Tis The Season
Marina is back with a little holiday guest blogging merriment!
Tis the Season
The paleo challenge is long gone…so I know what you’re thinking- why is Marina blogging again? WELL…let me tell you! The holiday season is in full force, and in my experience, this is the time when those with the best of intentions get bowled over by gingerbread men, sugar cookies, and spiked eggnog- oh my!
Now during the last challenge I heard a few people give the feedback that their approach to staying on the challenge was to avoid friends and all social situations. This honestly made my heart break in so many ways- 1) it’s totally unrealistic 2) it gives a bad name to paleo (that you can’t be social/have fun and still eat this way) and 3) it sets people up for failure. I was recently reminded of this when talking with one of my teenage clients who was trying to reduce his drug use. He wanted to, he had many things motivating him…and yet his only idea on how to achieve this was to stay at his house all weekend long and avoid going out to social settings. Despite being secretly thrilled he had finally come to this point after several years of work, my concern was that if this was his only plan to achieve sobriety, it was completely unrealistic. WE ARE SOCIAL BEINGS! WE LIKE BEING AROUND PEOPLE…and it’s GOOD FOR US TO HAVE FUN (especially with all that nasty cortisol that gets released when we are stressed).
So what does this have to do with the holidays? Well, I’m here to tell you it’s not as black and white as you may think. There’s another theory in my field called ‘harm reduction’…the idea is gradually decreasing risky behaviors (vs. going cold turkey)- it’s not getting rid of the problem completely, but it is making things better/safer. That’s how I would like you to approach the holidays- looking at all those tasty delights as a spectrum of choices…with some being ‘less bad’ than others- and when you do decide to go out and be merry- PICK THOSE! What are ‘those’…some are easy- red wine (instead of gluten filled beer), dark chocolate (instead of chocolate chip cookies), and dirty martinis (instead of some fruity, sugar-laden holiday cocktail). It also might mean looking at sites like Elena’s Pantry and checking out her 10 healthy Christmas Cookies post: http://www.elanaspantry.com/10-healthy-christmas-cookie-recipes/
The last thing I would ask is for you to feel deprived this holiday season. And in fact, that type of thinking (‘glass half full’) will actually make you feel worse. By focusing on what you can have, or what ‘smarter’ options might be out there- you can have fun AND fit in your snazziest threads come New Years Eve. So I dare you…make a batch of almond flour chocolate chip cookies or pecan shortbread…head out to those holidays bashes, drink your raspberry stoli and soda water with a squeeze of lime (my personal fave!) and tell me that you aren’t having a good time! CHEERS!!!
===============================================
Friday’s WOD:
Jerk 3-3-3-3-3
As many rounds as possible in 10 minutes:
5 Reps Locked Overhead (anyway possibile) 185 lbs/115lbs
7 Push Ups
9 GHD Back Extensions
2011 12 15