Let’s Talk About Holiday Food
Who loves the holidays? It’s a time for food, family, rest, and giving and receiving. One of the biggest topics around the holidays always seems to be food and what you’re going to make or bring. For most of us, it’s a season that can either be a YOLO (you only live once) type of mentality or you’re trying to stick to a strict diet. Whatever your mentality is, we’re all about balance, which means we’re here to help all throughout the holiday season. Let’s talk about how to do it and about some things we should ditch, shall we?
YOLO
We all know that it’s the season of pies, cookies, ice cream, eggnog, alcohol, fried food, oils, and fan-favorite, carbs. It’s a season to indulge in the things most of us have said no to all year long, and there’s nothing wrong with that, right? Yes, for the most part, except your body has no idea what’s happening to it once you re-introduce certain processed foods.
Let’s break it down
Alcohol is also a huge proponent when it comes to the holiday season. We are sure everyone has heard that red wine is good for you, and studies continue to prove that in moderation, red wine is filled with rich benefits. Studies have shown that “Red wine gets its health benefits from its antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and lipid-regulating effects. Red wine, made from crushed dark grapes, is a relatively rich source of resveratrol, a natural antioxidant in the skin of grapes. Antioxidants reduce oxidative stress in the body. Oxidative stress has clear links with many diseases, including cancers and heart disease” (Medical News Today). While wine is an anti-inflammatory, beer is a totally different story and can cause inflammation in your stomach, so we suggest going with red wine this holiday season.
Anyone like fried turkey? Oh, it’s so yummy, but think about what you’re deep frying your turkey in this season. Seed oils are proven to be some of the leading causes of heart disease, cancer, and other life-degrading conditions, and they’re going to be found in your food, especially canola oil. Canola oil is mostly GMO and high in Omega-6 Fats, which wouldn’t be bad if balanced correctly, but modern diets tend to be extremely high in omega-6s, found in many refined foods, and low in omega-3s from whole foods, causing an imbalance that leads to increased inflammation. Like omega-3 fats, omega-6 fats are essential to health and perform important functions in your body. However, while the most healthy ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fat intake is 1:1, the typical Western diet is estimated to be around 15:1 and this imbalance is linked to a number of chronic conditions, such as Alzheimer’s disease, obesity, and heart disease (Healthline).
Here’s a list of other oils you should stay away from this holiday season: Soybean, corn, canola, cottonseed, rapeseed, grapeseed, sunflower, safflower, and rice bran. It’s time to pay attention to the ingredients on packages friends!
Turkey and ham are always a part of a traditional holiday season, but unfortunately, if they aren’t organic and naturally raised, they’re going to be pumped with GMO’s and raised on fields covered in pesticides and other harmful products. When eating turkey, the dark meat of a turkey tends to contain more vitamins and minerals, but also has more fat and calories, so enjoy it in moderation. And we know you know about the “turkey nap” that happens once you’ve eaten Turkey. Why does this happen? It’s because turkey contains the amino acid tryptophan. “Tryptophan is an essential amino acid that serves several important purposes, like nitrogen balance in adults and growth in infants. It’s also used to produce niacin, which is essential in creating the neurotransmitter serotonin” (Healthline). It can also be found in chicken, eggs, cheese, fish, peanuts, pumpkin and sesame seeds, milk, tofu and soy. While tryptophan is essential, like anything, it should be consumed in moderation.
Sugar can be found in almost all the food during Thanksgiving and Christmas, and while natural sugars are good for you in moderation, you won’t be finding a lot of natural sugars unless you’ve made things from scratch. We’re all about food embracing their real flavors, no added sugars, and sticking to tradition with organic clean food. When we eat artificial sweeteners and processed sugar, it makes our brain think we’ve eaten sugar so our body gets ready to use it, but instead, it turns into fat and is stored. Let’s yolo by adding some alternatives so you can have your pie and eat it too.
START SMALL
We’re sure you know all about artificial flavoring and sweeteners, food dye, oils, processed foods, GMO’s, “natural flavors,” and all the keywords that brands have spent thousands of dollars on for “healthy” branding. You probably avoid all of these things like the plague, but the holiday season is here, so now what? Do you cook everything yourself to ensure quality for your friends and family or do you splurge for these two big meals? Do you avoid sweets? Or do you avoid it all together? We think it’s smart to cook things for quality control, but we also think it’s smart to enjoy simple pleasures in life like sweets and not allow food to make you feel guilty or shameful, especially during a time that’s meant to bring us all together.
How to not stress about food
If you don’t typically eat sweets, carbs, or heavy oils, it’s smart to slowly introduce these things to your system, giving your body time to break it all down. What a lot of people do is they skip a meal or a snack before the big holiday meal so they “save room,” but in reality, you’re only hurting yourself and your metabolism. Eating small meals and snacks throughout the day is the best way to really indulge and take care of your body at the same time.
We’re obviously all about movement, but what we don’t really love is thinking that you have to move your body in order to “earn” your holiday meal or dessert. Exercise shouldn’t be a punishment for what you’ve eaten or want to eat. If your mentality is focused on burning off enough calories so you’re “allowed” to eat what you want, that isn’t healthy. If you want to get your body moving because it’s a part of your lifestyle, great, but if it isn’t, we encourage you to find a healthier way to enjoy the foods you like this Holiday season. It starts with seeing food as nutrients and fuel, and knowing our body needs food in order to function properly. When we deprive ourselves of eating or develop an unhealthy relationship with food and exercise, it can cause you to become obsessive over everything. Shame takes over if you eat something you think you shouldn’t or you don’t work out when you thought you should, and we don’t want you to have to deal with that, so change your mind about food and its purpose, and think about finding a therapist who specializes in that area.
Speaking of healthy relationships with food, who likes doing a New Year’s diet? Did you know that diets have a 95% failure rate because our bodies aren’t meant to do them? What we encourage instead of a fad diet or burning yourself out in the gym, is learning how to provide your body with proper nutrients and staying away from foods that aren’t doused in artificial flavors and sweeteners. Shopping organic, visiting one of our locations regularly, and doing a juice cleanse at least once a month to refresh your system is always the best way to provide your body with clean food that still hold their nutrients.
Let’s compromise with some alternatives
We’re all about living a little bit longer, but we also know how to cut loose a little bit. Food should never be a source of stress for you, but an outlet to experience different flavors, provide your body with fuel, and a time to enjoy the company of others.
Enjoy the holiday season by substituting certain things, but don’t freak out if you can’t. Our bodies are powerful and we have amazing organs that fight against and detox toxins, natural digestive enzymes to help breakdown and digest hard to process foods, and turn fat, carbs, and sugar into energy. And remember, in order to create a more balanced ratio this holiday season, you should replace processed foods rich in canola and other oils with natural, whole-food sources of omega-3, such as fatty fish and organic meat.