Successful Feasting
A Map Through the Holidays

by Al Coon

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by Al


"The average man's ambition is to be able to afford what he's spending." -author unknown.

Isn't that how we view food? I know I do. We want to be able to eat anything that our hearts desire, and still remain thin.

The Halloween Goblins Are Gone

While the candy bowls are put away for another year, and in at least our house, the candy that was not given away was tossed, we still have to clear the hurdles that always appear this time of year. They are so tall that we might call them mountains:
  • Mt. Thanksgiving
  • Mt. Christmas
  • Mt. New Years Eve
  • And the geologically newer Mt. Super Bowl Sunday
And as if the tall hurdles themselves were not enough, we have scattered unevenly along our course lesser, but still troubling hurdles in the form of holiday feasts and parties, with calorie laden gifts being passed around. With calories being so freely available, being packaged so temptingly, and resistance being so low, and peer pressure so high, I ask you; is there any hope at all?

The Path Ahead

Stand quietly for a moment and look out over what lies before you. Put any negativity aside for a moment, but also take off your rose colored glasses. Take a good look at reality-hold on tight, it will just be for a moment!

Okay, what did you see? Obviously you could see the super hurdles standing tall like mountains, each of which is loaded with temptations to eat. You could probably also see the plethora of other hurdles hiding in between the big boys.

In some ways these little hurdles are worse, because they tend to sneak up on us. The office parties, coworkers bringing in candy and baked treats, cooking and baking marathons in the kitchen, cookies, cakes, pies and candies. I am reminded of Charles Dickens' description of the feast laid out in Scrooge's room:
Heaped up on the floor, to form a kind of throne, were turkeys, geese, game, poultry, brawn, great joints of meat, sucking-pigs, long wreaths of sausages, mince-pies, plum-puddings, barrels of oysters, red-hot chestnuts, cherry-cheeked apples, juicy oranges, luscious pears, immense twelfth-cakes, and seething bowls of punch, that made the chamber dim with their delicious steam.
         -A Christmas Carol
We have parties at homes and offices, with shopping excursions where we have planned poorly for our eating needs and we have many unexpected opportunities to eat.

Once again we must ask ourselves: Is there any hope?

The First of Two Paths

Now we see what lies ahead, what do we do with the information? Time will drag us through this valley, and we are left with the choice of which path we will take. While it may seem that there is only one route through, there are two. The first, sadly is far more well traveled. And here are a few of the things that people say as they take that path:
  • Clearing the hurdles is just too great a task, far beyond my strength.
  • I simply have to overeat and I can't help it.
  • Everyone always gains weight over the holidays, and so no one really expects me to lose weight.
  • When the scale goes up, everyone will understand!
  • Everything around me is high in calories and I have no choice but to eat too many of them.
  • Do you want me to be anti-social and hide in a cave during this time of holiday cheer?
It is easy to take this path, because it is the one you will find yourself on if you don't plan ahead and just take things as they come to you. It is the common path, the popular path, and it is the reason that New Years finds so many people hoping to lose weight.

And then there is, the less traveled path…

Did you know that you can walk through this valley safely? You can follow your eating program and still have fun! You can even continue to lose weight right on through the holidays.

You Will Pay a Holiday Price

There is no way around it for people like you and me; there will be a price to pay for the holidays. It comes with the territory. The wonderful season of giving and thanksgiving, of Santa and Christmas trees, Christmas get-togethers and all the trimmings will demand something from us. It is wonderful, but it can be terrible too.

If you do not meet this challenge, and you just coast on through it, then you find that you will gain weight, and it very probably will take you months to undo the damage that you will do. We see this happen year after year for so many of us.

However, if you take the time to plan ahead and to make good choices, you can move through the holiday season just like any other time of the year, and continue to lose and be successful.

You and I will pay one of those two prices this year over the next couple of months. But today, control over which one of those prices will be paid is within our power! Today we can prepare to succeed, but procrastinating until New Years will cause the choice to be made for you. You will be dragged through the valley along the common and sad path of weight gain and frustration.

Think of January

You might find that a bit of visualization will be very helpful about now. Picture yourself on one January morning, with the winter weather report playing on your radio alarm. You just stepped off your scale, and you are now looking at yourself in the bathroom mirror. What do you see expressed on your face?

