Carole Freeman:

So, hey, just so you know, this show is meant for educational and entertainment purposes only. It is not medical advice. It’s not intended to diagnose, prevent, treat, or cure any condition. If you have questions or concerns related to your specific medical condition, please, please, please consult your own primary, qualified healthcare, functional medicine professional.

Carole Freeman:

All right, Lynn is here from New York. Welcome, Lynn. So glad you’re here. Everyone else, as you’re watching, go ahead and comment. Let me know you’re here. This is an interactive show. So we love comments, questions, yays, shout-outs the whole time.

Carole Freeman:

So I’ve got a quiz for you, just to start with, to get some engagement here. Yes or no or why or yes, do you give yourself a free pass during the holidays and plan to start fresh in January? So give me a why or a yes in the comments. Let me know how you normally go through the holidays.

Carole Freeman:

So welcome, everyone. So glad that you’re here. Like I said, I’m Carole. This segment, I just do a little personal check-in, let you know what I’m up to lately and what’s up next.

Carole Freeman:

So I just planned my birthday getaway. So it’s really weird. I turned 50 last year. I can’t believe it’s already been almost a year. My birthday’s coming up in November. If you’re watching live, you can see my … Or, actually, if you’re watching the recording, you can see my coffee cup that I got as a gift last year. It says, “50 is the ultimate F-word.”

Carole Freeman:

And so, I planned a trip. So, originally, these pre- times that we’re in, I wanted to have some kind of a destination birthday party last year in Mexico or something great like that. But a lot of us weren’t traveling last year. So I ended up just going myself to Sedona, Arizona. Beautiful area. And so, this year …

Carole Freeman:

Actually, I should just make this a quiz. Just a fun, interactive thing. Who can guess this year where I’m going to go? I’ll give you a clue. It’s pretty local. It’s two different locations. So one’s going to be in Arizona and then another place that’s in Utah. They’re fairly close together. So we’ll just make this a fun guessing game that you all can take a stab at guessing where it is I’m going to go this year for my birthday. I’m going to take a four-day road trip to some pretty amazing places. So let’s see if you guys can guess.

Carole Freeman:

If you’re new here as well, I now have a way you could text me. Oh, let’s put this in a little banner here. Let’s see. Okay, here we go. So if you’re here live, you can go ahead and just comment. But if you’d like to have a way to connect with me, a direct line to text me, this is brand new. I’m using the community app. Don’t worry if you don’t know what that as. It doesn’t matter. But basically it makes a way so that I can actually text with people directly.

Carole Freeman:

Also, it’s a way that you can get notifications. So some of the people that are here live got a text message from me right before, maybe about 45 minutes before I went live here today, letting them know, a reminder, here’s a link if you’d like to join.

Carole Freeman:

So join me by text message if you’d like to get reminders like that, if you’d like to have direct contact with me. My text number is 602-704-5309, which I love the ending of it. I didn’t get to pick this number, but who remembers that song, “Jenny, Jenny, don’t lose my number, 867-5309,” right? 5309. I got the 5309 in my number. So I just love this. It is an Arizona area code, 602-704-5309. Join me there. It’s a direct line to me.

Carole Freeman:

Okay, so Lynn is saying she … I think this is through the question, “Do you normally let yourself have a free pass through the holidays?” Lynn’s guess of where I’m going to go for my birthday this year is Lake Powell. Good guess. It’s not actually where I’m going.

Carole Freeman:

Nancy, you’re amazing. Yes, Grand Canyon is one of the places I’m going to go. So there’s one more that I’m going to go. It’s in Utah. And so, congratulations, Nancy, for guessing where I’m going to go for my birthday.

Carole Freeman:

It’s interesting, because I’ve been racking my brain thinking like, “Have I been to the Grand Canyon or is it one of those that I’ve just seen it iconically in photos and movies and things like that so much that I think I’ve been?”

Carole Freeman:

Part of the reason why I’m not sure if I’ve been or not is because I think my parents might have stopped there some place in my youth. So I would’ve been maybe like three, four, five, six, something like that. So I think that’s why if I’ve been, I don’t remember that I’ve been.

Carole Freeman:

So I’m actually going to be camping there overnight, a couple of nights, in the campground that’s right by it. So Grand Canyon. Excellent. Thank you, Nancy, for guessing that. Still up for guessing the second location that I’m going to go to for my birthday road trip/camping trip this year.

Carole Freeman:

All right. See? You guys are having fun already. Nancy’s been here before. Lynn, I think this is your first time here. But so fun. Isn’t it fun, you guys? We’re having so much fun.

Carole Freeman:

All right, up next, the next segment, for those of you that are new here, is I just share a client success story. So I know that early in my journey that reading success stories was really inspiring. It gave me hope that that was coming for me as well, too.

Carole Freeman:

Hey, Linda. Welcome, welcome, Linda. I’m going to take my text line off here for a moment. I actually can edit that to say … All right, let’s do that. Save. There we go. Okay.

