Indulge Without the Guilt: How to Enjoy Holiday Treats and Stay on Track

You're listening to the Stop Dieting Forever podcast, episode 230. Lux lifer, welcome to this week's episode of the podcast. And if you are new, virtual high five to you. I'm so happy that you are choosing to spend time with me. So today I want to talk about a topic that I know is on a lot of people's minds as we get closer and closer to the holiday season, and that is how to indulge without overindulging. How to indulge without overindulging. Now, I know you don't want to miss out on your sister's famous apple spice cake that she only makes once a year at Thanksgiving, but you also don't want to regret eating 4 slices of your sister's famous apple spice cake either. So let's talk about it. The holidays, the holiday season, Or October to January 1st. It's a time for parties. It's a time for celebrations, family gatherings, connection. And with all of those events and all of those social events comes the food. And not just like regular old summer salads. I'm talking about delicious foods and many of those dishes that you really only have once a year. Like, for example, in the Brown household. Every single year, we put up a hot chocolate bar with the Christmas decorations, and it stays up the entire holiday season. So it is out in our family room for weeks. Now, if you're not familiar with what a hot chocolate bar is, let me school you. You can go Google it. In fact, go to Pinterest. There's like a gazillion different ideas for creating your own hot chocolate bar, but Essentially, it is a place where you can go put a ton of sugar on top of a cup of sugar. But really, it's a place where we have different, like, chocolate candies and peppermints and assortment of marshmallows, whipped cream. We have liqueur for the adults. And you use that to create, like, your own unique customized hot chocolate. And we actually have a hot chocolate machine that we keep on the bar too that keeps the hot chocolate spinning and it's warm. And so at any point during the day, you can go downstairs and make yourself a specialty hot chocolate. Now, our guests love it and my husband loves it too. And every year the kids want to know, when is the hot chocolate bar going to be ready? So my husband and my stepson, my bonus son, They're good to have a hot chocolate every single day for, for, um, my bonus son, he is multiple. He's 16, so he can handle all the sugar. So that is just an example of a place where you can indulge, but it's also very easy to overindulge. So if you're like me and the hot chocolate bar or the clients that I work with, you might feel torn between enjoying those holiday treats and really sticking to your health goals. And so that is why in today's episode, I want to break down how you can have your cake and eat it too. Have your cake, eat the cake, and then stay on track with your goal. Plus, I'm going to share how my upcoming workshop, Eat, Drink, and Stay the Same Size, can help you navigate this season with confidence and ease. So let's get into it. All right. Let's talk about this all-or-nothing mindset. And you know what that sounds like when you find yourself thinking, well, I already had one cookie, so it doesn't matter if I eat another, right? And you eat it real quick and then eat another one real quick. And then you eat another one real quick and you're telling yourself, well, I'll just start fresh tomorrow, right? Or, or maybe you skipped breakfast or you skipped lunch before a big holiday dinner. Only to end up eating way too much once the food is in front of you. That is the all-or-nothing mindset in action. It's the belief that if you can't be perfect with your food, then it's not worth trying at all. And all this does is lead to this vicious cycle of restriction, overindulgence, and then later regret. You feel guilty, You tell yourself you'll make up for it tomorrow by cutting back or spending a little extra time at the gym, but then the pattern repeats. Does this sound familiar? Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, you're my people. So this is the mindset of so many during this time of the year, but it's not the, I can come back tomorrow. For some of y'all, it's like, eff it, I'm just going to start fresh in January. Like, what's the— keep rolling through the next couple of weeks eating whatever. So here is why this keeps happening to you every single year. This mindset, the all-or-nothing mindset, is so common because it is literally reinforced in our brains on television, on social media, by diet culture, which teaches us to think of foods as good or bad. Right? You're eating a good food or you're eating a bad food. Or it teaches us to see ourselves either as on track or off track. I actually always correct my clients when they say, "I fell off track," and they feel badly about it. I'm like, "No, you didn't fall off track. This is part of your process. This is part of your learning." So this reinforcement of good or bad, on track, off track is the problem. But let me tell