Survival Guide 101: Holidays.

        Hello, all, and welcome to Lyndsey's Declassified Holiday Survival Guide (just trying to be clever here, guys.) So, it's November 2nd, aka day 3 of recovering from candy-coma. The Milky Ways, the candy corn, the vampire punch...oh, the joys of holiday feasts. It's all fun and games until Monday comes around and you sadly realize that you basically ate your weight in sugar over the weekend. Although they say this is the "best time of the year", fitness freaks claims it's the worst as temptation is at its highest. So - do you eat that spooky pumpkin cupcake or do you stare at it?

You eat it, dummy.

       If there's one thing I can't stand hearing girls say, it's "OMG I can't eat that there's like soooo many carbs in that and I'm on a diet." Yes, I fully understand that this is a mentality and that  living a healthy lifestyle is perfectly fine. However, I am opposed to the girls (or guys, too) that discourage eachother from eating or drinking certain things. Ladies & gents, listen up: that 3 Musketeers fun size candy won't make you gain 30 lbs overnight. That piece of cheesecake post-Thanksgiving feast won't turn you into a blob of fat. That hot apple cider? Guess what - it won't kill you. Many people don't realize that 1 huge meal or 2 days of "unhealthy eating" will not make you a 300 lb sumo wrestler. So here's where the idea of a flexible lifestyle comes into play.

         Halloween, Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas; whatever it is that you like to celebrate, you should enjoy celebrating. Forcing yourself to resist that fudgy chocolate cake while all of your other family members stuff their faces will, I promise you, be absolute torture hell. It's all about moderation. Yes, if you were to eat swiss rolls and ice cream everyday you probably gain weight. But that's the point of a holiday; it only comes once a year, So you should definitely have that snickerdoodle cookie. You will burn off those 300 calories just by the snooze you'll take that evening. The resentment you suffer through will do more harm to you than those 5g of fat. Trust me.

        So what's my take on this? Eat. Please. For the sake of all of us, eat your heart out. There was once a time, about a year ago, where I restricted myself in all aspects of food. Oh, we had donuts in class one day? Those donuts were poison to me. It's my best friends birthday? Cake was out of my picture. And do you know what happened to me? I became very sad. My mind and my tummy became weak. Yeah, sure, chicken and vegetables are good, but every once in a while, we need a little something to keep us going. Holidays are a time to enjoy life and be with family and friends. You shouldn't be burdened with caloric intake during these lovely times. As long as you don't gorge in 5 pies and 16 cookies, I promise that you won't turn in to Veruca Salt from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory overnight. Yeah, ok, you may gain like .3 of a lb. But do you know how easily that will come off? Spend a weekend enjoying yourself, and then get back to keeping yourself healthy the following week. We all need a little break. You deserve it.

perhaps i'm a bit too excited for these sights...

It's a lifestyle, not a diet. Live like it.

Until next time...
Lynds