Mind Pump: Raw Fitness Truth - 1690: Eight Holiday Hacks to Prevent Fat Gain

Episode Date: November 22, 2021

In this episode Sal, Adam & Justin cover eight ways to successfully avoid packing on fat over the holidays. Eight Holiday Objective Strategies to Prevent Fat Gain. (3:12) #1 – You bring a healthy dish. (4:05) #2 – Organize family physical activity. (6:28) #3 – Fast before the holiday meal and after. (11:37) #4 – Prioritize essential macronutrients. (16:07) #5 – Be present. (21:53) #6 – Wait 15 minutes before you get seconds. (27:22) #7 – Invite your family for a nice walk after dinner. (29:29) #8 – Politely decline unnecessary leftovers. (32:08) Bonus: Manage your alcohol consumption. (35:30) Related Links/Products Mentioned November Promotion: MAPS Anywhere and the Fit Mom Bundle – Both 50% off! **Promo code “NOVEMBER50” at checkout** Visit Paleo Valley for an exclusive offer for Mind Pump listeners! **Promo code “Mindpump15” at checkout for 15% discount** Delicious end to 2020: Average American expects to gain 7 pounds this holiday season Is Fasting Effective? - Mind Pump Blog The Warrior Diet: Switch on Your Biological Powerhouse For High Energy, Explosive Strength, and a Leaner, Harder Body Why do we Need Protein? - Mind Pump Blog Why Spiritual Awareness Means Physical Health – Mind Pump Visit ZBiotics for an exclusive offer for Mind Pump listeners! Mind Pump Podcast – YouTube Mind Pump Free Resources  

If you want to pump your body and expand your mind, there's only one place to go. MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, with your hosts. Salda Stefano, Adam Schaefer, and Justin Andrews. You just found the world's number one fitness health and entertainment podcast. This is Mind Pop Right in today's episode. We talked about the holidays. This is when everybody gains lots of body fat. It's very challenging.

So we wanted to give you hacks, eight holiday hacks that can help prevent weight gain or more specifically fat gain. Now, this episode is brought to you by one of our sponsors, Paleo Valley. So Paleo Valley makes some of the best paeleo-inspired supplements like bone broth protein, actually the least processed protein powder I've ever had in my entire life. Very easy on the digestion, I love it. They also have like an organ complex supplement, I give it to my kids. They won't eat organ meats because of course they don't taste too good, but I give them organ complex and they get the nutrients from organs in a capsule.

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we all worked in gyms for a long time and in gyms and everybody knows, especially if you're working in a gym that January, way more people come in, way more people want to sign up. We're going to work on it for a month. It's that whole New Year's resolution thing, but I think it has more to do to the fact that, yeah, they just had the holidays, right? What's that stat like the average American gains?

I know I've said this stat every year and I think I'm 20. I've seen yeah, I've seen it all I've seen everything from as low as eight to as high as like 20 pounds over the holiday So like the I've maybe dug a Google it but the last time I looked it was less than what I think I said on the show But somewhere between eight and 20 pounds on average people put on from, I believe, it starts on Halloween. So Halloween till January 2nd, the average American adds anywhere between eight to 20 pounds. I know it's a wide range.

And the problem with that is that they go to try to lose it, obviously doing it the wrong way, and they end up losing either half of it or none of it, and then they go the next year, and it ends up being cumulative. So after five or six years, I'm 30 pounds overweight or whatever. Anyway, what I want to do is I would like to give people behavioral and kind of objective strategies that can help them with this holiday season. We got Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's Eve, families getting together,

and I think it's important that people have some like easy to apply strategies that kind of will prevent this weight gain that people experienced during the holiday. The eight holiday hacks to prevent weight gain. Yeah, let's talk about some of the ones that we've used also. Because if you're not intentionally conscious of what you're putting in your mouth, it's gonna get away from you.

It told me honestly. So the first one is the 40 day fast. So, 40 days. 40 days. Yeah. This will definitely make sure you don't get anything. If you don't eat for 40 days. No, it would cover it.

No, no, no, that is not a strategy. That's a terrible strategy. All right, let's start with the first one. And I've heard you talk about this, Adam. I do the same thing when I go to family parties. Yes. And I have a big family. Typically, when we go, we have big family parties,

holiday parties, everybody tends to bring a dish or two dishes. You bring the healthy dish. That's what I do. Yes. Exactly what I do. You're the health ambassador. Yeah.