you, there is a middle ground. And when you find it, That is where the magic happens. You will find it inside Stop Dieting Forever, our, our whole mentality. So why do we get stuck in this all-or-nothing thinking? Well, I've been thinking about it. I'm like, why do we keep running in the same circle every single year? It often comes from a place of pressure. You feel like you have to stick to a plan or else you failed. You're bad. You're a terrible person. And maybe you're worried about what people will think if they see you eating something that you quote unquote shouldn't be eating. Excuse me, you know that. You know that person in your family who's giving you the, that look when you sit down and you're eating a piece of pie or you're having a little donut with your coffee. Um, didn't you say you were on a diet? Didn't you say you were trying to lose some weight? Or maybe you're just using food as a way to cope with stress or social anxiety. And once you start, it's really hard to stop. That was my unknown issue for years. I struggled with social anxiety, but at the time, I didn't know what it was. So anytime I went to a party or a gathering where I felt uncomfortable, inadequate, not enough, and there was food around, guess what I was doing? I was focusing on eating the food. To feel better, to calm that anxiety. So I want you to know that if this is something that you struggle with, you are not alone. I have been there, and so have many of the women that I coach. But the good news is— there's always good news, always good news— you don't have to stay stuck in that pattern. You can change the way that you think about food and indulgence, and it starts by giving yourself permission to enjoy the foods that you love without going overboard. So removing the label of good food or bad food. I tell my— I tell this to my clients. Food is neutral. It's as neutral as this phone that's right here on my desk. It's as neutral as this bottle of water right here on my desk. Food is neutral. It's neither good nor bad. Now, if you're not used to thinking in that way, it may feel very scary to give yourself permission to eat the foods that you love because you're afraid that you're going to lose control and you're going to eat everything in sight. Here's what I want to tell you. When you approach the holiday season, the holiday eating season, I should say, with two key strategies, You will be able to indulge without overindulging. So let's talk about how you can indulge without overindulging with these two key strategies. It's all about finding that sweet spot, no pun intended, where you can enjoy the holiday treats and still feel really good about your choices. The two key strategies to make this happen. The first one is very, very simple. You probably know it, but you don't do it. It's to have a plan. Have a plan. Most people show up at, say, Thanksgiving dinner with a plan to overeat. They have on their stretchy pants. They put on a big sweater so they can feel comfortable in loose clothing after the big meal. They bring their own Tupperware because they're planning to take home all the leftovers that they didn't eat. They have antacid in their purse, want to make sure they got that Prevacid or Tums in their purse to like quell all of the stuff that comes up the digestive system. Now, that is a plan to experience Thanksgiving dinner, but that's the wrong plan if you want to eat, drink, and stay the same size this holiday season. In my upcoming workshop, Eat, Drink, and Stay the Same Size— isn't that a great name? I am going to help you come up with a brand new plan, a plan to enjoy and not overeat. Now, don't worry. I'm not going to tell you to like only eat green beans and only drink water at your Thanksgiving dinner. I'm going to teach you how you can create a custom plan that includes your cousin's famous apple pie and your uncle's highly coveted fried turkey. Let's move on to strategy 2. Which is all about having the right mindset. By this time of year, most people have given up on their goal to lose weight. In fact, I recently saw a post on social media that said, damn, this year went by so fast, I didn't have a chance to lose weight. There were like hundreds and hundreds of comments under that post. This is what happens, y'all. We give ourselves permission to freestyle our eating the rest of the year, And then we tell ourselves, well, you know, we'll just deal with it in January. But here's the thing. This is old programming that has not yet been replaced with new supportive ways of thinking. If your mindset is trash and it's telling you to eat whatever you want, whenever you want, because you feel like it, and you're going to deal with the repercussions in January, you're not going to see the results that you want. No matter how many salads you eat or how many workouts you do. A mindset that says, "I will start fresh in January," or, "I'll just wait until January to deal with this," is really just a way of avoiding the real issue. Y'all, it's like saying, "I'm okay with being uncomfortable