The weeks between Thanksgiving and the New Year should be a time of festivity, good company and fun. Instead, this time is often spent worrying and eating too much.

Since most people are already overworked, overwhelmed and overstressed, the extra burden of the holidays can sometimes seem like too much to bear. A friend told me that she is already waking up at 3 am, making lists and feeling her anxiety grow as the lists get longer. “How I am going to get everything done is beyond me,” she said. “Between work and the family, I don’t have any time, not even to get the car inspected. And now I have to shop for presents and plan our annual Christmas party. Maybe I should just give up sleeping.”

When I asked her how she manages her anxiety, she answered immediately. “ Chocolate. When I feel as if I am going into total meltdown, I reach for my stash of candy bars. Look at me. I have already gained back the 5 pounds I lost this summer and it isn’t even December.”  I knew how hard my friend had worked to lose those five pounds, and it seemed like a Grinch-type present for her to gain them back because of holiday celebration worries.

“Let me help you stop this weight gain,” I told her. “The first thing you need is a way to stop the chocolate binges—and there is an easy way to do that. Eating any carbohydrate food—except fruit—will make the anxiety go away. That’s because the carbohydrates increase serotonin, the calming compound in your brain. Eat a baked sweet potato, a few graham crackers, a bowl of oatmeal with some brown sugar, or a dish of pasta without meat sauce for dinner, and you will feel calmer. And if you need a really quick acting, calming carbohydrate, drink Serotrim. A beverage composed of fast and slowly digesting carbohydrates, Serotrim works the same as food, just faster and longer. Be sure to eat a carbohydrate or drink the Serotrim every afternoon around 4 pm and before you go to bed if you don’t think you are calm enough to sleep.”

“Sounds good,” she said “ Is that it?”

“Two more things: make things easier for yourself. Every time you put something on your list, see if you can remove something else. The holidays do not have to be an exercise in perfection. And speaking of exercise, get some. Take ten minutes, or more if possible, out of your day to get on your treadmill or take the dog for run. Your body will feel less tense, your brain will be activated from all that good blood flow, and you will even start to lose weight.”

“You know, I might make it through the holidays thinner at the end than when I started,” she said. “What a great present to myself.”

Bookmark:

TrackBack URI for this entry

Comments (0)

Subscribe to this comment's feed