Carole Freeman:

Yeah, so I know for me in my journey … So those of you who are new to my story, I’ve been following keto, low carb for about six and a half years now. It was actually after I’d gotten all my credentials. I was in a really bad car accident and was really in a bad place. Ended up starting keto as a way of trying to heal my brain injury that I had. Lo and behold, it completely changed my body as well, inside and out.

Carole Freeman:

I’ve been doing it clinically with my clients for over six years now. It’s 100% of what I do in my practice is coach women to be able to follow a keto diet for sustainable weight loss. And so, that’s what our podcast here also is focused on, too.

Carole Freeman:

So I know early in my journey that it was always really inspiring to hear stories of success of clients. So that’s why I started including this in the podcast as well, is just sharing some stories of success so that you can get a little inspired, motivated as well to keep going on your journey.

Carole Freeman:

I send a weekly email list out, or an email out as well, and we’ve got various segments in that. We track which one the people click on, and the success story portion of that is by far and away the most popular section of that, too. So let me know if you are somebody who gets really inspired by success stories as well, too.

Carole Freeman:

So today I’m going to share just a little bit about my client Rita. Rita’s been with me just over a year now. She started out going through my initial program, and then she stayed on for long term. She’d done so well and was so inspiring and such a help to other people that I’d asked her to stay on as one of my peer mentors as well.

Carole Freeman:

So I have a team of ladies that have all been through the initial program then that some of them, if they have the time in their schedule and want to mentor others, is they go through their keto journey, I invite them to stay on as one of my peer. We call them peer support coaches. And so, Rita has moved into that, one of my teams. So she supports other people that are on their keto journey as well.

Carole Freeman:

In a year’s time, Rita has lost 70 pounds really, really … Yay! High-fives to Rita. She’s doing great and she’s such a great support of other people, just such a champion of this lifestyle and long-term success, too.

Carole Freeman:

Yeah, so she’s somebody that … You might have read her story on my website. She’s somebody that even though initially was close to 300 pounds, she was somebody that was really, really active. She loves CrossFit and was really active in that scene. And so, even though she was very active and physically fit, her body weight was not what she wanted it to be. Her health markers weren’t optimal as well.

Carole Freeman:

So a lot of people out there in the world think that, well, if you just exercise enough, you can eat whatever you want and you can be healthy despite that. However, Rita is a good example of how even though she loved what she was doing and worked out most days of the week, it still is not enough for most people unless they find a way of eating that is going to help them pursue healthy living as well too, so the full picture.

Carole Freeman:

So anyways, congratulations to Rita on her continued success, and very, very proud of your progress that you’ve made. So keep up the good work.

Carole Freeman:

All right, so up next, anybody got a guess on my second location I’m going to go for my birthday road trip? It’s fairly close to Grand Canyon. It’s in a different state, though. So I’ll give you that clue. So we’ll keep the guesses coming here.

Carole Freeman:

So, Linda, I think you just got here. I’m taking a road trip. My birthday’s in November. I’m going to take a four-day road trip. I live in Arizona. I’m going to be going to the Grand Canyon. Nancy got that one right. Then I’ve got one more location I’m going to stop at for a couple of days as well.

Carole Freeman:

So up next, I just wanted to share … So this next segment is a news segment. Usually it’s either an article or something that I wanted to share that’s relevant, too.

Carole Freeman:

So this is from Joan Ifland’s weekly newsletter that she sends out. So those of you that don’t know Joan, she has a PhD in processed food addiction. So this is really relevant to the holidays coming up, because I mean let’s be real. The struggle that people have with the holidays is all around processed, refined sugar, and desserts and candies and all that kind of stuff.

Carole Freeman:

So processed food addiction is a real thing. So Joan has a PhD in that. She lives in the Seattle area, and she sends a weekly newsletter out.

Carole Freeman:

And so, okay, Linda’s guessing Las Vegas. Good guess. Good guess. That’s not where I’m headed this time. I have been there. Fun fact, though, I moved to Arizona about a year and a half ago, and I’ve been to Vegas where … It’s only four hours away from Phoenix. I’ve been to Las Vegas more times since moving here than I have the whole rest of my life. I wanted to move here for the sun and the heat, and I didn’t realize it was actually going to be so convenient too, because actually Phoenix is just four to five hours away from Vegas, San Diego, and LA. So lots of options here.

Carole Freeman:

But good guess, Linda, but not Las Vegas. It’s closer to the Grand Canyon, for those of you that want to look at a map and maybe try to cheat a little bit. But that’s another hint I’ll give you.

Carole Freeman:

So from Joan’s newsletter, she was talking about … So, again, she has a PhD in processed food addiction. Research shows that process foods are addictive. Now there’s a lot of people that will say like, “You can’t be addicted to food because you have to eat it.”

Carole Freeman:

Now whole foods, which is the way that I recommend that my clients eat, are generally not addictive, but when they start to be processed and refined, they are addictive. So she’s talking about in her newsletter that processed foods are combined into polysubstance, which makes it harder to treat than a single substance issue. So fast food typically contains sweeteners, flour, gluten, processed fats, and salt, dairy, and caffeinated drinks. And so, all of that together ends up being a very highly addictive and hitting parts of the brain. They’re really addictive.