It is easy to predict, if you know the choice you are going to make as to which price you will pay for the holidays. If you drift along, a victim of the season, taking whatever comes your way, what will your face show? Will it be sadness? Will you have tears running down your cheeks, or a grimace of emotional pain? You can be sure that you will not be looking at a smiling, happy, and satisfied face in your mirror. How many times have we looked at ourselves in the mirror and asked, "What have you done?"

But what if you choose to take the safe passage through the valley? What if you have cleared the hurdles and remained true to your program throughout the holidays? Do you see smiles? Are you laughing in joy over what you have done? Do you see pride and contentment looking back at you?

Today, you hold the power in your hands to choose which "you" will be looking back from that January mirror. The unhappy face is so depressing; we do not want to see that. We want to see that smile of yours radiating your success!

Success at the Feast

How can we go to a holiday feast, whether it is Thanksgiving Day, or Christmas with the family? Whatever the occasion, the feast will present a serious challenge to anyone who has a problem with overeating. So, what can we do?

First off, give the feast its due. It is a major challenge and it must not be underestimated. And that means you must prepare for it.

When you take a vacation, set up a wedding, or throw a party, do you just show up and hope it all works out okay? Such events always work out far better when they are planned—the better the planning, the better the chances of the event being a success.

The first thing to do when you are attending a calorie-laden, well stocked feast is to curb your appetite. Think back to the last time you were feeling really full and someone asked you if you would like something really good to eat. What was your reaction? "No thanks, I couldn't eat another bite!"

That's the ticket home! When you are feeling full, food can't tempt you at all. So, you can put this problem to bed by making sure that your stomach is feeling full. This recipe is well started by adding water.

If you drink lots of water before the feast, and during the feast, you will have far less room left over, where you can put calories into that relatively small but troubling organ just at the bottom of your esophagus. It is a basic law of physics that two objects cannot occupy the same space at the same time. If your stomach is really full, it cannot take in any more food.

If you prefer, you can try the trick which I have used, eat something very low in calories before the feast. Once again, you will curb your appetite, because you will not be able to eat very much of the high calorie food.

Less is More

When you are at a feast, eat small portions. You can have anything you want, even that dessert you crave, if you eat just a bit.

You are not a monk living under vows, and you are not doing penance. We are overeaters, not sinners. Don't treat eating like it is evil; just treat it like it is dangerous, and deserving of respect, like you would with electricity. You have a right to enjoy your meal, but you have an obligation to do so safely.

Mary Poppins said, "Enough is as good as a feast." What a brilliant piece of wisdom that is.

Your taste buds are overwhelmed by any food's flavor after 3 bites. In other words, you have the "kick" that any food will give you once you have eaten 3 bites of it. If you eat more than 3 bites, you will add calories but little or no pleasure. Your mind tells you that you want more, but your body is not capable of enjoying it. So, tell your mind to back off and find something else to nibble on.

By having a bit of many foods, you can truly enjoy the feast, while remaining under you limit for calories for the day. You can eat, enjoy your meal, and still lose weight!

Delight in Your Own Success

When you come home after a feast, and you have remained true to your program, celebrate your success! Pat yourself on the back and take your bows. You have done something very important and you should be very happy about it.

When you have faced up to a difficult challenge and you have come away as the victor rather than the victim, you need to gather all the positive feelings that you can, to help you ready yourself for the next challenge. Success breeds success, and you should cash in on that!

The next day, share the news with your most supportive friend. Don't waste this additional chance to build the positive feelings you have about your journey and your success. These victories are what help to make your January reflection show a happy and smiling face right after stepping off the scale!

Facing the "Mini-Feast"

Along with the big events, with all the festive joy and food, you will probably come across many smaller, but no less demanding challenges over the next few weeks. One of these challenges might be an office party.

Many of the same tricks you used to defeat the Feast Monster in his lair will work here too.
  • Bring a bag lunch that is filled with OP food, and eat that before you face the temptations laid out on platters around the room. Or at least have it ready for after the party and use the knowledge that it exists to bolster your resolve to not overeat at the party.

  • Eat a small portion of several good food items. The 3-bite rule is still in effect. You will get the fun of eating a food without blowing yourself out of the water, if you only eat 3 bites of it.