I'll typically bring a vegetable dish or a lean protein dish or something that I know that at the very least I can turn to when I'm hungry. Well, you know how this started for me. So I mean, Katrina and I have been together for 11 years now and it was at the midway point when or even a little bit before. So it was about what year four, year three or four, when I began preparing to get ready to compete. So even before I was competing, but getting prepared for that, I began to carry my food around in topware all the time. And like her family, lots of traditions, and

the way they do, like meals, is if there's a bunch of food that everybody agrees is like everyone's favorite foods that they want there. And then it's just like oh Katrina you have this this year. You know Jerry You have this this year and they kind of pass around like the dishes and this is during the time where I like I'm carrying tapoware around all over the place And I'm like well, this is ridiculous. I'm gonna go here and like the only thing I can use turkey like so I said Why don't we and I remember the first year we had to kind of compromise like okay? We'll make that dish in addition of that I want us to make one or two dishes that I can actually eat. And so it started as me bringing additional healthy dishes to the Thanksgiving dinner.

And then now it's become actually something that people are, I've introduced the family to some of these dishes that are, you know, less marshmallows and sugar inside. Cause you get the salad quote unquote that's like jello with marshmallows. Yeah, so I had to do the same thing. I'm like, I'm the one that's gonna bring the salad with the dark leafy greens,

it has some fiber in it. So I can actually help my digestion, which is a big problem for me with these big holiday meals. That's exactly what I do. I bring, I'll bring like two vegetable dishes that are relatively low calorie that tastes good. And easy for you I do. I bring, I'll bring like two vegetable dishes that are relatively low calorie that tastes good. An easy for you to prepare. Easy to prepare. Absolutely.

And, and we'll bring them and then we'll put them out and people will eat them too, but at least I know that there's some, there's an option there for me that I can turn to and eat that's going to give me some of the healthy benefits. No, that, and I think we're all on the same page. I think that's been a huge help for me personally, is just having a better option there. There's another one that I've started to do ever since you and it's something that your family does. And I believe it's Thanksgiving.

I don't know if you guys do this on Christmas or it's Thanksgiving. It's the day after Thanksgiving. It is Thanksgiving, right? So you've been doing this forever when we first met. I thought it was really cool that your family, I've joined you now on some of them. and I made sure to make sure our family does something similar, which is organizing some sort of a, you know, family physical activity. Now, you're specifically,

you guys all go to the gym, workout like you guys all used to go to your gym. Now you go to this R gym here and get this big. And it's cool because it's like a, you know, three hour occasion. It's not a normal traditional like a, you know, three hour occasion. It's not a normal traditional, like, most of it is having fun and talking and catching up with each other. Then we test each other's strength, we do weird exercises.

It's like, it's definitely not a formal workout. But I love that because once you go experience that and you realize that, oh, this isn't just, you know, fanatical style with his workout, he has to do his routine. It's actually a time to bond and everybody, even people that aren't into really working out can have fun and it's become a part of the holiday. Yeah, it started. I want to say maybe third as long as 13 or 14 years ago where I would I have a lot of cousins and family members that are, you know, male that are right around the same age.

Me and my cousin, SEP are the oldest and then we have kind of younger and it's about eight year age difference but now we're all older so we're all, you know, the same right, we're all adults. And about 13 years ago I was like, hey, we should all meet up and we'll meet up at my studio and we'll all work out the day after Thanksgiving.

And it's this all day thing and we hang out, we have a great time, and it's become a ritual in a part of the holiday. And what's cool about this is, yes, you get activity, but you're also getting the value that you would get from holidays, which is to be around the people that you love. So essentially, you're organizing a physical activity of bonding with your family.

Which I think is good. Yeah, we used to do like nature hikes, eventually you're organizing a physical activity of bonding with your family. Which I think is really good. Yeah, we used to do like nature hikes, you know, with the whole family. And then we started to ramp it up and then we did a flag football turned out that I was like all time quarterback. And then it was just me and the kids. I'm trying to sell this a little bit more as the family still. But I'd love to now, you know, evolve that into more of like a fun kind a fun weight training event to go with that as well.