Carole Freeman:

And so, she’s got another note here about research that shows that processed foods can be more addictive than recreational drugs. Sugar’s been shown to reach the brain faster and more powerfully than cocaine when administered similarly. Rats will choose sugar and saccharin, so the artificial sweetener saccharin, over heroin and cocaine. Can you believe that? High-fructose corn syrup has been shown to act in the body like corn alcohol.

Carole Freeman:

There is withdrawal syndrome has been shown for processed foods as well. I see this sometimes in my clients that start out, when they’re eating a modern amount of refined sugars before they start, is they can have withdrawal symptoms that are very similar to going off of opiate painkillers and things like that, too. So it’s a very real thing.

Carole Freeman:

And so, part of what I’m going to ask you to do here today is just open your mind and consider that these foods that we eat during the holidays, that we show love to each other, we bake them and give them to gifts and things like that, part of what I’m going to ask you to do is to open your mind to the possibility that these are actually poisons and toxins and highly addictive substances. The same way that we would never consider giving our children or our loved ones heroin or cocaine, I think most of you watching wouldn’t do that, I would also encourage you to think about refined sugar products and refined flour products in that same category.

Carole Freeman:

It can be really difficult for people to reconcile that. If you’ve always made those things and given those things as gifts and as part of your family traditions, it can be really hard to come to terms of the fact that you might have done something that’s not very healthful for people. And so, most of the time our brain just wants to dismiss it and ignore it, like put fingers in your ears and go, “La, la, la, la, la, la. It’s not bad. It’s not bad. It’s good. It’s just tradition. It’s just empty calories.”

Carole Freeman:

So see if you can entertain the thought just a little bit that perhaps the foods that we fed our family and our loved ones may not be, on one end, just not that healthy, but also if we want to be really, really honest and true, they’re addictive substances and they set the stage for a lifelong struggle with overconsuming these things.

Carole Freeman:

So, all right, so Nancy’s getting close because you’ve got national park. So you’re on the right track. So Nancy’s guessing this is where I’m going to go. So I have a birthday road trip planned next month in November. And so, she’s already … Grand Canyon is the first stage of it, Arches National Park and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. Those are in the right state. And so, you’re getting really close to where I’m going to go for the second phase. But those are not correct yet. So keep guessing.

Carole Freeman:

Yeah, so these foods are addictive. I mean that’s why we all struggle with overeating them. It’s why we have such a hard time giving them up. If they weren’t addictive, we’d be like, “Oh, of course I can go without that. No big deal.” So let’s be truthful and honest with ourself and admit that that’s why we struggle with giving those things up.

Carole Freeman:

So this episode again is about tips to thrive through this holiday season. In the United States, as of the recording of this, Halloween is coming up this weekend here. We don’t have anybody overseas watching right now that I can see. We often have people that are in other countries, too. So if somebody pops in … Do they do Halloween in other countries? I’m pretty sure it’s like a big US holiday and not anything that big in other areas.

Carole Freeman:

But we’re just basically going into the season of sugar. I think I’ve seen online from Dr. Baker and a couple other people posting this meme that talks about how everybody gets sick at this time of the year from colds and flu and things like that. It’s like sugary holiday after sugary holiday after sugary holiday. It’s like, oh, is it just that we’ve become toxic from the foods that we fed our body? We’ve become sick from that? Or is it really this other thing going on, too?

Carole Freeman:

So, yeah, I mean it’s starting in the US. We’re heading into the weekend of sugary holiday after sugary holiday. And so, I’m here today with some tips to help you actually thrive through that instead of just surviving it, white-knuckling it, trying not to overdo it, or the quiz at the beginning was just throw in the towel and you might as well just start over in January. Why spend the next two months overeating and ruining your health and expanding your waistline having to just start over in January?

Carole Freeman:

So some of my biggest success stories of my clients are the ones that despite the holidays, like because of the holidays is why they want to start things right now. So it’s totally possible doable. And so, I’ve got a lot of tips here for you about how to navigate this.

Carole Freeman:

But we have an announcement. Nancy, Nancy is the winner. She got both of them right. So that is my road trip plan for my 51st birthday in November this year is that I’m going to go to the Grand Canyon for a couple of days and then Zion National Park for a couple of days as well.

Carole Freeman:

So on my drive down moving from Seattle to Phoenix, Arizona last year, I did stop at Bryce Canyon. Oh my gosh. If you haven’t been there, put it on your bucket list. Every person that lives on this planet needs to view Bryce Canyon once in their life. It is so spectacular. Pictures just don’t … You can’t even appreciate the magnitude of the awe-inspiring view that Bryce is.

Carole Freeman:

And so, I planned to stop at Zion on the way down as well too, but ran out time on my trip, because of when I had to be to get my keys for my new place. So making the trip back up a year and a half later to go visit Zion. I’ve heard it’s pretty spectacular as well. So I’ve got a couple of days I’m going to be staying there as well.

Carole Freeman:

So congratulations, Nancy, for figuring out both of the places I’m going to be visiting. The nice thing is that November … Time of the year for those places is that highs are still going to be like 65 and the weather should be still pretty good. And so, it’s going to be a really nice time to go and visit those.

