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The festive season is here.  It’s December, the end of a rollercoaster year, and many of us may be tempted by holiday delights.  Let’s face it, you feel like you’ve earned it.  We probably all had our comfort and binge eating episodes amongst the lockdowns, cancelled travel plans and more staycations than we’re used to.  Although you want to enjoy and celebrate making it to the end of the year, there is a proven connection between the food we eat and our energy, not to mention the energy ‘in’ our food.  So, to ensure you have a radiant holiday season, read on for some tips, tools and strategies to feel your best while staying fun and festive.

Feeling sluggish, weight gain and adrenal exhaustion are common effects of a sugar and refined carb overdose.  Study after study shows how excess processed sugar aggravates inflammation, increases blood pressure, and wreaks havoc on the entire body and its balance, but beyond that, spiritually it also takes a toll on our energy.  If you don’t eat well, it’s hard to sit, contemplate and be introspective, or to have energy and focus to dedicate to the things that really connect you to your core self.   McDonalds doesn’t exactly inspire me to mediate…not sure what your take is on that?  The body is a temple and we are meant to have an embodied experience.  The more we nourish our bodies, the more energy we will have to nourish ourselves, our relationships, our work and passions.

We know from herbalism and eastern medicine that when you eat certain foods they can heal and prevent disease, and some have even been proven to help with meditation.  Think warming foods like ginger, cinnamon and cardamon mixed in warm almond milk. Super grounding and calming.  On the other hand, sugar and denatured refined carbohydrates are energy dead yet calorie dense.  Denaturing foods that drain your energy include alcohol, processed carbohydrates and excess sugar.  Ever heard the term empty calories?  They don’t just refer to nutrition.

So, when you sit down for a big family feast this holiday season, and the table is laid out with childhood favorites, you need a strategy.  Be prepared prior to that potential blow-out dinner. This is a good time to incorporate healthy, filling and most importantly natural sources of protein.  Think chia seeds, mixed with nut milk, cinnamon and some vanilla in the form of a delicious chia pudding. It’s a nice, nourishing afternoon snack that will digest well before dinner and help you fight cravings at the table.  Another healthy afternoon snack full of fibre, antioxidants and protein that will help you by-pass the sugar cookies could be some almond butter on dates – try them frozen for extra YUM. Promise you’ll make them a regular healthy craving killer.

From the AM, incorporate essential nutrients that will help you stay on track. Start the day with hot water and lemon.  It sounds basic, but you will really feel how that warmth in your body first thing stimulates digestion, helps with elimination and supports healthy bowel movement.  The enzymes also help with building and rebuilding the liver tissue.  Your liver is your main detoxifying organ.  On the topic of warm drinks (it is winter after all), enjoy a creamy matcha latte, it will help give you sustained energy and not contribute to end of year anxieties that coffee could inspire.  Ginger is known to really connect you to your body and gives an expansive feeling.  It anchors you, and helps with staying present.  Try seeping a few cubes of fresh ginger with honey and lemon, if plain lemon water isn’t your jam.

To help with portion control, make sure you’re eating as much fiber as possible.  Start your meal with a big salad or a veggie soup.  You’ll find that by the time desert rolls around, you’ll feel a whole lot fuller than if you’d skipped straight to the turkey and mash potatoes.  Telling yourself that as long as you finish the huge salad, you can try anything else at the table will lead you to some pleasantly surprising outcomes.  Most of the time you’ll find you won’t really want to overindulge.

Bottom line is: there’s no need to cut sweet tastes altogether, and why should you? Especially if your overall diet is quite balanced, there’s no need to get hung up on avoiding all sugar. In fact, one of the six tastes of Ayurvedic medicine, the oldest medicine system in the world, is sweet, “madhura”.  You may find that adding naturally sweet fruits with fiber will curb some of the sweet cravings.  Fruit is one of the highest vibrational, cleansing foods available to us on this beautiful planet.  Keep dark chocolate, coconut ice cream, cacao nibs, and honey on hand for when sweet cravings strike.  If it is carbs that you crave, think about replacing white refined carbs for grounding whole foods like sweet potato. The energy of grounding is associated with sweet potato, and can easily replace any side dish at your dinner table.

Worst case scenario, you’ve caved and ended up gorging on refined sugar- we’ve all been there.  Make sure you’re nourishing your gut since refined sugar and processed foods can wipe out your microbiome, but don’t be too hard on yourself.  Life is all about balance, and we all fall off of the bus every now and then.  Keep up with your probiotics or add them into your diet if you haven’t already.  You may even find that it helps with the cravings.  Add in digestive enzymes to reduce the load on your stomach – there are plenty of affordable options.  Make sure you take them prior to your meals to reduce bloating, and aid digestion.

Everything is so interconnected, when we look for certain foods, we often look to self soothe and to address a range of emotions we might be feeling during this holiday season.  Not to mention it coincides with the end of year and a time we naturally take stock of the year gone by.  As you pay attention to yourself emotionally and what’s going on in your life, ask yourself, “Do I need to dedicate more time to self-care?  Do I need to take some time for myself and run a bath?  Meditate?”  Because food cravings are so nuanced, once we start to look within ourselves, we can learn to balance our food cravings a lot more.  Self-awareness is really powerful when it comes to food cravings, and so is being mindful in every area of our lives.  Look at ways to shift your mood in a non-food related way.  Put on your favorite music and take a walk outside, spend time on a hobby you want to improve at. Again, we want to stay away from the mentality of restriction and all or nothing.  It’s about balance.  Think progress, not perfection.  However, you end up enjoying your festive season, make sure to be in the present moment, and to spend your time with those who mean the most to you.  Eating energy filled foods will help you to regulate how you feel, emotionally and physically, and will enable you to be the best version of yourself.