Mindset Shifts for a Heathier Holiday Season

The holidays are here, and we know what that means: Lots of gatherings centered around food.

"This is a really challenging time for a lot of people because there are so many of those food-centered events," said Dr. Jenny Satterberg, a Hawaii Pacific Health Medical Group family medicine physician at the Straub Benioff Medical Center – Mililani Town Center Clinic who is board-certified in obesity medicine.

While the holidays often feel like they go by in a flash, the season of celebration often lasts a lot longer than many realize.

"If you add up all of the time of the holidays (from October through Jan. 1), it ends up being about three months out of the year, so about a quarter of the year you're overindulging," Satterberg said. "People can walk away with weight gain and other health consequences from these three months."

However, the opposite also is true – with proper planning and small shifts in mindset, Satterberg says it is possible to enter the new year having not done damage to your health.

"I think the biggest thing is mindfulness – really going into the holidays with some kind of intention and some kind of plan," Satterberg said during a recent appearance on Hawaii News Now's Sunrise morning show.

One example she gave involved navigating the many food-related gifts given this time of year.

"People in Hawaii are so generous. They bake things for you, and everything has their care put into it. But we don't have to eat every single thing that people give us," Satterberg said.

Appreciate the gesture and heartfelt intention behind the gift, but if you know you'll overindulge in a certain food, give yourself permission to throw it away.

"I know a lot of people have a lot of resistance to that, but I always think to myself, it's either wasted on my body or it's wasted in the rubbish bin," Satterberg said.

"The biggest thing (to remember) is really setting an intention," she added. "Check in with yourself and say 'Do I want to just overindulge this entire holiday season? Am I OK gaining 10 pounds?' Or, 'Do I want to walk away in January feeling good, not having gained weight? What do I want for the holidays?'"

This segment originally aired Nov. 27, 2024, as part of the Hawaii News Now "Sunrise" Healthier Hawaii series. Watch the full broadcast here or below.

Published on: December 4, 2024