The holiday season is here.
And there’s one thing I know you’ll see at every,
In-office Yankee grab-bag exchange,
Saturday night dinner party, and
After work cocktail party…
The Spirit of the season,
which often looks like,
overflowing plates of cookies,
festive froufrou mixed-drinks, and
tables laden with traditional family favorites,
that you don’t want to eat, and… you so do.
Add to all this festivity, the end-of-the-year deadline-stress,
Hours preparing for your family and friend get-togethers, and
Late-night shopping excursions,
And rather than feel festive, all you feel is exhausted and stressed.
Add in one cocktail to a tired body, and
Bam! Your resistance is double-downed!
Which is why you end up eating, drinking and indulging more than you ever want.
Looking to understand why you feel lousy and gained excess weight after the holidays?
Look no further than stress, lack of sleep and hormonal imbalance.
Yes, when you’re stressed-out and tired, your body produces higher levels of the hormone grehlin, which is also known as the hunger hormone.
When your body releases higher levels of grehlin, you want to eat more, which naturally lowers the hormone leptin, the hormone that tells you to stop eating, that you’re satisfied, that you’ve had enough.
This is one of the biggest reasons why you feel hungry, even when you know you’re not.
This is a likely reason you crave sugary foods and carbs mid-day — you’re body is looking for a quick energy pick-me-up, and carbs does just that — they give you the quick and immediate energy fix you’re looking for.
Plus, you “feel happy” when you eat sugary, carb-y things. Do you know why? Ti’s true, your body releases serotonin, the feel-good hormone with every bite you take!
Add to this cascade of hormonal responses, the energy blast your body gets from the cortisol your adrenal glands start pumping, because it deems you’re in a “fight or flight” situation from all the stress and exhaustion AND sugar and carbs!
This blast of excess cortisol (continuously pumping if you’re continuously eating sugar and carbs) is the likely culprit for excess weight gain.
To add insult to injury, excess cortisol can lead you to screaming for more serotonin, which leads to the never-ending hamster wheel of craving sugar AND fatty, processed foods!
So… IF you don’t want to fall down the legendary, holiday rabbit hole of gaining excess weight and feeling sick and unhealthy this year, you’ve got to get a good nights sleep and reduce stress (I’ve got 1000 tips for this!), and you’ve got to balance out the indulgence of the season with a few smart ideas. Want mine?
Your Turn:
Can I help you healthfully navigate the holidays this year with more suggestions, tips and ideas?
What always seems to pull you out, but you want to change that this year?
Post your questions and comments below. I’d love to help.
Ready to take control of your health in 2018? Lets’s schedule a call to talk about your goals. Email me at carol@carol-egan.com