We'll see this year. We play music and we'll switch the music, so I'll put on the metal and then my other cousin will put on EDM and we'll talk crap to each other. And then like Adam said, we'll see who's the strongest, whatever left, although now that we're getting older, everybody's got an injury, which is what I'm talking about. Oh, my knee, it would opt out. Oh, my head, you would call those what I'm saying. Everybody, everybody, everybody. Oh, my knee, oh my head, you want all of those. I'm like, okay, whatever dude, but it's a good time,

and it's, again, it follows the tradition of the holiday. And it's awesome, and I tell you what, if you're the fitness fanatic in your family, you would be surprised how much your family actually appreciates the fact that you lead a workout. Now, one piece of advice, your goal is to beat the crap out of your family. You have fun with them, but they will appreciate it. So you lead a workout. Now, one piece of advice, your goal is to beat the crap out of your family. You have fun with them, but they will appreciate it.

So you're talking politics. I'm glad you said that because I think the key to this, because I know there's somebody listening in there like, there's no way I'm going to get my family to do this. And if you, if you present it like a traditional workout where you're going to, everyone's going to be very formal and following sets reps and trying to get as much as you can done in an hour. It's like, no, you're not going to win that battle with the family. But if you can turn it more into an experience

and an event, like a social thing that while we're also moving at the same time, I think that's the secret sauce to turning it into something that happens more consistently. And that's what I really even enjoyed about coming to the workout that I did originally with you guys is that that's how it was. It wasn't this very informal. Yeah, very, very informal. It's so informal that, so we'll be like, hey, let's go try this.

Okay. How heavy can you lift this? And like, and then everybody would kind of do it and we'd bullshit for a while and talk about stocks and other stuff and then go back to doing it. And so I think if you're a fitness person and you're trying to encourage your family to do this,

Katrina's family, most of them love basketball. The girls, the guys, they all played ball, growing up, even though we're all older and so that. So we organized like a basketball game. Yeah, it's a blast. Yeah, we all played basketball. And then her mom and some of the aunts and stuff that are a little bit older, something they do that I actually joined this one year.

I remember I couldn't play basketball. I can't remember what my injury was. I think it was my keelies. That's what it was. But I could walk at that time. They get up in the morning. I like this. I know this isn't on our hack.

We didn't list this one, but this kind of goes coincides with this. Because I also love on Thanksgiving morning to get up early before I have any food or anything. It's just go for a nice long walk. Early walk. It's beautiful kind of fall. What's the family together? Yeah, yeah. And we get a group whoever wants to go for the walk. And it's, you know, typically six or seven of us. And we go walk for, I don't know, 45 minutes to an hour. Same thing. It's not real hardcore exercise, it's more us talking and joy each other's company. And I just, it sets the tone for the day and gets you burning calories

before you've been consuming anything. I think this is tremendously helpful in combating the extra one. Oh, it's a good time. All right, so the next one, now this is one of the only times you'll hear us communicate fasting in this particular way. And I'll explain why.

So the strategy is to fast before the holiday meal and then fast afterwards where you're done with the meal, you're done and you don't eat until the next day. Now, why do we do this? Here's one of the reasons why. I know as a fitness fanatic, one of the things that used to mess with me was, oh my gosh, I'm gonna eat all this food,

I'm gonna eat these pies, I'm gonna eat these desserts. And if I fasted leading up to it, then what it did is it helped my mind, put my mind at ease a little bit. Like, okay, I'm gonna enjoy this meal, I'm not gonna worry too much about the calories or whatever, and we're gonna get into some more hacks and talk about how you can actually enjoy the meal

and that, you know, turn it into a binge where you're actually not being aware at the time, you're actually in another space. But nonetheless, fasting leading up to it kind of does set the stage for this wonderful enjoying, you know, this meal that you're going to enjoy with your friends and your family. Well, I like this too because I don't think anybody gets fat over the holidays from the one Thanksgiving meal. No.

What gets you is the grazing all day long. Yeah. Is the two to three drinks, to the cookies and snacks, to the pies and treats, to the in-back for city. Seconds and thirds, you know, an hour or two hours later. That's, I mean, it's really tough to consume, you know, two over two to 4,000 calories in one sitting. So I don't care, I'll be, that's hard for most people.