Carole Freeman:

So if anybody’s ever been to Zion, let me know what you thought. I’ve never heard anybody like, “Eh, it was okay. It wasn’t that great. We had a terrible time.” Anyway, so I think it should be a nice relaxing, just totally get away and away from the city, away from the lights, and just be in nature for four days.

Carole Freeman:

So, all right, you all ready for some tips to thrive this holiday season? So first off, a lot of things that trip people up are just the traditions. We always make sugar cookies. We always give away this certain candy on Halloween or we always get together as a family and we make something, or I always make fudge and give it to all of my relatives and neighbors, or you have a cookie exchange. There’s all these traditions that people have, and we often get stuck in that of like, well, we’ve just always done that. It’s not the holidays if we don’t do that foodie thing.

Carole Freeman:

But, really, is that true? It’s not. It’s not. It’s still going to be the holidays. Really, the spirit of the holidays for people is about family and friends and connection and expressing love and care for everybody.

Carole Freeman:

So think about what that tradition was doing for you. What was the purpose of it? And carries through the spirit of that, the intention of that, but do something that’s a non-food tradition. We can make new traditions. We can. Just because your great-grandmother always made that pie, you can save the family recipe, if you like, and pass that down, but it doesn’t mean you need to keep making that thing. Yes, there can be a little bit of a grieving process of letting go of something that you’ve always done. But also this is a time to give love and health to your family.

Carole Freeman:

And so, I encourage you to think about what are some new non-food traditions that you could do. So many of them. So brainstorm, put in the comments here some of the ideas you would have about things you could do as a family, creating new traditions that are embodying the spirit of love and connection and spending time together.

Carole Freeman:

What about going to volunteer to food bank, or Thanksgiving … I have some friends that every year, instead of having a meal, they go and work in a soup kitchen type place where they go and prepare and give out meals to people that need that. How much meaning is there in that and connection with your family when you’re doing something like that and volunteering for a greater cause?

Carole Freeman:

What about some craft projects and things like that? We’ve got Pinterest and TikTok and YouTube and all these places where you can find all of these ideas for all these craft projects that you can do with your family. Homemade soap-making, and they don’t even have to be like the junky crafts. You can make really nice quality things together. Think of those things that you can do.

Carole Freeman:

How about caroling in your neighborhood or some other volunteer type things? What about going to retirement home or center, or something like that, and volunteering there, spending some time with the people that are there?

Carole Freeman:

So what are some ideas that you have? What are some non-food traditions that you could create? Maybe you already have some in your family as well, but what if you could expand on those things, too?

Carole Freeman:

Another tip I’ve got here is to advocate for yourself, ask for help. I really encourage you to not throw in the towel. Don’t give yourself a pass over the holidays, because the way that the brain works with those processed foods or refined sugars and things like that, because it is addictive, it’s not easy to get back on the wagon once you go off.

Carole Freeman:

The way that our brain is wired, is it if you’ve had some success, you’ve been on track with keto for a while, and then you go off of it and you just eat whatever the sugary, refined, processed foods that are very addictive, your brain, it makes it 10 times harder the next time to get back on track.

Carole Freeman:

So I know a lot of people that I work with, they have tried keto on their own and they fell off for whatever reason. Then they try to get back on and they’re like, “Why is it so much harder this time?”

Carole Freeman:

So this is what’s going to happen. You’re going to be setting yourself up for a lot of frustration, and it won’t be easy to just get restarted in January. Plus, how many pounds do you want to gain over the holidays? How much pain and aches and mental unclarity and things like that? What are all the good things that you get from staying on track that you’re giving up for the holidays?

Carole Freeman:

What if going through the holidays, you had lots of energy and mental clarity and no cravings, and you could actually continue on your weight loss journey during the holidays and just feel proud of yourself and successful and empowered instead of just giving into cravings and feeling controlled by food?

Carole Freeman:

So advocate for yourself, ask for help, whether in your own home or places that you’re going to go. If you’re going to go visit friends or family for different holiday events, ask for help. It’s okay to say, “Hey, what are you having for a meal?” This could be that a lot of your friends and family, they really want to help support you on your journey. And so, a lot of them don’t really understand like, “Well, what is it that you can eat?”

Carole Freeman:

And so, sending a list of specific foods that work for you, but also taking something with you is really great as well. So something that you know that you enjoy, that you can look forward to, that you know is going to be on plan for you as well. So, yeah, ask for help for yourself.

Carole Freeman:

Another point is to avoid excessive appetite. So the way that you do this, you don’t want to go into an environment, an event, a gathering, this could be stuff at work, friends, family, wherever, you don’t want to go into that event starving, really, really hungry.

Carole Freeman:

So if you’re, “I hope I make it through. I’m going to try my best not to eat those things,” you want to set yourself up for success. And so, don’t go in having … Because a lot of times the holidays was like, “Well, I’m going to fast for a couple of days so I can eat as much as I possibly can.” That is a recipe for a disaster. If you’re hungry, craving going into any event, good luck resisting those addictive foods.

