Driving home for Christmas—somehow, it feels a little unsettling rather than joyful.
Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate the love of my family and being surrounded by the laughter of my little nephew—it brightens my day!
However, I also appreciate my routine: I love eating lots of veggies, fasting 16-18h and training 5-6 times a week, plus going to the sauna once or twice. It keeps me energised and happy.
At home for Christmas, the routine looks much more like: food, preparing food, talking about food, maybe a walk, and food all over again.
And no one’s to blame.
Just scrolling through social media for one minute, you’re bombarded with recipes for a “happy” Christmas. Cheese, cakes, christmas-tree-shaped puff pastry, garlic cheese bread, biscuits, chocolate fondue and more cheese. They make it sound delicious.
But indulging too much might not place you favourably before heaven’s gates, which only open for those who have cleansed their sins—gluttony being one of them.
Gluttony is the overindulgence in food or drinks, often to the point of excess and disregard for self-control; giving in to physical and emotional desires over spiritual or moral values. As a non-Christian, I don’t view gluttony as a sin (though it does have harmful environmental consequences). However, I understand why it’s considered contrary to spiritual or moral values: Gluttony reflects a lack of balance and mindfulness, where overindulgence becomes a distraction from greater purpose and meaning.
In terms of human biology, gluttony is simply tonnes of work for your cells and your body overall. With no time to recover, as the next snack is just a chat away. It will make insulin and inflammation in your body spike, your digestive system and liver work hard, and hormones go wild.
Leaving you with no energy to fully enjoy the presence of your loved ones, because you’re too busy dealing with the workload. There is much to say about food, fats, carbs, protein, or fasting.
But around Christmas, I don’t want to be too much of a party pooper (as some would consider it:)) and, instead, want to give you ideas about how you can enjoy your favourite foods with less of a negative impact on your body.
In general, how I want to go about Christmas is by approaching it with the right mindset, which for me is thinking in terms of lowering the workload for my cells and body to stay healthy and fit (as I also have a competition in January—a great motivator).
I want to eat less, therefore, have more energy and feel great. I would like my family and me to support each other in doing so by not glorifying gluttony, but celebrating lightness.
Celebrating feeling full of energy, not full of food.
Instead of eating, we could find other activities we like doing; here are my family’s ideas:
- play cards
- go for a walk
- go to the cinema
- help out at a charity
- reorganise a room or the house
- read a book together and discuss it
- question games to know more about each other
Going on a walk after every meal is something I have started to implement for a few months now, due to some personal health changes, where regulating my blood sugar levels has become important. Walking is lovely in the cold winter air, while it lowers blood sugar spikes and, therefore, the amount of insulin and inflammation.
And remember how good food tasted when you were REALLY hungry? It was paradise, wasn’t it? Eating one meal after another makes nothing really taste good anymore. When you delay the next meal, you’ll feel a greater dopamine rush, which is ultimately what makes food feel so good to us.
In addition, by proactively deciding what, how much, and when to eat, we cultivate a sense of autonomy, rather than giving way to society’s perception of constant and plentiful eating as a means of finding fulfilment and happiness.
So you might want to consider being disciplined most days, and then you will enjoy that Christmas meal even more :)
Along with practising discipline and mindful eating, we could help our bodies by incorporating protein or healthy fats to reduce blood sugar spikes. So, we could make Christmas a teeny weeny bit healthier by
- adding nuts to our favourite biscuits
- eating full-fat yogurt with your cake
- eating a few nuts before you eat the cake
- reducing the sugar (you might even prefer this over the normal amount)
- and, again, going for a nice walk and chat after food.
A recipe that I like for Christmas time is this cinnamon raisin loaf… mhhh, delicious :) You can toast it and add butter or peanut butter and you’ll get that lovely Christmas feeling with less sugar and butter than a cake has.
It also feels more like a meal than a snack to me, so you are less likely to just snack on it while chatting or watching TV. To be fair, it’s still not healthy, but often it’s about choosing the better option instead of not having it at all.
Here’s my favourite recipe for you to enjoy the festive flavours of Christmas while keeping it a little healthier.
Cinnamon Raisin Bread Recipe
Ingredients:
- 500g all-purpose flour
- 1 sachet dried yeast (about 7g)
- 4 tsp quality cinnamon
- 2.5 tsp salt
- 150g raisins
- 270g water
Instructions:
- Prepare Raisins: Soak the raisins for 10 minutes in water.
- Mix Dry Ingredients: In a large bowl, combine the flour, yeast, cinnamon, and salt. Stir well.
- Incorporate Raisins: Add the raisins and mix to distribute them evenly.
- Add Water: Gradually add water to the dry mixture, stirring until a dough forms.
- Knead: Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface and knead for 5 minutes until smooth and elastic.
- First Rise: Place the dough in a bowl, cover with a damp cloth, and let it rise in a warm place for 1–2 hours, or until doubled in size.
- Shape: Shape the dough into a loaf, and place it in a greased loaf pan.
- Second Rise: Let the dough rise again for about 1 hour.
- Bake: Preheat the oven to 190°C and bake the bread for 40–50s minutes, or until the top is golden and the loaf sounds hollow when tapped.
- Cool: Allow the bread to cool on a wire rack before slicing.
Enjoy your homemade cinnamon raisin bread! 😊
So, this newsletter was due last week, but honestly, I'm still finding my rhythm and routine with this, apologies. I'm also learning to embrace imperfection as a valuable part of growth and learning. Thank you for your patience and support.
I wish you a lovely Christmas filled with love, joy, and peace.
May it bring you warmth and gratitude, and may the new year offer new opportunities for growth, meaningful connections, and the chance to embrace change, all while helping you discover and nurture the peace already within you.
Thank you for being a part of this deeply fulfilling journey.
Merry Christmas and a happy, healthy New Year! 🎄✨
Lots of love
Linh
