgive yourself.
Speaker 2:That's not just drinking, that's eating the dessert.
Speaker 1:Everything.
Speaker 2:We said this at the beginning. I think there are moments during the holidays that you're going. They are traditions, they're family things. You are always going to have memories of some of these moments. It's okay. You're not ever going to look back if you manage the big picture well and you're not off the rails, like if you follow most of these strategies at one time or another and you kind of manage through the holidays and then it comes to Christmas Eve and you're up late and you have a bunch of drinks with your parents or your kids if they're home from college, or those moments. You're never going to regret that, right. And so we're always going to advocate for the memory making, as long as you can manage through the big picture, right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think sometimes people take the strategies and are like but I want to enjoy myself, of course you do. I think these strategies are freeing because if I know that I can manage 90% of my days, 95% of my days, and that allows me the brain space to say like, yeah, this one day isn't going to make a big deal, right, this one day is not going to make a huge splash in my progress. It's one day.
Speaker 1:Where we get in trouble is where we don't have any strategies through the whole holiday season. That starts before Thanksgiving. Actually, it starts at if you really want to be honest, it starts at Halloween. So we have Halloween. If we have had no restraint whatsoever, we've had no strategies and we've just eaten more candy than we ever would have in any other time, and that rolls right into. Well, we're getting ready for Thanksgiving, which rolls right into the holidays, which rolls right into New Year's. We get in trouble when, all of a sudden, that's the three months you do it a night, two nights, whatever that may be. These strategies are super freeing because it allows me to go to your parents and eat all that pumpkin pie on a small plate, but it seems like it's real big and I don't worry about it.
Speaker 2:I think if you can forgive yourself, your success rate is going to go up instantly. Essentially, that's where we see a lot of probably of our our strong moms get into trouble is when you can't forgive yourself. You're when you you're very hard and judgy about what you've done and that drives you to make the next decision poorly. Then, before you know it, you just throw your hands up and you're like fuck it, yeah, we're gonna do whatever we're gonna do again, it goes back to planning.
Speaker 1:If you plan to like, tie one on and eat all the peppermint bark, there's nothing to feel bad about I like that.
Speaker 2:I've never heard the tie one on in reference to peppermint bark no, and eat all the peppermint bark okay, you have a lot of drinks.
Speaker 1:Isn't that taiwan on? Am I wrong?
Speaker 2:yeah, that's how typically what I would and eat all the peppermint bark. I thought that was like, wow, we're gonna get crazy tonight.
Speaker 1:We're gonna slam like eight pieces of peppermint bark no, if you're, if you know, and that's part of your plan is to go and say I am not worried, like whatever I eat I eat, if that's part of your plan is to go and say I am not worried, like whatever I eat I eat, if that's your plan, then there's no reason to feel bad. You're following your plan.
Speaker 2:All right, so you promised a bonus.
Speaker 1:All right, starbucks During the holidays.
Speaker 2:There goes our sponsorship, damn it.
Speaker 1:During the holidays, starbucks can be extremely dangerous. When we drink calories. There's a couple different things that happen, but we don't realize how many we're consuming when we drink anything that has calories. We can also take in two, three, four times the amount of calories via drinks than we could with food, just based on the form of it. And they're sneaky, they're super sneaky. You're like, well, how many calories could actually be in here? So just be very mindful. There was a swap that I thought was awesome, as someone who does love peppermint. If you want to go to Starbucks this again, I forget where I heard it, it could have actually been from track, from our gym Go, have one pump of peppermint. If you do a peppermint latte, do it on skim. Or if you look at the back, like almond milk doesn't have as many calories as something like 2% or whole Definitely that's a no-go for me and then do a squirt of peppermint bark and then sugar-free vanilla. So because a lot of times they don't have sugar-free peppermint, they don't have sugar-free pumpkin.
Speaker 2:If I find a place, with sugar-free pumpkin.
Speaker 1:I'm all in, but I'm just saying there are ways. If you are dead, I would never order any of these things that you're talking about?
Speaker 2:totally, but people do so. I'm trying to help. It's crazy, I so yes, just to piggyback. Starbucks is my Starbucks app with all the points and things. I think I flipped the score like it's run the number of point things stars all the way up. And I think I flipped the score like it's run the number of point things stars all the way up and then turned over back to zero. We've gone there so much love Starbucks, but I've got a very tight system on how I order there. Like you can do really well at Starbucks or you can do really poorly, and I think they do a great job of disguising things. Enough that people do really poorly. Like watching kids carry Frappuccinos out of Starbucks is like the bane of my existence. Right, I see the mom hand like here's one for you, one for you, one for you. They're like 900 calories. They have things I believe they're over a thousand calories. Yes, that just get pounded by people.