Carole Freeman:

So prioritize protein in the days leading up. But just always, in general, for my clients, we’re prioritizing protein. So the day of the event as well. So depending on if it’s going to be a lunch or a dinner type event, make sure that for breakfast, all the meals previous to that event during the day, that you’ve had adequate protein at each of those meals.

Carole Freeman:

At that event, make sure that there’s going to be a hearty protein portion for you, whether it’s something you need to take with you, something you’re cooking if it’s something you’re hosting yourself, or just depending on what’s on the menu there. So make sure there’s adequate protein that’s going to be worked for you.

Carole Freeman:

So depending on the event, if it’s a holiday party or something like that, eating before you go can actually be a very powerful strategy. Having a nice hearty meal that includes plenty of protein before you go is going to greatly minimize your appetite and give you a lot more willpower in an environment that may include a bunch of foods that are things that you don’t really want to consume.

Carole Freeman:

So self-binding strategies, I don’t know if you’ve heard of that term or not, but let me share what that is. So self-binding strategies is basically setting up some rules for yourself before you go.

Carole Freeman:

So how many of you have kids, grandkids and you know that if you set the expectation before you go some place they know what’s expected of them and they behave a lot better? So you go into the toy store and you just go and you’re just like, “We’re going to the toy store,” back when you actually could go to the toy store.

Carole Freeman:

My son’s 26. So I remember taking him to Toys “R” Us. I’ve heard those are closed down. A long time ago. So if we would just go in, it’s a free for all and the kids are … They don’t know what’s expected of them, and they’re just going to throw a tantrum, “I want this, I want this, I want to buy this.”

Carole Freeman:

But if you set the expectation … And this also works if you just take them to the grocery store or department store, or something, is, “We’re going to go into the store. I’m going to have you hold onto the cart or sit in the cart and we’re going to pick out these items.” If you’re going to the toy store, for example, like, “You’re going to be able to pick one toy yourself and then we’re going to leave.” They will be so much more well-behaved if you set the expectations and you set the rules and boundaries before you go in there.

Carole Freeman:

And so, do the same thing for yourself. There’s a lot of the way that our brain works that we’re just like little kids. So when you treat yourself kind and lovingly like you would a little child, you actually can have the same well-behaved brain as you would have for a small child.

Carole Freeman:

So self-binding strategies are setting rules for yourself, sitting down with yourself like you would your toddler, and saying, “Here’s what we’re going to do. We have this party, this event coming up, and this is what we’re going to do.” So you want to set some rules and boundaries for yourself. Decide on how many servings you’re going to have of something, how many portions. You might set some rules for yourself, like no nibbles before the meal, like I’m not going to eat any of the appetizers. I’m only going to have the meal that’s there. That will be a way of minimizing everything that I eat.

Carole Freeman:

Set a rule for yourself for I’m not going to have any alcoholic drinks. I’m going to only have club soda and a lime, or how many drinks you will have at this event. Another one you might set is I’m going to stop eating by 7:00 PM.

Carole Freeman:

So these are what’s considered self-binding strategies. You’ve set boundaries for yourself beforehand. You are more likely to be successful in following that than if you just wing it. “Well, I’ll do my best. I’ll try not to eat too much. I’ll try not to have these things.” Then you have to make a decision about every single thing while you’re there. Whereas that if you set the rules beforehand, you’ve already decided what you’re going to do. There’s no decisions that you’ve got to make every moment by moment by moment. So that’s exhausting.

Carole Freeman:

If you’re constantly having to decide, “Yes or no? Yes or no? Am I going to do this? Am I going to not?” you’re going to wear it down your willpower and you’re just going to say, “Ah, eff it. I’m going to have all of it.” So self-binding strategies, setting those things up for it.

Carole Freeman:

So apparently Nancy’s kids … I don’t know if that means they’re well-behaved or not well-behaved, Nancy, but she says, “You haven’t met my kids.” So I don’t know what raising your children was like. You’re right.

Carole Freeman:

Another strategy that you can set for yourself along these lines of self-binding strategies is the concept of red, yellow, and green light foods. So red light foods are ones that you just never, ever eat. You’ve decided, “That food is not my friend. I can’t control myself. I eat that and I’m obsessed and I just need to eat all of it. I want to eat more and more and more and more.”

Carole Freeman:

So for me, I’ve discovered that sugar in any form is a red light for me. I do not consume it at all. It’s an easy no. I’ve already made the decision. There’s no negotiating in the moment in my brain any situation. I’ve had enough of it in my life. There’s nothing that I’m missing out on because all it is is causes pain and misery for me. So sugar’s a red light food for me. Nope, never, ever.

Carole Freeman:

Yellow light foods are things that maybe occasionally you have, but also you might have struggle with portion control of them. So these can be things that in the right setting, like maybe occasionally when you’re out at a restaurant or at a friend’s house, you might have those things, if you are very mindful of the portion size. But they’re may be something that you don’t have in your house all the time because they’re really difficult for you to control portion size.

