Mocktail Minutes

Your Holiday Prep

• Mocktail Minutes • Episode 133

Share episode

It's that time of year again! The busy, chaotic, but oh so joyful holiday season. This is the time of year where we see a lot of clients say "forget it" and throw away their goals for the remainder of the year. This leads to a downward spiral and overwhelming pressure to get it all back on track in the New Year. Let's do this things a little different this year! Use this episode to help you prep for the holiday season. 

If you have questions, or topics that you want to hear about, head over to our Instagrams https://www.instagram.com/bayleethedietitian/ or https://www.instagram.com/brianna.dietitian/ and send us a DM! You can also follow the podcast https://www.instagram.com/mocktailminutes/


Featured Mocktails: 

Vital Proteins 

Recess 

Click play, sip back, and be empowered.

Baylee:

Hello everyone. Welcome back to this week's episode of Mocktail Minutes. This is Bailey.

Brianna:

And this is Brianna

Baylee:

This week I am drinking the bomb pop proteins. Again, I don't think it's called bomb pop. It's called something else, but it tastes like a bomb pop.

Brianna:

the Poppy one op. Oh,

Baylee:

the Vital Proteins collagen.

Brianna:

I haven't tried that. Is it good? I'm, I'm assuming it's

Baylee:

I like it. I went, I just went for it because they had it at sand, so it's like a big canister of it, but it's good. You like bomb pops, you like it. It's literally just like drinking a melted bomb pop. So it's better if you have it really cold.

Brianna:

that makes sense. Yeah. I'm doing a recess. I haven't done one of these in a while, but I'm doing tropical bliss,

Baylee:

Oh, wonderful. Wonderful.

Brianna:

calm, cool. Collected, very opposite than how I feel today, so yeah.

Baylee:

Hmm. Maybe you can like manifest it with a drink.

Brianna:

Yeah, that's what I'm doing.

Baylee:

Yes, I get that. Oh yeah. Holidays are crazy. Schedule is crazy right now. And then trying to get everyone in before Thanksgiving next week. Are you taking Wednesday and Friday off for Thanksgiving?

Brianna:

Yeah. I'm taking Wednesday, Friday, but then I'm also taking Mon that Monday off, which sounded like such a good idea. But then when you're trying to schedule clients, I'm like,

Baylee:

Yeah.

Brianna:

and then Christmas is like shortly after.

Baylee:

my gosh, it's crazy.

Brianna:

Yeah.

Baylee:

But we're gonna get you all in.

Brianna:

yeah, we, we'll, we'll do it. We'll figure it out. We always.

Baylee:

And we are actually talking today about. Holiday prepping, how to prep your body for the holidays. And you know, someone, because I asked one of my clients, I was like, how you feeling going into Thanksgiving? She's like, honestly, I'm just, it's one day. I'm not really concerned about it. I don't like that mindset. And I used to be the dietician that's just like, it's just one day. It's not a big deal when it comes to like the holidays. But if that is your my, here's my thoughts on it, if that is your thought. Every holiday, every weekend, every time you travel, it's now. It's not just one day at this point.

Brianna:

Yeah.

Baylee:

I mean, I think about it like for our Thanksgiving, lemme look at the calendar. We have two places to go on Thursday. We have one place to go on Wednesday, and then we have one this coming Sunday, and then we have one. Next Sunday. So if I went into every single one of those meals, just being like,

Brianna:

Just one

Baylee:

I don't care. It's pumpkin pie for dinner. You are going to feel awful and it's probably gonna continue on the next few weeks because you're just gonna be on that sugar hangover. And honestly, I think I'm to the point in my health and wellness journey that it doesn't even sound appealing to me like.

Brianna:

no.

Baylee:

So I don't think you should go into it as like it's just one day because is it actually?

Brianna:

I like to look at it as like it's a normal day, right? Like I try to, because I think people put a lot of pressure on it. Like, oh my gosh, oh my gosh, the holidays. But I'm like, if you just treat it as like a normal day, we are sitting down having a normal meal. Like we, we don't need to make it be this like, yeah, this like thing where it's like this overly hyped thing. But yes, if you have it, the whole like it's just a day. Yeah.

Baylee:

yeah, and I think it can be easy to kind of get overhyped because, I mean, my dinners don't look like a Thanksgiving dinner every time where you have like eight different sides. We have a very large family, so it's like everyone's bringing a aside and we have the meat, like we have four different rec dessert options. So it's also, it feels very different. The more you can normalize it, the easier it'll be.

Brianna:

Yeah. And just thinking like. We've, and we've talked about this before, a lot of times we get in like autopilot, like it's a holiday Autopilot is to like

Baylee:

Gobble to you.