in my body for a few more months." But let me tell you something, you can gain a whole lot of weight in just a couple of weeks. You think it's just The holiday— like, you think it's like, oh, it's almost— the year's almost over and 2025 is almost here. You can gain a whole lot of weight during the holiday season. But here's what I want to challenge you with. I want you to think about what if you could flip that mindset right now before we dive into the holiday season? What if instead of giving up through October, November, December, you could make a conscious choice to end this year feeling strong, feeling empowered, and in control of your health? I want you to think about that. What if instead of giving up this year like you've done previous years, year after year after year, you can make a conscious choice to end this year feeling strong, empowered, and in control of your health? This is what I'm going to— this is what I'm here to help you do. During my Eat, Drink, and Stay the Same Size workshop. We're going to talk about how to reprogram your mindset so you can enjoy the holidays without this stupid all-or-nothing thinking. Sorry, I didn't mean to call it stupid. That's being very judgmental. But I want you to be able to enjoy the holidays without that annoying all-or-nothing thinking. We're going to work on creating a mindset that allows you to indulge in the treats you love without falling into the trap of overindulgence, eating all the things. Because when you have the right mindset, every choice you make feels intentional and not impulsive, not emotional, and you enter the new year without the regret of gaining a few extra pounds. Sounds amazing, right? In this workshop, we're going to cover all the practical strategies that you need to navigate holiday events, manage those food temptations, and deal with emotional eating. Plus, you're going to get some fun bonuses like the Hormone Harmony Holiday Guide and the Hush the Holiday Food Noise Cheat Sheet, which is going to give you even more tools, more inspiration, more motivation to stay on track with your health goals and me, this is not about restriction, because y'all know I am not about restriction when it comes to food. It is about empowerment. It's about walking into every holiday gathering feeling confident, in control, and free to enjoy everything the season has to offer without worrying about what you're eating and what your weight is doing and feeling the regret of overeating. Now, if this sounds like exactly what you need, you're like, Jennifer, I need to know how to make this plan, and you need to tell me what my mindset needs to be because I need to know how to eat, drink, and stay the same size this holiday season. So good. I'm inviting you to join me for the workshop called Eat, Drink, and Stay the Same Size on Tuesday, November 12th at 7:30 PM Eastern time. Yes, there will be a replay, but I'm encouraging you to join live because I have some fun, exciting bonuses only for people who stay, who attend live. But you can register right now at jenniferdent.com/workshop. JenniferDent.com/workshop. The link is in the show notes. And honestly, I think it'll be a great gift for your BFF, for your favorite cousin who makes the famous apple pie or the pumpkin pie or the banana cream pie or whatever, a gift for that person. So don't wait, head to JenniferDent.com/workshop to save your spot. Get a spot for your people. Or send them the link and have them join with you. It's going to be so much fun. So I hope this episode gave you a fresh perspective, gave you some hope and some like clarity on how you can indulge without overindulging this holiday season. It is possible. I do it every single year. And I hope to see you at the workshop where we're going to dive even deeper into these strategies. Now the workshop is going to be 60 minutes, y'all. I'm not going to keep you on. For hours and hours and hours and hours. 60 minutes. I'm going to give you what you need. We're going to create a plan together live on the workshop. You're going to have a workbook. You're going to be able to refer to it, you know, after the workshop. You'll have a recording of the workshop so you can listen to it in the car on the way to Grandma's house for Thanksgiving dinner for some reinforcement. It is going to set you up to end this year in a way that you have never ended a year before. And you're going to go into the new year, like, feeling really proud of yourself. All right. So be sure to check, check the show notes for the link to register for the holiday workshop. And if you enjoyed this episode, I want you to subscribe if you haven't already, share it with a friend who may need to hear this and leave a review. Your support would be a wonderful gift. And it means so much to me and it helps others find this podcast too. So until next time, enjoy the holidays, enjoy your treats, and remember, indulging doesn't mean losing control. Stay focused, stay fabulous, and stop dieting forever with Luxe. And I will see you in the next episode.