No Punishment Necessary

No Punishment Necessary. 

The holidays are always full of excitement, friends, family, and...food.  We tend to celebrate or ‘come together’ over a pile of sugar cookies that look like little trees or menorahs, and before we know it that pile is gone. We have reduced it to crumbs and with the last bite, a promise that we won’t ‘do that again’ or a compromise of ‘it’s the holidays so after New Years I’ll be better.’ Why do we feel the need to justify the indulgence of a succulent cookie or piece of pie multiple times in a week? 

We know that the mental game of nutrition and exercise oftentimes is more difficult than actually weighing out food and getting through a workout. Instead of praising ourselves we tend to shame ourselves into a guilty corner smothered in chocolate and covered in sprinkles.  We think that we have done damage that cannot be undone, and become irrational with similar thoughts that throw us off from any sort of fitness and nutrition routine. We throw it away for a few short weeks of indulging. Seems silly to do that when life is much longer than a few weeks. 

The key to anything in life is just moderation. Balance. Positive thinking. More importantly it is redefining self control. Just because we indulge during the holidays doesn’t mean we have lost all sense of self control. Acknowledging that we have been eating what we shouldn’t have in a regular diet is a form of self control. Enjoy the cookies, the hot chocolates, or if you’re on the other end of needing that savory bit, enjoy your pizza, bread, and pasta dishes. 

Get back to your regularly scheduled programming when you’re done celebrating. Celebrating life with the ones you love is, after all, a healthy, positive influence of emotions for your mental well being and that overflows into other areas of your life. Continue to be results driven, recognize your weaknesses, work to strengthen them, and repeat. As for me, I’m going to have a cookie, maybe rice with dinner, and I’ll get back to my regularly scheduled programming in January. See you all then!