Speaker 1:With, like the whipped cream on top.
Speaker 2:I'm all about do your thing and forgive yourself.
Speaker 1:Be mindful. One of the things that we've told people is I'm not telling you to not go to Starbucks, but we are saying look at the calorie counts before you order anything, because it might change your mind. You might order maybe instead of doing the venti right, it's what's called venti, you do the tall. There could be a switch that could very well save you five, six, 700 calories in one drink.
Speaker 2:Yeah, lauren said it the best. A lot of times you're out shopping, do people still? By the way, I didn't see Starbucks when I was on the internet buying all the presents. Man, that's like Wally right, everyone's just going to fight their weight because there's no one leaves the house people, people still shop okay that's when starbucks for me, and it's not just starbucks, there's other, depending where you live. It could be dunkin donuts, could be timmy's any pastry shop yeah, whatever it's out there, be careful those places.
Speaker 2:Starbucks again super sneaky. Me personally. Black coffee, maybe a little skim, the egg white and turkey bacon sandwich. I'm telling you right now if you we've talked, I know, you buy two and you make a double decker. You get rid of the half the bun on each or the whatever the muffin. Put it together and you get like 35 grams of protein and like 300 calories.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but when people go to the, when we're thinking holidays, like we're thinking the drinks, the holiday drinks and the cute cups, it's all the holiday cups I know but the thing is for me, if you eat that, again it's back to the original point.
Speaker 2:If you have that as your protein when you're out, you're going to feel full and have gotten something really healthy relatively healthy as far as protein consumption and you're not going to feel like, oh, I need to get the. Believe me, the pastry shelf at starbucks calls my name every time, but if I'm having that kind of healthier protein option, I'm not grabbing the cheese danish yeah right so any, any.
Speaker 1:Who grab the cheese danish? Who eats cheese danish?
Speaker 2:I still me and cops a hundred percent me and paul blart paul blart.
Speaker 1:What else? What else can you do? One of the other things is find someone to hold you accountable that's an easy one right yeah, I hold you accountable, I uh you actually do.
Speaker 2:I don't do it in a very healthy way, though I I'm like a you make fun of me. Yeah, I'm a needler 100. I did see a stat. I'll post it. I think I don't know who made the study up, but you probably did couples that tease each other are healthier and love each other more you probably did make it up.
Speaker 1:Now that I think about the fact you sent that to me, I paid somebody to post it on their story. Totally but no, but no. Find accountability, Like right now in our inner circle. It's actually really cool because I open up our app, the Strong Mom app, where our platform is, and someone oh my gosh, this is amazing Someone actually wrote here's my holiday mantra, and one of our mom's holiday mantras was connection over consumption. This holiday season.
Speaker 2:I like that.
Speaker 1:Someone else's was I can still enjoy the holidays and not overeat. And like when you, when I open up my app and I see that I'm like damn, like I want to take those myself right, like I can still enjoy them. I think sometimes we have this feeling like we have to pair well, it's the holidays, I have to overeat. And she went through this whole point. One of our moms went through this whole post about how amazing it is to feel like you can still enjoy the holidays and not have to completely gorge yourself. They're not whatever.
Speaker 2:You know what I mean. Control at the end of the day, is going to bring you more joy than the dopamine rush from seven pieces of cheesecake.
Speaker 1:Yeah or peppermint bark. I do challenge everybody to find a mantra that's very helpful. I loved the connection over consumption. That was just our mom's just whenever she felt super like big urges. It just reminded her of what was the most important thing and that could be consumption of every like. You could insert whatever you want of that consumption of that alcohol social media comparison, all of that.
Speaker 1:So I thought that was awesome. But, yeah, being around people who are also being mindful, who are also being conscious of the way they're going through it, who are also sharing ways that they're present and able to show up, is huge. So, that's what we got for you. Thanks for hanging with us during this holiday edition. That's all. Where can they find us? You tell me.
Speaker 2:No one's looking for me.
Speaker 1:I look for you sometimes, usually the dog.
Speaker 2:sometimes does You're 20% of my followers?
Speaker 1:You can find me on Instagram at Lauren Regula. You can find Dave on Instagram at Dave Regula. You can find us on Facebook. We have a free Facebook group. It's Strong Mom Physical, Mental and Emotional Mastery, and we have a YouTube channel, Strong Mom. I think it's actually my name. I think it's Lauren Regula. Yeah.
Speaker 2:We'll lock that up for the next episode. We'll figure out where you can actually find us.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and we have a website strongmomstrongfamcom.
Speaker 2:All right, see you next time.
Speaker 1:Bye.