Carole Freeman:

So for me, an example for me, nuts are a yellow light food. I generally try not to have them in my house because if they’re here, I will easily grab and eat too many of them. But in situations like maybe at a restaurant or a friend’s house, or an event or something like that, that would be something that I would have occasionally.

Carole Freeman:

Or maybe for my road trip that I’m going to have, that I’m going to Grand Canyon and Zion … Thank you, Nancy, for winning the quiz … Or not the quiz, the guessing game there, the trivia … for example, I might get some macadamia nuts for that trip because it’s going to be limited, over a four-day period, limiting that, but it’s not going to be something that I have in my house all the time. So that’s a yellow light food for me.

Carole Freeman:

Green light foods, those are the ones that you can have in unlimited supply in your own house, in your own environment. You eat them and enjoy them, but they do not call your name. You don’t get obsessed with them. You don’t overeat them. When you start, you’re not going, “I can’t stop eating this.”

Carole Freeman:

So, generally, green light foods, they’re ones that, again, you’re not going to be obsessed with. They don’t cause cravings. They don’t cause overeating. That could be a thing … Most whole foods are going to fit in that category. So things steak and chicken, butter by itself, broccoli, lettuce, things like that are generally, for most people, they’re going to be green light foods.

Carole Freeman:

So this can be part of your own self-binding strategy is identifying which foods for you in general, “These are red light foods. I don’t eat those. I choose to never have those. I’ve already decided that.” Yellow light, those ones may be … If they’re going to be at the event you’re going to, or a party, or you’re having a party at your own place, deciding you’re going to have to set some rules about that, like, “Okay, I have a one ounce portion and I’ve measured it out. I’m only going to have it for this one event. Then after that, we’re not going to have it in the house anymore.”

Carole Freeman:

And so, defining which are red, yellow, and green light foods for you is a self-binding strategy. You’ve made the decision already about how that food exists in your life. There’s not any of that internal fighting back and forth about, “I’m going to have it. Oh, I’m not going to have it. I don’t know. How much? Oh, ah, ah.” So making decisions before you go.

Carole Freeman:

All right. So another thing that’s actually pretty powerful is to take a walk after a meal. So if the dessert tray’s coming out afterwards and everybody’s going to go into a carb coma after that, advocate for yourself and go take a walk after the meal. Remove yourself from the situation where there’s foods that are going to be really difficult for you to resist, at a restaurant, a friend’s family’s house, something like that.

Carole Freeman:

Invite somebody else to go with you. You’re probably going to be surprised that you’re going to have some other people that would like to go with you as well. Most people would like to eat less desserts. Most people don’t like that they’re compelled to eat those things. So invite people to join you in the things that you’re doing.

Carole Freeman:

Now there’s two more categories here. So I’m going to talk about mindset stuff, like your self-talk, what you’re going to talk about in your head. Then I’m going to give you some specific food tricks that can make the holidays more enjoyable for you, so you don’t feel like you’re just eating a really austere, unpleasant diet. There are some tricks you can do that are keto-friendly versions of things.

Carole Freeman:

So, all right, so the mindset category here, set yourself an affirmation. Come up with a phrase or a few sentences that will help you feel empowered going into whatever the event is. So, for example, “I will enjoy the day, the food, the people, and I look forward to feeling physically well and proud of myself afterwards.”

Carole Freeman:

So a lot of times we feel deprived because we’re telling ourselves things about like, “Oh my gosh, poor me. I’m missing out. I can’t believe I have that.” That’s a victim mentality. When you have that mentality going on, you have that mindset, it actually is more likely that you’ll have cravings and give in to that food than if you just simply switch the way that you talk about it. I know it seems like a little thing and it wouldn’t make that much difference, but it really is really powerful.

Carole Freeman:

So find a phrase that resonates with you, something that feels good and empowering, and repeat that to yourself going up to that event. So feel the difference of this, like, “Oh, I hope I make it through the day. I’ll try to focus on the people. Gosh, I hope I feel good afterwards. I hope I resist those things.” That’s not very empowering. You’re not likely to have a very good, successful time. But feel the difference again of like, “I look forward to the day. I look forward to the people. I’m really going to connect with them. That’s why I’m there. I love the people that I’m going to spending time with.”

Carole Freeman:

I’m going to pause right here, because sometimes we’ve got relatives or something, or friends, that maybe we don’t love. So find something again that resonates with you, that makes it so that it’s a pleasant experience that you’re going to look forward to, and how good you’ll feel afterwards, how proud will you feel of yourself, how physically well, how good is it going to feel to not need to take a nap while everyone else is burnout in a carb coma, and they’re bloated and painful and you have enough energy to go take a walk.

Carole Freeman:

So, again, if you’re just joining us, go ahead and comment. Let me know you’re here. Tell me where you’re joining us from. This episode is all about tips to thrive through the holidays.

Carole Freeman:

Then, okay, so visualize success before. So right now we’re talking about the mindset piece of this, like the mind work that goes into being successful at various high-carb holiday events.

Carole Freeman:

So visualize yourself being successful. Your body can’t really tell the difference between what you vividly imagine and what’s really happening. And so, research shows that if you visualize yourself being successful, your body’s going to go, “Oh, we’re doing that. This is what we do.”

