5 Stress Relieving Tips for your Real Food Holidays

November 6, 2012 · 4 comments

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Do the HOLIDAYS stress you out? There is so much to do! Gifts to choose for loved ones, meals to plan, food to buy and many holiday activities to attend — most of which revolve around conventional food. It’s hard to stick to a real food lifestyle with all the socializing and all the tempting treats around this time of year. Here are some tips to help you stick to your real food or special diet plan and actually enjoy the holidays!

Make a list

Whether is is a written list, a list on your computer, ipad or smart phone, make a list of all the things you will need to accomplish. It could be a list for gifts, a list for food and/or a list for activities.

I love checking things off my list — I get a totally satisfying feeling of accomplishment and then I feel ready to move forward with the next item on the list.

I also keep the list aligned with a calendar (or create a time-line) so I know how much time I have left to finish the list. Save this list for next year so you don’t have to think about it again – making any small changes to the list each year.

Make purchases in advance

If you are like me and do a lot of buying online, be sure to check your pantry now (or even earlier in the fall) for all the ingredients you will need for your cooking. Place your orders well in advance, especially if it is for food items that are not perishable or that you are able to keep in your extra refrigerator or freezer.

If you are running a real food kitchen, you are probably buying in bulk. Be sure you are not getting low on some of those important items such as coconut oil, coconut spread, cocoa powder and butter, grain-free nut flours, frozen grassfed meats and poultry, etc.

As we get close to the holidays, orders and shipping may take longer, so take that into account. Some of these online supplies can take a week or more to get to you so take that into account as well.

The same goes for gifts. Order and shop early. If your list is REALLY long, try to shorten the list by agreeing with family and/or friends that exchanging gifts can be toned down. Large families often agree to this as it may be a burden on everyone, but no one wants to make the first move to change it. Create a new tradition that lifts the burden of giving too many gifts —  for both financial and mental health!

Get help

Instead of that play date for the kids, use that time to involve them in making cookies from scratch. If you are grain-free or on any other special diet you will have to make these treats anyway. It’s a fun time and you will get your cookies done. Just make a few extra for the little helpers!

Alternatively, you can arrange a play date for the kids while you and the other moms are making the cookies. This may be a neater option.

For those large family meals, ask your friends and relatives to bring a dish. Even if it is not exactly a real food dish, others will most likely eat it. You can make sure your family members will get the real deal (especially if you are on SCD, GAPS or Paleo) by providing those dishes for them.

If you are going to someone’s house, I always found it easier to simply bring the dishes for my family, as asking someone not familiar with SCD, GAPS or Paleo would put too much of a burden on them. Additionally, they would probably not have all the correct ingredients and would possibly substitute something they thought was OK. Most people do not appreciate how strict one has to be on these diets.

Learn how to say NO

Decide what is most important — really think about how you want to spend your holidays and do it. The spirit of the holidays is gratitude and giving and I encourage you to incorporate some activities or actions that are community centered. However, when you involve yourself in everything that comes your way, just to please others, this creates more stress on you.

Eliminate some of the things you found yourself doing in past years that were not enjoyable and/or created stress. This can include too many activities with the kids, or family gatherings — which can be whole area of stress for some. While we are supposed to love family, the reality is that most families have some conflict and people who dislike each other, but who are pressured into getting together over the holidays.

If said family members always stay at your place and this stresses you out — find the closest, newest and affordable hotel or motel nearby and excitedly tell them about it with “you’ll love it!” at the end of the sentence. If they question you, say, “the house is in no condition for guests at the moment.”

Worrying about what to cook for your real food holidays?

Here is the 5th tip that will relieve a lot of stress around what holiday dishes to make and how to cook them.

Jenny at Nourished Kitchen is offering an online series of cooking lessons called Real Food for the Holidays. This series is devoted to helping you get through the holidays with a minimum of stress and a maximum of real food style!

  • 10 Online Workshops to help you cook better – not just during the holidays, but after, too.
  • 175 Real Food Recipes for the Holidays
  • 30+ Pre-designed Menus for everything from Thanksgiving to New Years
  • Mix-and-match Menu Planners so you can design your own menus if you prefer
  • 30+ Instructional Videos so you can manage the simple basics of cooking traditional foods successfully
  • Lifetime Access to all materials

What’s Included in Real Food for the Holidays

Real Food for the Holidays is a comprehensive, multimedia online class comprised of 10 workshops dedicated healthy holiday cooking. Each workshop features instructional cooking videos, holiday recipes (many suitable for gluten-, dairy- and grain-free participants), full menus, shopping lists, tips for advanced planning, and mix-and-match menu planners. Plus, if you’re ever in a bind, you can connect directly with Jenny by email for private one-on-one troubleshooting.

Click here for details

In addition to the videos, you’ll get over 30 menus and 175 recipes for the holidays. And, you’ll have lifetime access to all the materials — so you can use them again next year.

At less than $10 per lesson, this is a real bargain! You can also sign up for just one or two classes if you don’t want to take the whole series.

Special pricing: 40% off!

Was $149.00
NOW $89.00

Hurry! Price only good through November 21st!

Click here to sign up now! If you win the giveaway Jenny will absolutely refund your money!

This post is shared at: Sustainable Ways, Wheat Free Wednesday, Whole Food Wednesday, Allergy Free Wednesday, Mommy Club, Real Food Wednesday, Healthy 2Day, Creative Juice Thursday, Simple Lives Thursday, Pennywise Platter, Traditional Tuesday, Hearth & Soul Hop, Tasteful Tuesday, Fight Back Friday

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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }

1 Victoria November 7, 2012 at 7:01 pm

What a great article! Thanks for the tips. The holidays always seem to stress me out!

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2 J- November 8, 2012 at 7:03 am

My two kids have their birthdays in December, so you could say I’m pretty overwhelmed even before it’s all started :) so thank you, I’ll keep these tips in mind! My lists are already long! Time-line is a good idea.

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