"December" with intention
Make a plan for the holiday season
Happy December, Noosers! We hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving, hopefully unplugging a bit, relaxing, reflecting, and feeling recharged, ready for December. We both had a nice few days filled with family and enjoying the snow! As much as we tried to “unplug” and focus on the present, we noticed it was hard to turn away from our inboxes, which are a mile long with retailers shouting the sales, countdowns and making us feel frazzled. The elf! The gifts! The decorations! Deep breath, I usually love the beginning of December (my wedding anniversary), but this year feels extra “busy.”
December is the last month of the year and with it comes the winter solstice. In the darkest days there can be so much light, if we draw our awareness to life’s greatest joys. We challenge you to “December” differently this year; focus on the simple things that bring joy: a walk outside, a lebkuchen cookie (a delicious German cookie-highly recommend trying), or sitting by the fire with a book.
It seems like we have to cram so much into these 31 days, and I bet it doesn’t ever involve prioritizing your health—you wait until January for that. We tend to push aside our good habits and routines and get absorbed in the busyness of it all.
In the coming weeks, we're here for you, supporting you through the holiday season. “December” with intention. Our goal is to provide awareness and practical insights that help you navigate this potentially challenging time, ultimately preventing you from feeling like you’ve been run over by a plow come January 4th — setting you up for a healthier start to the new year.
It is possible to enjoy the holidays while keeping your wellness (and sanity!) intact, but it usually involves some help — whether it’s making a plan to stick with or finding a professional to help you with accountability. We are here for you in the form of our Monday Noosletters, but if you’d like personalized help (text support, a zoom call, we assist in a lot of different ways!), we are here for you! Reach out, we’d love to hear from you and set up a call.
Nutrition
How was your Thanksgiving? Were you able to savor the meal without the food noise? Were you able to be present and enjoy your food? I hope so. The next few weeks are some that many look forward to all year, but they also bring a lot of challenges when it comes to food and thoughts around holiday eating. Holiday events offer unique opportunities to enjoy foods outside our typical diet. Now, more than ever, your relationship with food matters.
When you care about what you eat and why you eat, your food choices become more clear, and it’s easier to maintain the standards you’ve set for yourself — it becomes more rewarding.
One of the biggest mistakes I witness my patients make is approaching the holidays with no plan. Everyone’s plan is different, but some common themes that are encouraged are: reflecting on how you want to feel in those early days of 2025, honoring your hunger and fullness cues, and prioritizing foods that give you energy and make you feel good. When we take time to be present and draw awareness to our hunger and fullness cues, it’s possible to enjoy your favorite “fun” foods and not overdo it. Building an action plan that feels doable will almost always lead to positive results.
Over the past seven months, we’ve encouraged and challenged you to find an eating pattern that is right for you. I hope you’ve been able to find some foods in the right quantities that offer you energy and work with your body, not against it. If you’ve taken time over the last half of the year to build your eating pattern, going into the holiday season will be that much easier. Don’t fret, if you haven’t built a pattern that honors your health, you can still go through December and make better choices. It might be harder, but not impossible.
Tell yourself this holiday season will be different. By approaching the meals/parties/cookie swaps with intentional mindfulness and challenging our usual patterns, we can create a different experience that leaves us feeling empowered and in control throughout the holiday season.
Movement
Having a plan helps when things get out of whack during the holidays. Speaking from experience, movement is the first thing to get bumped when my routine gets disrupted. It doesn’t feel good, but it’s easy to cut your workout out when you think things are “too busy.”
A couple of years ago, I made up a yoga challenge for myself during the month of December. It was a challenge for sure — while I started out strong, I almost didn’t complete it! The premise was, I would do 15 yoga classes in the month of December. I used the peloton app and really enjoyed Kirra Michel’s classes. She has great music and always changed my energy for the better. I chose yoga because I could do it at home when my schedule was varying, or kids were inevitably sick, and I was limited with my movement due to major knee surgery earlier that year.
The plan was great. It held me accountable. Peloton kept track of my classes, so I could see where I stood as the month passed. Sometimes it’s nice to make a plan to stick to ( a challenge = plan). As I crept closer to the end of the month, I realized I wasn’t as on pace with my challenge as I thought, and I had to do a couple of days in a row of yoga classes… but what was the downside? I made a promise to myself that I wanted to keep and I never regretted making time for myself and my yoga classes.
Making a plan is a way of prioritizing yourself during a busy, unpredictable time. A plan can be a challenge like my yoga one a couple years ago… or it can be as simple as looking ahead at your week and working backwards. Cocktail party on Thursday night? Maybe you move your workout class to Thursday morning instead of Friday morning, so you aren’t working against tiredness or a hangover. Family coming into town for the weekend? Carve out some time earlier in the week so you can use some rest days and relax when you have company, or plan a family hike to get out and move (“fresh air club!”). If you have goals, or want to stay consistent, planning ahead is key. For so many, movement is the first thing to be tossed aside when a routine is disrupted, but it doesn’t have to be.
We emphasize the importance of prioritizing yourself at Noos, because it’s easier to feel good when you are aware of your nutrition, movement and habits. When you feel good, you can take care of others more effectively and can be present, rather than thinking about what you could have done differently (guilt and regret are the worst, woof!).
Find a way to make a plan and stick with it, for yourself, this holiday season. Is it a challenge? Is it just looking ahead at your schedule and working backwards? Getting enough physical activity during the holidays isn’t always easy and takes some planning, but your body will thank you, and you won’t regret it!
Behavior
Sticking to a plan sounds good and easy, but without a strong enough why, your commitment will inevitably crumble. Spoiler alert: things never slow down– there will always be something competing for your attention. Your success hinges on having a motivation so powerful, so personal, that it cuts through the noise and disruptions, keeping you anchored to your goals when everything else tries to pull you off course. Truthfully, most people have an insufficient reason for action. The pain isn’t painful enough. It’s a nice-to-have, not a must-have. We often say, find your why until you cry.
A few months ago, we wrote a Noosletter about the importance of finding your “why.” If you don’t have a strong enough why and things start getting in your way, it’s much easier to give up on your goals. This is a great time to nail down your why, given all the distractions and disruptions that come with the holidays. If your why is strong, then it will be easier to stay on track and stick to the plan. We all know what it feels like to negotiate with ourselves — “I will start eating more plants tomorrow, so I’ll treat myself to extra cake now,” “It’s so cold and windy out, I’ll run later this week when it warms up” — these are just a couple of things I’ve told myself to buy myself time, especially when my why isn’t super strong. The why that will keep me accountable is that I don’t want to be crawling out of a “hole” on January 1. I want to be feeling strong and ready for ski season, healthy for the winter months when my kids tend to get sick, and ready for our annual Misogi (more on that later).
Your why can help you “be the straight line!”
So, Noosers, what’s your why?
Until next time…
learning how to balance "enjoying the food and sweets of the season" with "making healthy decisions" is an on-going challenge and something I hope to get a little better with each passing year.
Love love your noos. Terrific job and wonderful information and encouragement
Miss all of you. Martha