It all started innocently. I was staying with my brother and his adorable family in Sacramento, Calfornia. “You’ve gotta try Trader Joe’s,” my sister-in-law sang. She made this small supermarket chain sound like the best tourist attraction in town. Organic (mostly), locally-made or sourced food; fun, well-paid staff; creative offerings (think dark chocolate encrusted with sea salt crystals) and, wait for it, a ‘sampling bar’!
(Not sure how many mini cups of Organic Nicaraguan Coffee I consumed at the glorious sample bar, but it was enough to make me talk as fast as Quentin Tarantino or one of the characters from The Gilmore Girls).
Two hours later – post the Trader Joe’s experience – our fridge and pantry were stacked with inventively flavoured ice-creams, powered chai for making lattes and knee-weakening dark chocolate cups stuffed with chunky peanut butter.
Two weeks later, it was my jeans that were stuffed.
So I am interested in why we (or just I) lose any shred of self-discipline over the holiday period. Is it part of “feeling free”? We think eating what we like = letting our hair down?
I found some answers in ABC Health Reporter Sophie Scott’s book which includes a chapter on eating habits, food and happiness.
On holidays we seek joy. And joy can be found in the fridge.
She says, “Your brain and stomach are linked in a number of ways. Eating is a joy which activates the reward centres, found in the pre-frontal cortex in the brain. Reward pathways are involved – and consequently you feel good – when you engage in behaviour necessary for survival, such as eating, drinking and having sex.
“When your five senses detect food, the memory part of your brain kicks in and reminds you that food is good, so you eat. When you eat, neurons in the reward centres are activated and release dopamine. This gives you a jolt of pleasure.”
Quickly, on holidays, we form eating habits, based on ‘reward’ – which in part explained my compulsion to eat five peanut butter cups at 3pm on the dot each day while in Sacramento.
Happily, a change of location can often short-circuit this habit. Within a month, I’d lost the weight… but I still marveled at this mad munchy affliction that plagued me in the USA.
This Christmas, I’ll be more mindful of how easy is it to slip into unhealthy eating patterns – but still find a balance between having fun and staying healthy.
How do you tread this line? Should we worry about our weight during holidays, and if so, what tips do you use to fend off the scoff monster?
My tip is this: beware of creating dodgy holiday eating patterns from the get-go (the minute you reach the beach / mountains / relos’ house).
Stock your home or holiday house with loads of healthy temptations like blueberries, peaches and mangoes. And serve yourself well-deserved treats – like Ben and Jerry’s amazing cherry and dark choc ice-cream – in small quantities (eg. A tablespoon-full served in a cute ramekin).
The first bite is always the best, anyway!
References available upon request
We accept
