For most people, healthy eating habits fly right out the window during the holidays, even if you have really good intentions. What I’m going to teach you today will change that.

I mentioned to my husband…

I mentioned to my husband that I was going to teach you about Elastic Eating during the Holidays and he said, “Is that like making sure you have your stretchy pants on when you’re eating?” OH my word…

• No… this is to ensure that you don’t need do the stretchy pant thing!

Now, this originally came up because a few days ago, Deborah, one of the ladies in my Jumpstart 30 course came to me feeling concerned about the holidays right around the corner and what it normally does to her eating habits. She said,

• “Some days, I’m just ON. I get super disciplined, focused and I eat perfectly. I try really hard to say no to certain foods, and manage to do pretty good. But then I have a splurge, which turns into a string of splurges. And pretty soon I find myself way off the wagon for a couple weeks!”

What really bothered Deborah the most was that she did always make progress when she was disciplined and felt healthier, more energetic, and more comfortable in her body.

• But she recognized that trying to eat perfectly was not sustainable, which is why she always fell off...soon finding herself in a place that didn’t feel comfortable or healthy at all.
• “What’s my problem? How do I fix this?”

I told her she needed to become an Elastic Eater, especially during the holidays.

Let me explain…

The Source of Deborah’s frustrations

Deborah was trying too hard to be rigid with her food choices, like a board - perfectly disciplined, stiff, and immovable.

While this works great for a little while, pretty soon the weight of it built up enough to snap that rigid board - there’s no flex, there’s no give.

Instead, she needs her eating habits to resemble something more elastic, and so do you if you want to avoid the Stretchy Pant Syndrome over the holidays.

So, I am going to teach you about ELASTIC EATING - or basically how to become more flexible with your eating habits.

• This is so important if you feel like you’re always bouncing from strict, rigid habits (white knuckling), to totally loose and haphazard eating… or what you probably refer to as “falling off the wagon”. This helps you overcome all of that.

What is Elastic Eating?

Alright, what is Elastic Eating?

• We talk a lot about flexibility in fitness - you know, being flexible and improving your hip flexor or hamstring mobility. But how does this relate to eating?
• With elastic eating, you have structure and basic ground rules, but you also have the ability to flex appropriately at just the right times without snapping. So not only must your habits flex and give, but they must also quickly return to their original shape.
• Think of it like an exercise band - you can stretch it, you can pull it longer and away from its original shape, but as soon as you let go, it immediately returns back to its regular size.

So where do you start?

Start with the regular size or regular shape - these are the ground rules for your basic eating habits, what you eat when you’re not stretched. Your normal. The tried and true principles that will never fail you and will always make you feel your best. (These were also all of those habits that Deborah was trying to do perfectly.)

You should know these by now, but I’ll remind you real quick:

• You’re eating meals as regular mealtimes, about every 3-4 hours and you’re eating slowly and mindfully
• drink mostly water (clear, calorie-free beverages) and lots of it,
• eat lots of lean protein and fresh produce with every meal - following the mantra Eat Your PRO’s,
• eat a variety of healthy fats throughout the day,
• eat good quality grains and other whole food sources of starch when the timing is right for you personally,
• And do your best to avoid packaged/processed foods - or basically anything that’s in a wrapper, a box, or a package

This is the shape of your band when you’re not being stretched.

And now, allow for the flex.

The solution is to adhere to these ground rules, your basic shape, most of the time, but then allow for some appropriate flex.

What does this mean and what does this NOT mean?

• First of all, flexing does not mean you’re “breaking the rules” or “cheating”. Don’t apply negativity or morality to it. I don’t want you to believe that you’re a better eater and a healthier person if you never flex. (That just means you’re really rigid and one day you’ll snap really bad.)
• Flexing also does not mean you’re so loose and away from your ground rules for so long that you take on a new shape. What happens when you take a rubber band and flex it too far and hold it there? It gets stretched out, right? You don’t want that.
• Flexing means that you step away, but not too far, and not for too long, and you step right back.

So just like with the flexibility of your muscles, where having super tight muscles is bad and ALSO having hyper-elastic or hyper-mobile muscles is bad, too - the same goes for elastic eating.

Let’s put this into action with some real life examples.

Here are some good examples of Elastic Eating in action:

• You meet your friend at a restaurant for lunch, and you order a meal that’s not healthy, it’s not PRO-filled, like burger and fries, so you flex, you enjoy it, but at the very next meal, you’re right back to your regular healthy habits, and your dinner is a PRO-filled meal. You don’t scrap the whole day and continue to eat unhealthy or skip dinner altogether out of guilt. You’re right back on track.
• The Christmas cookies arrive - maybe you baked some with your kids or grandkids - and there’s one type in particular that’s your absolute favorite. That’s awesome! So you flex, you enjoy that particular cookie because for you, it’s better than all other cookies, and everything else is take or leave it, but THIS is your favorite. So you have one, you eat it slowly, you enjoy it, and then you move on. You’ve stretched and now you’re going to come right back, and have a PRO-filled meal at your next regular eating opportunity.

Should we do one more?

• It’s a big holiday party (like, say Thanksgiving) and sitting on the counter is your favorite chips and dip. (For me, it’s pita chips with the spinach/artichoke dip… I love it so much!) So you’re going to flex and enjoy it. You then scan everything else on the counter or part of that meal that’s potentially outside of your healthy eating habits, and you decide that none of those other things are going to make it on to your plate. Just the pita chips and the artichoke dip, and then you’re going to load up your plate with as many protein and produce options as possible.

In a nutshell…

You’re starting to see that Elastic Eating is all a process of mindful give and take, balance and moderation. You’re not being strict, but you’re not letting yourself be out of control, either.

Elastic Eating is about following the guidelines, flexing and stretching at the edges sometimes, but then sliding right back to the basic guidelines at the very next opportunity, never away from the true center for very long.

• If you can master this skill, you will be one of the healthiest eaters on this planet - not because you eat perfectly, but because you never get derailed
• But if you don’t start working on this now, your relationship with food and healthy eating will continue to be frustrating and discouraging, and you’ll always feel like a failure

How can you practice this?

Ask yourself what your level of elasticity is right now in this season: are you trying to be too tight or are you too loose?

I told Deborah that she was trying to eating perfectly - she was too tight. So I had her intentionally practice being more flexible by making herself eat a splurge everyday to prevent becoming too strict and rigid.

• And you know what happened? Her eating choices became more consistent - no perfect days, but no complete failures, either.
• She told me a couple months later that she finally knew what it felt like to experience freedom with food. To have the self-control and wisdom to make good choices, but also enjoy food and be healthy.

If you’re too loose and you’re getting caught up in the holiday foods, and you’re only eating healthy meals once or twice a week, then you need to revisit those ground rules and decide which of those things could use some more discipline and structure. Start there.

If you need more help, let me give you my Holiday Splurging Blueprint that teaches you how to **AVOID YOUR TYPICAL HOLIDAY EATING MISTAKES WHILE ACTUALLY ENJOYING FOOD THIS SEASON. Just go to holidaysplurging.com or the link in the show notes.

At the end of the day, you’re ultimate destination with your nutrition is to be an Elastic Eater - it works in every scenario, especially holidays.

More Resources & Links

Holiday Splurging Blueprint - FREE Download!!

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