Eat the Damn Cookie!

Christmas is here and we’re all being inundated with Christmas cookies and other yummy, not so low calorie, treats.  Do you eat the cookies?  Or do you stay away? 

As a fitness professional this may surprise you but, I say – Eat the Damn Cookie!!!

Look, the Holiday season in itself is a super stressful time of year.  Money flying out the door, the pressure to do ALL the things and see ALL the people, the crowds, the high expectations.  We put a ton of energy each year into planning, organizing, and executing the perfect Holiday season.  It’s all so much.  Now, let’s add trying to eat healthy and dodging all the easily accessible and uber yummy treats – this makes the season SO MUCH MORE stressful.

Stress alone can make you gain just as much weight as eating a whole tray of cookies. 

Here’s the thing, stress has an extremely counterproductive impact on us.  Read this a few times so it sinks in –

Our bodies are not built to, and do not function well, in a state of constant high stress.

When our stress levels are constantly high, our metabolism doesn’t function properly and we end up holding onto, or even gaining, fat mass. 

No, this isn’t one of my hippy dippy theories. It’s science.  A University of Stanford study was recently published explaining this exact theory.  It talks about how it’s not necessarily the heightened stress hormones making us crave and eat bad foods that make us retain or gain fat mass.  The study found that prolonged, constant, stress levels cause our glucocorticoid hormone to be produced in abundance which increases the rate new fat cells are formed in our body.  Essentially…chronic stress has a completely counterproductive effect on the hard work we put in a the gym.

So, stress about it?  Or just eat the damn cookie? 

Eat the damn cookie.  Enjoy it, savor it, and don’t you dare feel anything negative at all for eating it.  No, you don’t have to go to the gym as punishment for eating them or work out to “earn” your cookies (or any food for that matter) either.

Just, eat it, smile, and move on with your day.

It’s about Balance

Being healthy isn’t just about the food we eat and losing fat mass isn’t just about cutting calories from our diet.  It requires physical movement, muscular resistance activities, balanced nutrition, and now we know balanced stress levels as well. 

This is not a free pass to over-indulge.  There is a different between indulging and OVER-indulging. Indulging is ok, OVER-indulging, however, is not ok.  That is what hurts us. 

Let me pause here and make it really basic for you so your mind can accept it.

According to Merriam-Webster…

Indulge is defined as satisfying or fulfilling a desire or interest.  To allow yourself to enjoy something that brings you pleasure.

Overindulge is defined as having too much of something satisfying. To allow yourself to have too much of something that brings your pleasure.

Almost the exact same definitions except for two simple words – “TOO MUCH.”

This is where we fail.  What is “too much”?  Being open to our own interpretation is what hinders us.  Let’s for a second strip back all the clutter around the words.  “Too much” can be defined as “more than what we need of something.”

Let that sink in just a bit.  “More than what we NEED of something.”  A need is something that is necessary to survive.  No matter how much you think you do, not a single one of us NEEDS a cookie to survive.  We all WANT a cookie or our minds might make us think we NEED a cookie, but we really don’t.  We need food, yes, but specifically a cookie – no.

How many Cookies Can I Eat each day?

So how many Christmas cookies in day is too much?   Eat them ”in moderation” is what you hear, but that’s no help.  How many can you really eat while maintaining a healthy lifestyle?  We can get real technical here, and talk about your daily caloric intake and the maximum percent of calories that should come from added sugars but that’s just going to bore you.  So, probably 1 to 2 small cookies a day isn’t going to ruin your lifestyle. 

To be very clear - I do not recommend having 2 cookies AND… a scoop of gingerbread cookie ice cream, a piece of peppermint bark and loaded hot cocoa in one day.  We need to shift our mentality to accept that we are consuming extra calories, additional added sugars and more fat so you have to adjust your eating somewhere within your day to accommodate the cookies.  That’s where balance comes into play. 

It’s science - calorie in, calorie out.

We have the Knowledge but, really, that’s not the problem. 

The problem is our choices and actions. 

You know that real stubborn hoe named Will Power?  If we all just had more self-control we would all eat right, exercise regularly, avoid the booze, save money, stop procrastinating, and achieve all the goals we establish for ourselves. 

This is where mental strength comes into play.  Let me tell you, that b!tch is NOT as adaptable as our bodies and requires a crap ton more of effort to keep inline. 

I could list a ton of boiler plate ideas on how to improve your will power, but honestly, I think a lot of our problems these days revolve around overcomplicating everything and being stressed the F out.  If we could just pause, quiet down the ruckus in our minds, calm our nervous system, and just f$cking give ourselves a little slack I think our minds would be more open and susceptible to consistency and the concept of moderation.

Moral of the Blog:

Stop getting so stressed out about avoiding temptations and just enjoy some damn cookies this Holiday season without feeling guilty.