Magic December

Grinchy rules for a Christmas lunch with minimal impact on your weight.

An article written by our colleague Cosmin “The Grinch” Tanase. Enjoy!

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In December, a special spirit awakens in us. It makes us eager to give now, more than ever, to those around us and especially to those less fortunate than us.

Or we simply become better people in December because we understand how important it is for those around us to enjoy, to be happy.

✅ THE UGLY SIDE

However, December also comes along with many challenges. And, last December, more so for me more than for others, it seems.

Every time I mention challenges or hurdles during this time of the year, I am immediately labeled:

“Hey, look, we found the Grinch!”

My perspective on things this month is not wholly understood by many around me. That’s simply because we have different goals.

✅ A LOT OF FOOD

For me, December and the holiday season is not about enjoying food more than during the year.

My goal is to stay at an optimal weight, or as close to it as possible, and to be metabolically healthy…

To avoid a series of complications that can make my life difficult later: diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, cancer, and others that inevitably come with it.

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✅ SWEETS

For me, it's not about giving sweets to children in order to make them happy.

Children's happiness is not earned with sweets, as most of those who fill gift bags with junk during this period think.

Children are the happiest when we spend time with them, anywhere.

Their happiness is not tied to chocolates. They would prefer if you did what they like together with them.

Go on a bike ride with them, go to the ice rink, go for a walk in the park, or just sit around with them and play.

How do I know?

I know because, although I have never brought sweets to the little ones (and I don't mean my little girls, but my friends' children), children are all literally all over me every time we meet.

The secret is simple: I simply play with them as much as possible.

And when you play with them, they love you - much, much more than when you give them sweets.

In addition, you are reinforcing behaviors that will help them survive in this world of abundance that many of us don’t know how to deal with.

Valentin wrote more about how children can adopt habits that will help them after they become independent from their parents: CLICK.

✅ TRADITIONAL

It is difficult to keep your house clean.

That’s because everyone becomes literally remote-controlled by the mirage of traditional foods starting December 1^st.

Unwittingly, you will go shopping and pass by shelves full of ready-made sweetbread. And that’s just the first week of December, with 3 weeks remaining until Christmas. Maybe even earlier than that.

Wherever you go for a walk, you’ll come across a stall serving traditional winter dishes: sausages that are literally dripping in fat, pork knuckles, pork everything. And so on.

If you haven't already learned what you have to do in the detailed manner Valentin presents, and you’re struggling to keep off the extra pounds, then you’re fighting a losing battle.

And this battle starts from the first day of this magical month.

In addition, relatives or friends will visit you countless times this month and they’ll bring all kinds of homemade goodies:

• cakes, cookies, sweetbread, babkas;

• pork knuckles, bacon, sausages, pork fat;

• but also the famed traditional home-made drinks, from wine to spirits.

Visitors feel all the better the greater the quantity of these things they gift.

At home, things are prepared in industrial quantities precisely to be able to gift as much of that quantity as possible.

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✅ CHANGES

Until December, you can say things work normally.

September, October and November are 3 relatively good months if you want to lose weight or maintain your figure.

The well-established routine from this “normal” period has helped you achieve your goals relatively easily.

In December, however, maintaining your routine becomes increasingly difficult.

It’s the end of the year and most companies want to finish it by completing ongoing projects.

If until now you were working a normal schedule and had time for the things that are really important to you, such as preparing meals, shopping, walking, a little time for the “life insurance” (CLICK)…

…starting with December, work projects that need to be completed will become prioritized.

Or maybe you have to settle some accounts on a personal level because, you know, it is the end of the year.

You will still have to cut time from somewhere and the easiest way is to take it from where the investment is made with a substantial effort anyway.

You will definitely postpone exercising (that you do not enjoy anyway) and you will no longer walk.

These are the first things to go away when life hits you and your routine is affected.

When this happens, another lever used to lose weight or maintain it, moving around, is also irreparably influenced.

How can you still achieve your goals when you are assaulted by temptations from all angles, and exercising remains just an afterthought?

It is certainly very, very difficult for me.

✅ A LOT OF STRESS

And if it wasn’t already enough, the increase in stress levels during this period, until Christmas begins, makes things horrible.

Not only does the extra work for projects that need to be completed before the Christmas holidays contribute towards increasing stress, but also the mad rush to buy holiday gifts.

If you look around the stores during this period, there is a sea of ​​buyers.

If you haven't shopped for gifts in advance, it is very possible that you will no longer find the things you thought of.

December does not only come with the Christmas holiday. Before that, you also have Saint Nicholas.

If you have children, you know very well that you need to give them presents for Saint Nick as well. It becomes mandatory to take care of those during the first week of December.

And if you have children, they are certainly in kindergarten or school and you will be involved, whether you like it or not, in one way or another, in purchasing some sort of gift for their educators, teachers or professors.

In December, I read hundreds of messages from parents' groups revolving around organizing purchasing gifts for the winter holidays.

If you are “lucky” enough to have a child who was born in December, as it is in my case, then you can say you got a “bonus”.

Basically, the bigger the family, the more stressful times.

