Mysty PfefferHello friend! I’m calling this month, determined December because you and I’ve worked hard all year to feel better and function with clarity and purpose, so we don’t want to blow this healthy streak we’ve got going, right?
The joyful season of Christ’s birth is fun to celebrate, but if we have a sugar addiction it can derail us completely!
Since we don’t want brain fog, high insulin, low energy, chronic pain, and stiffness creeping back in either, we need encouragement to stay the course. So, how do we stay determined?
For me, it’s easier to focus on the good, enjoy the people and places, and remember why I started this journey in the first place.
However, I’d love to know how you stay in the groove of healthy eating, sleeping, and activity during the holidays. Maybe you keep your wellness vision statement handy, so you don’t forget why you started. Or maybe you just feel so much better without all the sugar and heavy carbohydrates, you can see past the pretty packaging.
Whatever the reason, I am here with you, and making the best of every situation. One of those situations is the habit of snacking. I mean that is exactly what it is for me, a habit.
At times, it is just part of our culture and something we do, but most of the time we are not even hungry. Where does that term come from anyway, is it a marketing term pounced on by the food companies to sell more products and make more money?
Determined Not to Snack
Well, after a little research, I found out that snack comes from an old Dutch work, “snak” which means to bite or snap. The original term is similar to the sound of a dog’s teeth snapping when they are trying to steal a morsel of food. It then became associated with small bites or meals. So, here we are today with the term firmly ingrained into our daily lives.
I can think of several reasons snacking is not the same today as it once was. I’ll share a few with you today and let you decide on how you want to proceed with those intermittent small meals. If we’re not homesteaders, preppers, or farmers, generally speaking:
- We are not dependent on the land for our meals and food is not scarce
- We don’t have to walk far or climb a tree or do much work to gather our food
- Most meals are obtained from our grocery store or local fast food restaurant
- The meals we partake of are large in comparison to what people ate a hundred years ago
- The ingredients in the snacks are not whole food.
When we understand we are moving less as a whole population, and eating more, then we get an idea of how snacking is no longer necessary. In fact, it simply keeps insulin high in the blood and puts us in that fat storage mode instead of fat burning mode.
Plus, it’s not real food! Like say an apple, or nuts. It’s ultra-processed, cheap material combined to make a product without significant nutritional value.
Check out my Facebook class in the client support group to see how to evaluate 100 calorie snacks!
Reading labels is really nice for helping us stay determined this December! The Bible reminds us to do everything with wisdom and discernment, and I believe eating real food is key to functioning well and completing our purpose.
For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus. And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ.
Philippians 1 ESV – Greeting – Paul and Timothy, servants – Bible Gateway
Summary of Determined December
Thinking about all the good reasons we started our health journey and focusing on the true meaning of the season may help you and I stay determined this December. Maybe the wisest thing we can do is still enjoy our sweets but remember the portion sizes. Keeping the tasty morsels for dessert after our main course and not over-stimulating insulin with snacking between meals, keeps us on our healthier way of living.
I am here for you if you need me! Book and appointment here and look for healthier Christmas treats here!
