Friend of Julie: Joy to All

With all the special holiday foods on our tables at home and in the office, it's easy to feel deprived of all those foods we see our friends and family eating. I haven't felt deprived for most of my weight loss journey, but this holiday season--all kinds of sweet things are calling my name. Recently one of my key friends asked another key friend: how do you deal with feeling deprived? Her reply: I go buy a pound of shucked lobster with real butter! How deprived can this program be if we can eat lobster with melted butter?

I had this shucked lobster appetizer at Masses Seafood, Chicopee, MA.

Every year I go to a handful of holiday parties, but this year, I bowed out of two big parties that I've always enjoyed, because I didn't feel like I could deal with all those foods. Later, I felt sorry for myself that I was deprived of the parties. Sigh. This is crazy talking.

I went to one party because the food seemed easy enough for me to handle. Upfront I knew most of the foods would not be key-friendly, so I resolved I would go to the party, but I wouldn't eat anything. The party started at 3:30, and since I don't normally eat at that time of day, I figured how hard could this be? At the party, I found a few key foods and I ate them, but I felt deprived, because everyone was enjoying gluten-free cookies. Wah, wah, wah...why can't I at least have gluten-free cookies...? This is crazy talking.

I survived that party, but yesterday I was offered one of Ben's homemade cookies. It was like a watching a slow motion movie scene: a long shot of the big smile on his face,  zoom in on his arm stretching out to me, holding the container. . . focus on the container. . . zoom. . . zoom. . . pause, stop camera on a close up of cookies. This is crazy talking.

That was one of those killer days with lots of pressure. Those cookies would relieve me of the pressure right? Just one right? Sigh. This is crazy talking.

No, no, no. Tap, tap, tap. Walk away from the cookie jar. Step away from the crazy talk.

I've decided to just face it: this holiday season is harder for me than the previous two years on this program. Done. Deal with it. Tap, tap, tap. Walk away from the pity pot. Stop with the oh, poor me drama and focus on what this holiday season has to offer me that the other two seasons did not: vitality, high energy, and a desire to live my life with as much joy as possible.

What brings me joy is being full of enough energy to run around with my niece and her children after Thanksgiving dinner. Running in the 2013 Hot Chocolate 5k in Northampton (just over 3 miles) was  joyful too!

Wishing joy to all of you, through this holiday season and into the new year!

My niece and her children.

Dec. 2013 Hot Chocolate 5k Run Northampton