"Clean" Eating & The Holidays

[Lux Hauler]

I have made two "Ketogenic" peanut butter pies over the last month for a couple gatherings and possibly another one tomorrow due to the success, they have been DEVOURED by non-dieters. Stevia in place of sugar and coconut flour pie crust.

I have a problem passing up home-made garlic bread and mashed white potatoes (both are family staples at gatherings) but so long as I keep it [mostly] paleo/keto, I feel fine.

[bewitchyou]

Originally Posted by riaelise

I don't even attempt to "eat clean" for holidays. It is what it is. I do continue to exercise, though. Not to stave off holiday pounds but to keep my body in gear. In fact, I've reduced my "cheat days" from two per week to one to accommodate holiday weight gain.

Makes sense to me, good post. I'm tending to do the same thing myself since starting my health journey, and it is a start. Eating healthy during the winter actually seems counterproductive to me since we are still biologically animals, and thus have a tendency to gain weight more in the winter. Gotta gain fat to protect ourselves from the harshness of the winter cold

[in_newengland]

I try a little bit but that's one of the treats of the holidays, having something you don't usually have. The trick is making sure you return to normal eating habits after it's all over.

We'll be at my cousin's house. She always makes non dairy scalloped potatoes (due to my dairy allergy), roast turkey, butternut squash, a salad, some home made rolls, coffee, tea.

I'm the horrible one who brings dessert. Last year dh and I made mini mince tarts. This year I'm making one of my mother's recipes from days gone by: chocolate chip meringues. We'll probably all have a few glasses of wine by the roaring fire afterwards.

At this very moment I am practicing making the meringues. Yes, we will eat them all...and by this time tomorrow they will be gone. But we're pretty good the rest of the time, no one is overweight or watching carbs and I think it's great to splurge a little bit at holiday time. Oh--none of what we'll be eating is fake, processed junk food and that makes a difference. Even the cookies are real food (well, except for the chocolate chips.)

It's when you have to go to a party and you stand around eating stuff--that's where I have no self control. That's almost as bad as eating the leftover Halloween candy.