  • Don't drink your calories. Drink lots of water before and during your party, and maintain the full feeling. Drink diet drinks if you prefer but avoid eggnog and punch from the bowl if it is laden with calories. (A cup of eggnog is especially damaging because it carries a huge wallop in its 340 calories and 19 grams of fat, and it is high in Saturated Fat and Cholesterol. It also has no fiber. As a comparision, if you are a Weight Watchers member: you could eat one and half regular Snickers candy bars for the same number of points as one cup of eggnog.)

  • A basic rule for any situation you will encounter over the holidays is: don't show up hungry!
None of this is to say that you can't have a good time and have some treats. You can enjoy the food and still remain on program, if you use your head and are prepared. Your body averages the calories you eat over the week, and you can do the same thing when you are tracking them. If you eat too many calories on one day, you can eat too few the next and it will balance out. But you have to keep track of what you are doing, and not just think to yourself, "I had a light breakfast, so I can have 3 servings of pie and ice cream."

It is not easy to use your head when you have your stomach running wild and you are facing food that you love and that you cannot afford to eat and still remain in control. You know this now and you will know it before you face these challenges, but you will not remember if you try to wing it.

Your success will come from making sure that you never "wing it." You will plan your success, or else you will stumble into your failure. Sadly, these are our only two choices.

The Poison Platter

There it is, lying on the table, right by the copy machine. It is like the cheese on a mouse trap, trying to entice you to your willpower's demise. Look at those brownies, and that fudge; oh my they look good. Fresh baked cookies, and chocolate candies, and what is that over there? Is that pie? No it is several pies: apple, pumpkin and even cherry!

Whatever is on the platter, you can be sure that enough of it will poison your success. What can you do to prepare for this somewhat unexpected challenge? Here are a few things you might consider:
  • Don't ever let yourself get too hungry. (Sound familiar?)

  • Set a limit on how much you will eat.

  • Choose a path to walk to wherever you are going that does not pass you right by the poison platter over and over again throughout the day. (Willpower can be worn down as well as simply overwhelmed by a direct assault.)

  • Be pro-active! If you can't get away from a temptation, don't be afraid to ask them to move the poison platter to another location where you won't have to face it over and over again during the day. Take whatever steps you need to take in order to not be exposed to temptation that might wear down your resolve to a have a happy face in January.


The Daily Grind

As you go through your day, you will encounter surprises from time to time that will stick temptation right in your path. Do you have to fall to these surprises, or can you "plan for them"?

You can be prepared for the unexpected! You can set your day up so that you will not be in a weak position when something pops out of the woodwork, like a goblin in a Halloween "haunted house."

If you structure your daily eating right, you can make sure that you are never too hungry to resist temptation.

Dotti calls it grazing, and it is a great trick to help you avoid temptation. If you eat something every couple of hours, you will always be close to either your last snack or your next snack. You will never be famished and in an out-of-control state of hunger. When a cookie is put under your nose, if you just had an apple, you will be less likely to take the cookie than you would be if you hadn't of had anything to eat since breakfast, and you worked right through lunch without eating.

Another thing you can do is to drink lots of water throughout the day. Water is good for you and it makes you feel full without adding any calories. (See Dotti's Newsletter where Dotti wrote about the importance of drinking water.) Along with grazing, drinking enough water will give you a lot of support in resisting temptation when it calls unexpectedly.

Remember that you will run into food during the holidays, and that should never be surprising really. So, think about it now, and think about it often as you are going through this time of year. By structuring each day in the right way, you can reinforce your willpower and make it easy to make the right choices, while still enjoying the Thanksgiving turkey and the Christmas pie.

A School For the Rest of the Year



Along with making sure that you can enjoy the holidays and still remain on program, there is another benefit that you can derive from going through this challenging time of year: you can get a valuable education!

The tricks you find, and the skills you master in order to move safely through the holidays and to earn your happy face in January will make your "normal" rest of the year even more successful. Indeed, once you have mastered the techniques to make your face smile at the scale in January, it will be far easier to produce a smiling face in the mirror after weigh-in in February, March, and the whole year through. And just think: Today, you have the opportunity to finally make your New Year's resolution come true, and you can do it well before the new year even arrives.

By Al, My Wonderful, Supportive Husband







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