Carole Freeman:

Hi Trisha from New York. Excellent. Lynn’s here from New York as well, too. So we’ve got a couple of New Yorkers here, So welcome, Trisha. Glad you’re here.

Carole Freeman:

Yeah, so visualize yourself, like what you’re going to do while there, who you’re going to interact with, how happy you’re going to be, you successfully following the self-binding strategies that you’ve set out for yourself, and how good you’re going to feel going home, or just the next day with having being successful there.

Carole Freeman:

So our brain will crave what we look at, right? So all we need is to see something and it’s going to trigger a craving spiral. So do your best to avoid eye contact with the foods that cause you the most cravings and the most troublesome as far as craving.

Carole Freeman:

So even now, six and a half years into my keto journey, I avoid the bakery section at grocery stores. I don’t look at those things because that was always my pattern every night is that I would go to the store and I would look at all that stuff. I would just like fantasize about what I would want until I would buy multiple of them because I wanted them all.

Carole Freeman:

So even now I don’t walk through that area. So if there’s a big dessert, whatever, going on at the event that you’re at for whatever holiday, avert your eyes. Don’t go look at it. Don’t go sniff it. Go find something else to do. So whether that’s go for a walk, have a conversation with somebody, just avoid looking at those things.

Carole Freeman:

Another one that’s powerful as well is going to be if you want to give yourself something to do. So if your whole thing before … So my thing before was like you go to the events and it was like, “How much food can I eat the whole time?” Now it’s like I need something else to spend my time on, because, before, the entire event was just eating as much as possible. Now it’s like I have a lot of extra time that I’m only going to eat a moderate portion of food. Then what am I going to do the rest of the time?

Carole Freeman:

So give yourself something to do. So whether it’s an assignment to try to talk to each of the people that are there. A photo scavenger hunt is also a really fun one to set up for yourself as well. So it’s pretty normal and common now for people to pull out their phones and take photos and things like that. So perhaps you want to challenge yourself to take a photo with each person at the event. Perhaps you want to do just an A to Z photo scavenger hunt.

Carole Freeman:

So set out that you’re going to take a photo of something that starts with each letter of the alphabet. Those can be things you do with kids as well, too. Kids would just much more love to do some kind of activity with their family and friends than they would to just sit and eat.

Carole Freeman:

So get the kids involved in that as well. Kids, grandkids, just kids that are at the event, have them help you find things and start with each letter of the alphabet and take a photo of it. So how fun would that be? New family tradition.

Carole Freeman:

So the last section here I’ve got for tips of how to thrive this holiday season is just going to be some little keto tricks for food that can make you feel like you’re not missing out. A really easy thing.

Carole Freeman:

So how many of you know the trick to do cream cheese gravy? This is a game-changer. If you’re somebody who loves gravy like me, the traditional way of making gravy is to start with a roux, which is flour and butter. So not going to work like … There’s something about the thickening that’s … The gluten process that happens with that. You need the flour in there.

Carole Freeman:

So don’t worry. There’s a really, really, really easy hack to making keto-friendly gravy. It starts with a brick of cream cheese, room temperature, slightly warm at the microwave. Remove it from the foil first if you’re going to put it in the microwave. Hopefully I didn’t have to remind you that.

Carole Freeman:

So basically you need two primary ingredients. It’s going to be some kind of broth, chicken, beef, Turkey, and cream cheese. Those are your basic ingredients. You’re going to want to add some salt in there probably, too. You can add some other herbs and seasonings in there, but this is the basics of it, salt, cream cheese, and some kind of broth.

Carole Freeman:

You could have the drippings from whatever protein that you’ve made for your main meal. It could be the prime rib or the turkey drippings. You could use that as the broth.

Carole Freeman:

And so, basically you’re going to have room temperature cream cheese block, put it in a pan on low to low medium heat, and just continue to melt it. Stir and just slowly incorporate some broth in there to the consistency that you like. You’ve got creamy gravy.

Carole Freeman:

If you want to make it country gravy, the trick to that, again you’re going to put some salt in there to your taste as well. But a dash of cayenne pepper to this is what’s going to be considered country gravy. You could also add some ground pork sausage in there, definitely … Okay. Oh, yay! Trish is like, “I’m definitely going to try that.” It’s so delicious. It’s so easy. This is something, again … Because it got that fat in from the cream cheese, that nobody’s going to be missing out on having gravy if you have that for everybody.

Carole Freeman:

So one of my favorite things to have … So if you’re hosting an event or going to an event, just make sure you have something that you can look forward to that you really like. One of my favorite things to have is a charcuterie board. Lots and lots of cheese and all kinds of cured meats, olives, maybe a little bit of nuts, if those are going to work for you for yellow light or green light food. Most people don’t have nuts on their green light list, but maybe in certain situations they may be yellow light food.

Carole Freeman:

Make a beautiful charcuterie board. You’ve got lots of things that you can look forward to. If you’re going to take it with you, there’s nobody that’s going to go like, “Oh my god, I can’t believe you brought that diet food with you.”

