Your holiday survival guide: nutrition edition

Issue #76: Your Holiday Survival Guide: Nutrition Edition

Read Time: 7 minutes

Good morning, 66.1ers.

Thanks for reading and supporting our mission to live healthier, for longer.
One week at a time, one reader at a time, we're helping people build a life of freedom through sustainable health.

New this week: a podcast-style recording of the newsletter.

Check it out here.

Housekeeping:

This is the third of 4 issues coming your way over the next month that will go deep on one issue.
After those 4 issues are published, I plan to move the deep dives (and a few other new features) over to a paid subscription.

As with this past week, the brief, skim-able format I've been writing will be in your inbox again on Wednesday.
And it will always be free of charge.

A quick refresher for anyone who's new to the newsletter: 66.1 is the average health span (years lived without a serious disease) in the US. We're here to extend that.

In case you missed last Saturday's deep dive:

How to deal with your back pain

In this week's issue of 66.1:

Do you actually gain 5 pounds every holiday season?
The importance of eliminating all-or-nothing thinking
5 strategies to stay on track with your nutrition goals this holiday season

Background

Holiday season is in full swing here in the US. Thanksgiving is this Thursday, November 28. Less than a month later Christmas and Hanukkah roll in.

And with these celebrations come calories. Stuffing, mashed potatoes, pie. Christmas cookies. The list is long.

I’ve heard so many friends and clients admonish the pain of gaining weight over the holidays that I had to look into the research. What I learned surprised me.

What the data says

This study in the New England Journal of Medicine found that people who self-report their weight gain over the holiday season share that they think they gain more than 5 pounds over this period. Surprisingly, when the study actually measured this weight gain rather than relying on self-reported data, the weight gain was actually only 0.37 kg, or 0.8 lbs.

While holiday weight gain may not be as dramatic as it feels in the moment, it's still a dangerous trend worth keeping in check. The chart below (from this study) shows a roughly 0.2% increase in body weight over the course of a year for someone in the United States, with the majority of that weight gain occurring from Thanksgiving-New Year. For a 195-pound person like myself, this is a weight gain of 4 pounds (and I gain more every year as my body weight increases). If I kept up this pattern, 5 years from now, I'm closing in on 220 pounds and have crossed over into an unhealthy body composition.

Weight gain over the Holidays in Three Countries.
Courtesy of New England Journal of Medicine, Helander and colleagues.

It might sound a bit dramatic to project seemingly nominal weight gain out over the course of half a decade, but this is important. Most people who struggle to maintain a healthy weight don't wake up 50 pounds heavier overnight. It's a gradual process that occurs over years and decades.

It's in winning the small battles like avoiding holiday weight gain where the war against obesity and overweight is won.

Setting the scene

Many folks I work with as a health coach get hung up because they adopt an all-or-nothing mindset. If this is you (it's certainly been me in the past), this mindset might have you planning to stick to protein and vegetables around the holidays. No carb-heavy sides, no desserts.

But when you belly up to the buffet line (how my family serves Thanksgiving dinner) and there’s a roaster full of stuffing, it’s pretty tough to keep walking. So you end up with some stuffing on your plate. And you eat it. And it’s delicious.

10 minutes into the holiday season, your plan for perfection has already been defeated. This is where things can get out of hand, quickly. Feeling defeated, you adopt a fatalist attitude. “Well, I guess I’m lazy and bad at eating clean. I’m just going to enjoy myself.”

Pretty soon, “enjoying yourself” has turned into eating one of every dessert. And you feel terrible, physically and emotionally. You’re bloated, lethargic, and frustrated with your lack of willpower.

We're going to avoid that slippery slope this holiday season with the 5 strategies below.

Applying it to your life

When working with clients to help them maintain the progress they've made in building their health, there are a few strategies that come in handy.

Don’t forget to celebrate

“Holiday” is defined by Oxford as “a day of festivity or recreation when no work is done.”
This isn’t a day to self-flagellate and go for the juice cleanse for all 3 of your meals.
You’re spending time with family and friends.
Let loose a little.

With that in mind…
Choose your opportunities

If you’re serious about your health (you likely are if you’re reading this), you’d prefer that you don’t spend all of December eating Christmas cookies.
Good call.
Remember, though: we’re not going to fall into the all-or-nothing trap outlined above.

Many clients I work with find success with looking at their calendar and committing a day to indulge.
If a whole day sounds like a lot, commit to a single meal.
If you know you’re going to be celebrating on multiple days--your family today, your in-laws tomorrow, friends the day after--this strategy is particularly effective.

And if you have leftovers, as my family always does…
Take it to the food bank

Certain food banks and food security-focused nonprofits will gladly take your holiday leftovers and distribute them to the people they serve.
This is a win-win.

You’re not stuck trying to look past the pie in your refrigerator for the next week, having a half piece at a time, trying not to feel guilty.

And someone else is able to have a delicious holiday meal.
Get creative with your ingredients

Somewhere along the line, we forgot that you don’t have to pour pounds of sugar into a recipe to make it taste good.

Consider substitutes like applesauce, maple syrup, and honey.
They’re not exactly health foods, but they’re less concentrated than granulated sugar.
Quality over quantity

American holiday meals, especially large potluck-style gatherings, can take on an air of high quantity and low quality.

What if, rather than baking 8 different desserts, you made one great dessert?
How about instead of 7 sides, you picked 3 and knocked them out of the park?
Instead of a turkey and a ham, what if you picked one?

You get it.
Less is more.

Psychologically, when we see more options, we’re tempted to try them.
When we try them, we end up eating more than if we had just one option.

Set yourself up for success by limiting how many different food options are available at your holiday feast.

And, hey: if this is you--working like heck to maintain a healthy weight but struggling with the temptations around holiday season--send me a reply here.

That’s all for this Saturday.

See you on Wednesday with our classic newsletter format.

Have fun out there.

Marcus

If you enjoy 66.1, I'd be humbled if you shared it with a friend.
Please forward this email to anyone you think would find it valuable.

Why 66.1?
66.1 is the average health span (years lived without a serious disease) in the US, as of the start of this newsletter publication.
We're here to extend that.