Have you ever heard of the 80/20 rule?
Well this vague description is a perfect remedy for the holidays when they hit. People tend to give up on diets or workout less because of how busy this time of year gets, plus it’s cold and maybe just not as carefree as summer is. With the 80/20 rule, you can learn to balance a healthy diet while getting your fill on candy, pumpkin spice lattes, apple pie and all the candy canes in your future.
The 80/20 rule for nutrition is comprising most of your daily diet with nutritious foods and eating a craving food in moderation. This being said, most of the day should be filled with lots of water, whole grains, fruits and vegetables, as well as proteins. So eating a piece of cake or having a couple candies is encouraged as well, But instead of eating an entire bag of gummy bears and a liter of Coke, have a couple gummy bears one day and a glass of Coke the next.
A big reason why diet culture never works is because it’s not what your everyday diet consists of. So you might do a seven-day flash diet but at the end binge on all the foods you were denying yourself those seven days.
Keeping foods you like in your everyday diet will be less restrictive and feel more rewarding. I hear all the time about people starting diets and then cheating one day, so they give up completely, don’t cheat yourself, make your diet suitable to your life.
I think this is important to remember around the holidays because there are so many family gatherings with tons of food as well as sweets at every corner. Restricting yourself too much will only make you crave the food you hold yourself back from even more. Life is short, it’s important to enjoy the little things in life like a cannoli or a glass of champagne.
Implementing your favorite healthy foods in your daily diet is important to make healthy eating fun and consistent — whether that’s eating a bowl of fruit every day as a snack, keeping applesauce in your lunchbox because its your favorite, having string cheese in your house for a quick daily snack, eating green beans every day because nobody can tell you you can’t, or even eating strawberries with whipped cream and chocolate syrup as desert because fiber is good for you.
Enjoy the holiday season! Don’t give up on eating healthy just because of a couple meals during these next few months. Remember to implement healthy calories any way you can, and eat that candy bar too.