Brianna:

gobble to you Wob, while I'm having all the sweets. Like I don't only only get to do this once a year, but it's, it becomes this thing where it's like we just, we're hyping it up and we don't, we don't need to, you know?

Baylee:

Are you a Turkey TRO family?

Brianna:

No. Are you.

Baylee:

We are, yes.

Brianna:

We aspire to be like, I want to be. Half of our family would do it. The other half would be like, absolutely not.

Baylee:

I love it. So I took a few years off of doing it because it was just a lot with Josh's family. They do Thanksgiving earlier in the morning, and so last year I got back into it and it worked out great. I did my heatless curls before, so my hair was already fixed. I didn't have to get ready too much afterwards, and it worked out really well. Honestly, I felt really good going into the day. Had lots of energy. Fun fact, Turkey does make you tired. It's because of the, is it tryptophan in it?

Brianna:

Toban. Mm-hmm.

Baylee:

But no, I felt a lot better. And my family is a Turkey trap family. Josh is not. So he does not join.

Brianna:

That's funny.

Baylee:

Like, cool. So G and Iko last year, we'll see, he gets to go this year I kind of like, sometimes I feel like it's just way too cold. I'm like, I'm not gonna make him go out and do that. Especially when he doesn't have a say in it. And.

Brianna:

And if you don't have to, it's kind of nice too. Just like go out, do it. Yeah. Maybe we'll do it this year. We always talk about it. We just don't. Yeah.

Baylee:

I guess. But yeah, I would say treat it as normal and let's get into some like. How they prep, how, how are you prepping yourself? I think number one, the one thing that throws us off is you are not on your typical schedule. So kind of prep your routine, focusing on like a consistent wake time, even if you're on off work getting some morning sunlight in, setting a cutoff time for your screens, just the same way you would do. If you were working the next day it, I know we kind of get into these habits of like, oh, we don't have to work. We stay up till like 1:00 AM. I could not, I mean, not that I never do. There's definitely time,

Brianna:

Yeah.

Baylee:

but it's not something I do every weekend or every time I'm off work. Usually I try and keep my routine very similar to when I am working every day. During the week, I get about like five, 10. On the weekends. I try and be up by like. 6, 6 30. And so I give myself a little bit of leeway there, but it just helps me feel a little bit better. The more routine you have with your sleep, the better sleep you'll get. I swear.

Brianna:

Yeah. Your body likes that consistency, but. Treating it as like, I'm, I'm gonna have my normal wake time. I'm gonna do my normal thing. I think a big one is just prepping, kind of like your energy, and maybe even like your nervous system, your hormones, all of that before the day. So like maybe getting some morning sunlight, maybe starting off with a Turkey tr or like a morning walk or something, you know, not overdoing the caffeine, really thinking like, what am I going into today? I've had a lot of conversations this past week about like, my in-laws are crazy, or My family is so stressful. I'm like, all this. I'm like, you're already gonna be hyped. Like go something. Do something that morning to like, lower your stress, center yourself. Feel good. Allow yourself to enjoy the day. Because when you're like stressed and it's really chaotic and you haven't supported yourself, you're gonna overeat. You're probably gonna over drink, you're probably just gonna not feel great. And then you're dealing with the stress of. Your mother-in-law, snarky comments? I don't know. I don't have like a snarky mother-in-law, so I don't get it, but you know. Yeah. Prepping yourself. Mm-hmm.

Baylee:

will make a difference. And I think a big thing with the nervous system too. This is a conversation I've had with if you feel like you're not someone who's necessarily stressed, but like all signs are pointing to cortisol overload. Think about it, not so much as like reducing your stress. Think about it as more as like slowing down. If you are a very busy bee, go, go, go person, you might have stress more like internally, not so much finances, relationships, things like that. So maybe the holidays kind of put a little bit more stress on your body because you're on go, go, go overload. So taking that time to just. Slow down through the breath work, through the hot showers, through grounding, pausing, whatever it is, just to kind of regulate yourself. That can be super helpful too. Just they set the nervous system prep. I would also say like going into these meals, thinking about your plate protein every time, do not skip the protein, which is nice. Like Thanksgiving, it's usually surrounded around the Turkey.

Brianna:

Turkey or ham or whatever your family does. Yeah.

Baylee:

Yep. So get that protein in, get those devil eggs in. Those can be helpful, but the more you can kind of visualize how you balance it and not fill the rest of your plate with just starchy carbs that are quickly digested, they don't give you full for very long. They're gonna affect your blood sugar. You also feel a lot better here, and this is where I'd like to use the hack of eating your veggies first. Because even when you look at blood sugar monitors, if you eat. You're fiber rich veggies, then your protein, then your starchy carbs, you're gonna have a better response. When you have a better glucose response, you're gonna feel you're not gonna have that crash. You're not gonna have more cravings, you're not gonna have that energy decrease. You are gonna feel a lot better doing that. So I think this is a great time to implement this hack.

