It’s Black Friday. Usually that means crazy shopping and a day of sitting on the couch trying to process all the delicious food from Thanksgiving.
Look, I enjoy eating. I love delicious food and that means I love Thanksgiving and the holiday season. But a few years ago I changed my outlook on food (here’s the full story) and it’s been one of the best things I’ve done in life.
And I think that to be successful in business you need to be on the top of your game. And that means good nutrition too. You can’t be alert and on your best with smarts and gut feelings if you’re sluggish and running on a foggy brain.
It might be a little late to go back to yesterday and change what you eat, but you can still look ahead to the next month (and beyond) and change just a few things that you’re eating on the table.
Here are a few of my basic rules for surviving the holidays when it comes to food.
Rule #1. Fat Good. Carbs Bad.
This is the most important rule. It’s weird to think about because for so long it’s been fat that has been the culprit in the world. But fat is actually good for you.
Many people eat biscuits with butter during the holidays. And most would believe that the biscuit was healthy and the butter was unhealthy. Well, it’s the other way around.
My rule for the holidays is to eat fats, veggies and meats. I load up on turkey, broccoli hot dish, spinach dip and have bacon and eggs for breakfast. Veggies are probably the highest on that list. You can have a lot of veggies during the holidays.
But I cut out the carbs, which is all the bread and pasta and pastries. And that includes pie, which is really tough around the holidays.
Rule #2. Shorter Dining Windows
A good thing about Thanksgiving, at least in my family, is that we eat what my family calls a “Linner”. We eat at about 2 PM on Thanksgiving. That’s the big meal for the day.
It’s great because limited your eating window can be good for your health. On regular days I like to eat breakfast at 10 AM and dinner at 5 PM. You’re cutting out a meal, but if you eat well during that time your body will get full and you won’t crave snacks or that third meal.
You can’t eat cereal for the breakfast. It has to be food that will fill you up like bacon or sausage and a Swiss and Spinach Omelet. Yum. Then for dinner have a good meat with lots of veggies.
Rule #3. One Dessert
I like dessert once in a while. if you try to cut it out of your diet all together you’ll probably end up going back full in to regular desserts. So I try to stick with like a 90/10 rule. The 10 comes in during the holidays when you give yourself a little leeway to enjoy a piece of pie.
But I’ll try to take a small portion. And if I have it I’ll try to avoid it on days when I’m not with family.
Final Thought
You’ll probably get some looks when you turn down the biscuits and carbs this holiday season, but don’t let anyone discourage you. Just go about your business and you’ll be putting yourself in a position to succeed in life and in business.