Unless you really are the Grinch and you don't buy presents for your family.

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✅ CHRISTMAS LUNCH / DINNER

What do you think will happen after so much stress, running around after presents and working to the point of exhaustion?

Christmas will come. Finally, the moment you’ve been waiting for 3 long weeks. You’ll have a few days when you’ll be able to relax.

And what do you think your normal reaction will be after such a stressful period?

You now actually DESERVE what’s on the Christmas table, right?

That's what you have been working so hard for, right? A moment of peace with your loved ones, but also a hearty meal.

If you have also been fasting (also for religious reasons) during this period, this feeling is even more overwhelming.

What I can tell you is that there are years and years.

In years when the level of accumulated stress is higher, the risk of falling into this trap increases considerably.

I'm not telling you not to enjoy the Christmas meal. That would be totally unnatural.

Holidays, vacations, anniversaries, special moments should be experienced with all due intensity.

Otherwise, we would no longer be human.

But the last time I checked the calendar, Christmas was December 25, with Boxing Day as an extension for your peace of mind.

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✅ A PROLONGED CHRISTMAS

In recent years, I've noticed that the whole frenzy starts exactly on December 1^st, largely because of an exaggerated desire for profit by companies who sell various things.

Anyone who has a business thinks about December sales and maximizing profits.

After all, it is a way of adapting to the market economy.

December has therefore become the month of Christmas, a month in which everyone spends more.

All this increased desire to spend more money automatically translates into a greater desire to consume.

The more we consume, the more likely we are to store more energy.

The first law of thermodynamics: energy cannot be destroyed, only transformed.

In translation: excess energy must be stored somewhere = extra pounds.

Yes, I am referring primarily to the greater consumption of food, even if the excessive consumption in December is not only reflected in food.

✅ THE ROAR OF EVOLUTION

I can say that 2023 was not the brightest year of my life, and the worst period came near December.

Basically, because of life's surprises, I managed to enter December with a major psychological disadvantage.

The battle of December seemed lost before it even began.

Thus, I managed the miraculous feat of starting to nibble on Christmas goodies as early as December 1st.

And nibbling is automatically translated by the brain into availability.

From an evolutionary point of view, it is absolutely normal to crave for food that you have recently eaten. That food is available, and it is very good.

Imagine that until December you had a diet consisting only of meat, fish, eggs and vegetables that grow above the ground. There were no cravings, you had gotten used to your diet, everything seemed to be going smoothly.

Suddenly, the opportunity arose to nibble on some sweetbread. Let’s say someone came over to visit and you decided to indulge in some delightful, homemade sweetbread/babka.

In that moment, everything seems to be fine. The next day you tell yourself that everything will be OK and that you will return to your normal diet. Which you should do anyway.

However, the reptilian brain, the one responsible for your instincts and survival, has other plans for you. You just had some babka yesterday.

This means that there is a good chance that there still is some leftover sweetbread around.

“Can you please look around and see what is still available?”

You suddenly realize that you are behaving strangely. And it’s all because you enjoyed the delicious treats you had one day before.

Next thing you know, you get up from your desk and, without realizing it, you are already in the kitchen looking for something good to eat.

Many times, when this happened to me, I did not even realize what I was looking for. I did not realize that I was looking for exactly what I had eaten the day before.

It is an extraordinary survival mechanism developed throughout our evolution, without the knowledge of which I would not have written these lines, and you would not have read them.

What is even more interesting is that this instinct is much more developed in some people than in others.

I drew the short straw – like they say - in the context of the food abundance of nowadays, and I have this instinct that has been developed to a high level.

Most likely, my ancestors have not had the easiest of times regarding food availability.

✅ LESSON LEARNED

I suddenly woke up on December 5^th, having eaten 3 big loaves of sweetbread and two and a half extra kilograms of weight.

Later on, I discovered that it was practically an extra kilogram of pure fat.

I managed to get through the summer holidays without impacting my weight, but 3 loaves of sweetbread brought me to my knees just because I thought I DESERVED them. And it only happened once.

I kept losing control simply because I kept more sweetbread close by. I had 9 babkas in total and not enough time to give away as many of them as possible.

Once again, it is true that if you keep things in your house that you do not want to consume, you will inevitably indulge in them sooner or later.

That is why the BIG CLEAN-UP is the number 1 rule for being in control: CLICK.

Don’t fool yourself into thinking you are strong! You will most likely give in when you least expect it.

Don’t forget this constant battle between our ancestral brain (that wants us to survive) and the conscious brain (that support our well-being in the long run).

Be smart and do not keep anything that you know will affect your progress or goals at hand…

If someone gives you something tasty during this period, it wouldn't be a bad idea to give it back immediately or simply throw it in the trash if it's something that is totally inappropriate for your health goals.

✅ 10 PIECES OF ADVICE FOR A DREAM DECEMBER

I'm sure you understand by now how dangerous December can be if you want to lose or maintain weight, although it's a time when many of us become better at heart. [1]

For the elite members, I've prepared a guide with 10 simple and actionable tips that have helped me enormously during the holidays for the last 6 years.

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