Carole Freeman:

So part of the fun of keto foods, because they’re so naturally high in fat, is most of the time nobody’s going to know they’re diet food at all, because they’re just going to be delicious high-fat versions of things that everybody’s going to love.

Carole Freeman:

So for my clients, when they’re first starting out, I have them avoid all dessert recipes, because that just can trigger cravings. But if you’re at a point where you’re maybe at least a couple of months into your keto journey, then pick a keto recipe, dessert recipe, to take with you or to make for your event. We’ve got how many of these books behind me, keto cookbooks, that are out there.

Carole Freeman:

So I recommend anything from Victory Belt Publishing. You can find them all on Amazon. We’ve got a lot of really great cookbook authors out there. So find also Carolyn Ketchum. She’s All Day I Dream About Food, is a blogger, excellent dessert recipes that are keto-friendly.

Carole Freeman:

So choose one that you’re going to have or make for the holidays. Have something you can look forward to, if that that’s something that fits for you. So maybe for me, keto desserts are a yellow light food. I will have them occasionally, but I don’t have them in my house all the time because I will overconsume them and eat them until they’re gone.

Carole Freeman:

So for me, keto desserts are a special occasion thing, maybe in the holidays, maybe for my birthday. Rare occasions like that are times when I’m going to have a keto dessert.

Carole Freeman:

Another one that’s tricky for people a lot of times is just missing out on stuffing. For a lot of the US holidays, that’s a big part of Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner. And so, what do you do besides the bread? So there’s actually sausage stuffing recipes out there. So you get a lot of that savory herbs that you get in regular bread stuffing, but you’re doing it without any bread. So it’s like sausage and olives and some other herbs and things like that in there that give you that savory filling.

Carole Freeman:

There are some keto-friendly breads out there that you could make stuffing from, but I would be really cautious with this, because most of the commercial keto … For those of you just listening, “keto” breads out there in the market are not actually keto. They just put the label on it. But friends of mine that have done blood sugar testing on them, they essentially cause the same blood sugar spike as regular bread. So I would stay away from most commercially prepared “keto” breads.

Carole Freeman:

You could make your own. So Maria Emmerich has several keto-friendly bread recipes. You could make your own. It’s going to be several more steps, but that may be an option as well, too.

Carole Freeman:

Take food with you, depending on your relationship with the host. It’s hard for people to get to understand like, well, what really is keto and what isn’t. So if I’m going to go some place, I always take something with me, that at least I know I’m going to be able to eat that if I know nothing else on the menu is going to work. So take something that you really like, you look forward to. A lot of times people also will want to try it as well too, because it ends up being so tasty with so much fat in it.

Carole Freeman:

So what are some of your holiday survival tips? What are you thinking of doing this holidays? Because, again, I recommend not throwing in the towel through the holidays. Why not go through, continue your journey, and be healthy and be glad, positive, so proud of yourself for thriving through the holidays instead of gaining weight and having to start over.

Carole Freeman:

So those are my tips for how to thrive through the holiday season, how to stay on keto, continue on your weight loss journey, how to maintain your weight loss you’ve already achieved at this point.

Carole Freeman:

So next week. You want to know about next week? Next week, I’m going to be talking about stress and ketosis. So not only how stress affects ketosis, but some stress management techniques, because, hey, the holiday season can be so stressful for so many different reasons.

Carole Freeman:

So having some tools, how to minimize our stress reaction in our body, because I’ll give you a little teaser, stress actually can suppress ketosis and make your cravings even worse. So that’s our next episode is about stress and ketosis. We’ll have a special guest co-host for our next episode as well, too. So come back next week for that.

Carole Freeman:

And so, just to recap, what we talked about today, tips for thriving through this holiday season. Reassess your family traditions, avoid excessive appetite, make sure you prioritize protein that day and at the event. Advocate for yourself, ask for help. Get rid of the foods in your household, that if there are things that you have a really hard time saying no to, it’s okay to not have them in your house anymore.

Carole Freeman:

We talked about self-binding strategies, how to set boundaries and rules for yourself for success so that you’re not fighting with yourself every moment of the … Trying to make a decision in the moment. You’ve already decided before you go.

Carole Freeman:

We talked about how to get your mindset and your self-talk on board. Then we talked about the little keto food holiday hacks as well. The cream cheese gravy is always a big hit, too. So, Trisha, let me know when you try that, what you think.

Carole Freeman:

But thank you everyone for being here today. Next week, again, I’ve got some really fun co-hosts lined up in the coming weeks. So I’m really excited about that. I don’t want to spoil the surprises, but some of the … We’ve got a comedian. We’ve got a body positivity coach that’s going to be coming on. We just booked a guest co-host that’s a keto pet food expert. Really excited about that. And so much more planned.

Carole Freeman:

So come back and listen to us again. Share this podcast with your friends, family, your loved ones, because sharing is caring. Remember, help us grow the podcast and we’ll help you shrink.

Carole Freeman:

So glad, everyone who’s been here. We’ll see you all again next week. Take care, everyone. Have a great day. Bye.