Brianna:

Yeah, and also realizing too, and we've said this before, like carbs don't really make you fool, so let's fill up on something that's a little more satiating that way your car portion is better because there is, Thanksgiving has a lot of carb options. That's just how it is. The other thing was like, just setting yourself up for the day. So my family habitually does this. They're like, we're skipping breakfast, we're saving it for the meal. Like, don't do that. You're gonna go into the meal overly hungry. You're gonna have a much harder time making, you know, your portion decisions, all of that. Have some protein. Go into it feeling satiated. Really support yourself going into it so that you don't. Overeat. If you're traveling, make sure you have some snacks. Like really figuring out like what's best for me. If you're someone who does multiple Thanksgiving day meals, maybe you're not having pie at every single meal that you go to, right? Like there was one point in my life where like we did three Thanksgiving meals.

Baylee:

Mm-hmm.

Brianna:

Like we were just like moving around and I'm like, if I just have like pie in every single one of these, you're gonna be like, I'm gonna be driving home and be completely asleep. Like, no.

Baylee:

So I would say we talked about your nervous system. We talked about like your circadian rhythm, we talked about like your routine prepping your plate, prepping your movement. I don't think this is a time where you should be like, oh, I'm just gonna take a break for my strength trainer. There's a lot going on. Still do your strength training if you have to shorten it. I think that's okay. Set your bare minimums. What's your walks, what's your walk step goal? Get to there and then see, here's what I can fit in schedule into your calendar. If I know that Thursday is Thanksgiving, we're doing the trot, okay, that's my movement. I am not also planning a strength training. It would not happen.

Brianna:

Mm-hmm.

Baylee:

I also know Friday we're gonna be busy doing things as well, not planning a strength training that day. And I'm not gonna get up and do it that day. We got other stuff going on. So next week, my goals are, I'm gonna do, usually I do Monday, Wednesday, Friday. So this week I'm doing Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and then for the next week I'm doing Sunday, Monday, Wednesday. I can always adjust it if you need to.

Brianna:

Which is why I think being intentional with your movement ahead of time is very helpful because then you can see it before it happens. Like, Ooh, I need to adjust these next two weeks if I'm still gonna hit like my strength training goal, being intentional with it. Also, thinking about like getting in a little bit of movement around your meal, like after you're done eating, like maybe helping clean up, going outside, playing with the kids. Going for a quick walk, doing something, doing movement to help utilize those nutrients. You're gonna feel better. But then it's also just gonna help with weight loss, with your blood sugar management. All the things that a lot of people tend to just throw out the window during this time, which I'm like, the holidays is about like a month and a half. There's no reason for you just to throw that out the window, like you can't throw a month and a half.

Baylee:

You're gonna be exhausted going into the new year.

Brianna:

Don't do that. You don't, you know, you don't have to overwhelm yourself of being perfect and having it look like the rest of the year, but definitely don't just go into the other extreme, like really think about like, what are those small things I can do

Baylee:

Mm-hmm.

Brianna:

to keep on

Baylee:

And this is also the time where everyone's like, I will focus on these species when things slow down. Here's my guess. If you have a very busy holiday season with lots of places to go. The rest of your year probably looks very similar, not that you're going

Brianna:

It's not slowing down.

Baylee:

not slow down. There's always gonna be things, and it's often reflecting the rest of your year. Not to say that you're going to dinners every other of the week typically, but you probably just have a lot going on. That's what you attract. That's your personality, that's how you created your life. So getting stuck in this mindset of, oh, I'm just gonna wait till he slows down. It's not helping you. It really isn't.

Brianna:

I think it's contributing to the big problem, which is why when January rolls around, we have these elaborate New Year's resolutions, which I'm all about like setting goals and having resolutions. I love it, but I think we make them so much bigger because we're coming off this like chaotic holiday season when the reality is you can still get good sleep, you could still have good energy, you could still be in control of your cravings, have less blow feel in control around party foods, enjoying events without stress like. Just starting your New Year's as like a neutral or a like, okay, how can I better this? Instead of that rock bottom, because that's starting and stopping every year over time it adds up. This is why you see like habitually as people age, they just like slowly gain weight every single year and it keeps going. It's that start and stop or that whole, like, it's the holidays. I can't do this'cause I wanna enjoy myself. But you're not really enjoying yourself.

Baylee:

Yeah,

Brianna:

You're not, yeah.

Baylee:

It's not fun. It's not fun to feel like crap going into the day. So when thinking about like your seven day holiday prep plan, I mean, so work on it through this next week. Set your wake up time in a bedtime queue next day. Build that protein first. Breakfast, what's one that you can easily fall back on third day? Create a 10 minute movement or like circuit for yourself that you can throw in. You have PT for this. Make it easy on yourself.

