Three Reasons To Not Wait Until 2018 To Call Me

Last week, my book “Why Can’t I Stick To My Diet” was launched and on the Red Carpet I was
asked a question I often get this time of year “Should I even bother trying to get healthy during
the Holidays or wait until after New Years?”.
This isn’t as simple as YES or NO because THE HOLIDAYS are such a big deal to Americans
and can take up to 7 weeks of our time when it really doesn’t have to be. I can’t tell you YES or
NO also because of the emotional attachment we have to the special Holiday Food, which can be
reframed in the spirit of improving our health. I won’t tell you YES or NO because of what I call
the “Last Supper mindset” and I want you all to avoid this trap.
Let’s take a closer look at one the three reasons why this isn’t as simple as one might think.
The Last Supper
Day 3 of 3
Often when a seasoned dieter decides they are going to go on a diet on a future date, they start on
the splurge of all splurges. Now, if this was to be decided 7 weeks ahead of time during one of
the most stressful and food-centered times of the entire year, what would most likely happen?
Nothing good let me tell you, especially when have so many forces working against us.
The Food Force is stacked against us for THE HOLIDAYS. There is so much Holiday food and
it is everywhere. It is at Starbucks in the Gingerbread cookies who appear to be so harmless but
are really full of sugar and chemicals, the random tray of candy at your hairdressers when you
checkout and even at work when you go to the watercolor to discuss last nights This Is us and
spot a fruitcake an assistant didn’t want from a client gift basket. You don’t even like fruitcake,
and you don’t even really like Sharon from Accounting but you do like the show and the next
thing you know you are eating a 500 calorie slab of cake at 3:30 in the afternoon while standing
up because it is THE HOLIDAYS.
Now some of this food might not appeal to you because you might be a savory person, so how
about Aunt Nadine’s Legendary cheese ball at Christmas Eve, or the bacon wrapped figs at
Thanksgiving, and who could possibly pass up the twice baked potatoes with bacon and chives at
the annual neighborhood potluck dinner? Are you the type of person who will stay up wrapping
presents with Mom eating handfuls of Garrett’s cheese popcorn? Maybe you enjoy the fancy
See’s Nuts your cousin Rob always sends from Palo Alto.
Now, what if you gave yourself permission to really go for it because you were going to go on a
huge diet later? Would that impact your decision making with the sweet and savory side of the
street? Would you have a cookie and a mocha at Starbucks? Would you even bother making
yourself a bowl of the cheese popcorn or would you just eat from the container?
For as much as we don’t always like to admit it, we aren’t just our conscious decisions, we must
acknowledge the chemical reaction the food will provoke in our brains and bodies. To throw
such a large amount of sugar, flour and artificial sweetener to our brain will only cause our
bodies to demand more. The more we eat, the more we will want to eat. After weeks of eating
more and more sugar, flour and sweeteners, our bodies demand it will have grown
dramatically over THE HOLIDAYS.
Taking the hypothetical a little bit farther, on January 2nd we decided enough was enough. What
sort of damage would be have done by then? Definite weight gain, a sugar detox would be
needed which takes at least 3 weeks to get the majority of the substance out of our bodies, the
first 5 days are the roughest but 21 days is the rule of thumb, and we would have developed some
very nasty habits. We could have started drinking a lot of diet soda or even snack foods.
Now on January 2nd, we researched and watched tv, and chose the diet of the week. It is a shake,
intermittent ketogenic hybrid thing. Basically, we will be eating very little of anything but fat no
fiber to speak of. The first day is ok, but our head hurts, day two is miserable, day three we want
to chew off our fingernails, and day four we found ourselves eating the frozen cheese ball in the
deep freeze in the garage freezer.
So why didn’t’ this diet work? A few reasons. First of all, we went on a bingearama right before
and then attempted to overcorrect by a sheer will which backfired on us horribly. Secondly, we
cannot outsmart our hormones and chemicals in our brains. Every time we eat something, there is
a chemical reaction in our brain. Period, end of story. So to try and outsmart it just because of
the date on a calendar will not work. Lastly, our mindset was wrong from the beginning. We
were not looking at a long-term shift in our thinking but a workaround, we were trying to cheat
the system, and the only shortcut is to stop looking for one!
To answer the initial question Angela asked me last week, “No, you should not wait until January
to get your health in order. If you have the desire to do it now, then do it. There will always be
justifications to do not something, let’s focus on all the ways we can make it possible”
To give you a heads up on the Content Calendar for the next couple of days:
Saturday: Going Undercover at Food Vision USA
Sunday: Thanksgiving, let’s find the true meaning
Monday: Thanksgiving plan of attack
Tuesday: Thanksgiving turmoil aka how to avoid common stressors
Wednesday: Thank you Fallenttinme Be Mice Elf Agin
To get on the good side of the Food Force and having a Last Supper this Holiday Season, I am
going to share with you some tricks I have learned throughout my years of fighting the good
fight i.e. not doing a deep dive into a giant cheese ball.
If you have any questions related to Thanksgiving, feel free to IM me to email at

Until tomorrow,
Erin