Brianna:

Yeah, don't reinvent the wheel.

Baylee:

No stock up on, unlike your go-to snack options. Beef sticks. Aloha VARs applesauce packets. I think they can be good.

Brianna:

Mm-hmm. Cottage cheese, all the things that you maybe be like, oh, you know what? I'm not gonna get this'cause we're gonna shop for Thanksgiving, or we're gonna have all these leftovers, and then suddenly you're left with like, I don't have any staples that I can fall

Baylee:

but we have a ton of roles,

Brianna:

Yeah, exactly.

Baylee:

so those are things to think about. Maybe think about like, what are your favorite foods at these events? Go towards those foods. Like I don't care about mashed potatoes that much. So if I'm choosing between mashed potatoes and stuffing, I'm just gonna go for the stuffing. I don't really care for the mashed potatoes.

Brianna:

Yeah.

Baylee:

pick your slowdown tool you're going to use. And then I would say the last thing is that. Plan your kind of like bare minimum baseline routine. Like what are things you must get done?

Brianna:

Mm-hmm.

Baylee:

I think those are good things to think about for this next week on a day by day basis. Not that you have to do'em all today.

Brianna:

Yeah, but just think like, I am going to go into this holiday season feeling supported and prepped, and I promise you if you do these things and then you reflect on how you feel during this next week Thanksgiving, you are probably gonna feel much more grounded, less stressed, feel like, oh, I didn't just like throw my goals out the window. I've been wor, you know, maybe they haven't looked perfect, but dang, it feels pretty good to, like, I still feel like I'm on track. I didn't feel like I gotta pick myself back up these two weeks before Christmas. You're gonna feel much better.

Baylee:

Oh yeah, absolutely. It makes a huge difference. I, I really want to iterate, I guess, is that how you would say it if I'm not reiterating, iterate.

Brianna:

Iterate, reiterate. Yeah. Oh,

Baylee:

I dunno.

Brianna:

oh. I.

Baylee:

I wanna really, we'll just go with emphasize. I wanna emphasize how important it is to just take care of yourself all the time, rather than when it's really convenient

Brianna:

Yes.

Baylee:

and it's going to feel like harder work right now when you're not used to doing it. But eventually you will get used to it and it's just gonna be like brushing your hair. Day, I hate brushing my hair, but if I don't, I would look like a disaster because it's long and it.

Brianna:

Yeah. No, it's, it's so true. And I think we do that self-sabotage thing where we're like, I just wanna enjoy myself, or it's just one day, or I'll think about this after the holidays, or it's my vacation, I wanna enjoy it. And then the majority of your year is waiting until things are perfect too. Like I would rather you be consistent with the bare minimum 80 to a hundred percent of the time than be absolutely perfect 10 to 20% of the time.

Baylee:

And you know, I think we self-sabotage maybe because we are so used to weight loss being. Just like miserable and a punishment. So it's like, why would we wanna do something miserable during holidays? I'm supposed to be happy. And so we're like, eh, F it. Put in the bucket. Bucket. So that doesn't have to be your story anymore. And the more you can reframe and shift that identity of, okay, how do I want to feel, not just on a typical Monday, but on Thanksgiving Day.

Brianna:

adds up. Think about all your weekends, all your vacations, all your parties, all your holidays. If you just do small things on all of those times, it makes a big difference overall throughout the year. Like, don't sell it short, don't sell yourself short. Like, oh, what's, what's movement leading up to the holidays gonna do? Like,

Baylee:

Yeah,

Brianna:

a lot? It's gonna do a lot similarly, like how no movement leading up to the holidays. Leads up to a lot

Baylee:

Makes you feel like a couch potato.

Brianna:

Yeah, exactly. So focus on, maybe you're not just like, I'm gonna do this for weight loss, but I'm gonna do this'cause I wanna feel good. I wanna enjoy my holiday, I wanna feel good. I want to feel more in tune with my body. That's why I'm doing it. And maybe you just need that little change in perspective, but you will feel better.

Baylee:

Mm-hmm. And don't just go through the motions of like, oh yeah, I need to change my mindset. Like, make it happen. Show yourself that this. Season can look different for you and it'll feel really good.

Brianna:

Mm-hmm. Yeah. Which is something we all want. We just wanna feel good, you know?

Baylee:

Yes. All right everyone. We hope this episode was helpful to kind of get you prepped for the big holiday season. If you have anything else that you feel you struggle with over the holidays, feel free to send this a message over at Mocktail Myth and we can create an episode just for you. Everyone good rest of your week and we'll talk to you.

Contributor

Baylee

Host
Contributor

Brianna

Host