There's exceptions to every one. I'm sure someone watching you think I can win a bet. Yeah, I know. There's always somebody who can crush that kind of food. And maybe in my best time ever, I could probably put down three, four thousand calories. But even then, I mean, you're not putting on a pound of fat from that one meal, even crushing that much,

especially if I fasted leading up and then I decided to shut it down afterwards. So I like that for this. That way when I'm sitting there at dinner and I'm having the Thanksgiving meal, I'm not going like, oh, that's 400 calories. Oh, that's, I'm not thinking about how much I'm consuming. I've just said, hey, I didn't eat all day today. I've been waiting for this meal.

I'm going to get down and I'm going to enjoy the shit out of myself. And then when I'm done, I'm shut it down. Takes a little bit of a pressure off. It allows you to be a little more flexible, I think, and be more present. Because yeah, fitness fanatics, especially, like going into something like this, start to kind of calculate it as they go.

And like I'm putting this in, but I should only eat probably like a slice of this. And then, you know, there's all these hacks and strategies out there where you're only gonna eat a little bit of this and only drink a tiny. It's like, no, that's crazy. Nobody does that and has a good time. Well, the mentality of the fast leading into the holiday meal makes a big difference.

If my mentality around the fast is, I'm not going to eat anything so I could go crazy at my holiday meal. You may find yourself tipping into these kind of binge, you know, behaviors. What I like to try to do is when I fast leading up to the meal, I fast as a way to detach from food. So it's somewhat of a spiritual, you know, I, for lack of a better term, I hate using that term here, but really it's about detaching.

It's a holiday. I'm thankful, focusing on my kids and my wife and my family. I'm looking forward to seeing people eating the food that people prepared, getting together with people I haven't seen maybe in a little while. So it's really detaching from food. And then now we're all together and it's this holiday, it's this tradition and we're enjoying this time together. So it's not, and now we talk about physiologically the fact that you're avoiding calories and eating calories, so it results in less calories overall.

But the mentality you go into, it makes a big difference. It's not, I'm gonna starve myself so I can pick out. It's, I'm detaching and focusing on important things right now, and I know later I'm gonna enjoy myself. You're not actively trying to stack plates. You gotta be a reasonable one. And also again, it helps prevent you from doing that, that mindless eating while you're sitting around

because you've already just kind of told yourself, like, yeah, I'm gonna eat. I'm gonna wait for the meal. I'm gonna wait for the meal, I'm gonna eat. So then when the cookie plates, because I mean, I don't know what you guys think sitting looks like, but from literally the night before even in the morning of and all day long,

there's stuff on the table and there's chips and ranch dressing and there's time you walk by, there's something to do. Yeah, there's something for you to be kind of picking out all day. And I really think that that's what gets most people in this situation is the grazing all day long while you're enjoying the family and having conversation and stuff. And so it's like, okay, well, instead of doing that, I'm just going to enjoy the family. And I'm not going to do all the grazing. And then I'll have a nice dinner.

And if I do that, then the calories won't sneak up on. Yes, now this next point is kind of it's a very effective way of naturally reducing calories without telling yourself that you're restricting yourself and I learned a strategy a long time ago when I experimented with the warrior diet. It was a book that came out years ago called the warrior diet and basically we eat one meal a day. And, you know, for not to go into it, I don't think it's a great strategy for most people. But one thing that I did learn from it was, when I would eat that one meal,

there was this order of operation with the foods that I ate. And I noticed that it did really work well with my appetite. And this is how it worked. The first thing that I ate when I was ready to eat was protein. I prioritized the protein first. The next thing that I ate was vegetables. Then I would eat a big serving of vegetables. And then if I felt not satisfied,

like I wanted a little, then I would move to the starches and other foods. If you eat in this way and prioritize that way, what you may find is that you actually eat less. Now protein has been shown to have appetite, suppressing effects, it's got, it really gets. Yes, you're very, very sishing. So if I eat like a bunch of turkey,

or a big piece of steak, or meat, and then I eat my vegetables, and a big salad, and that's what I'll do, I'll go get all the vegetables that are being served, and I'll eat all those, right, after I ate my protein. And then I'll sit there, and I'll think, do I, do I, am I satisfied? You know, how do I feel?

No, I'm kind of full, or maybe I'm not. Now I'll get the mashed potatoes, do I, am I satisfied, how do I feel? No, I'm kind of full or maybe I'm not. Now I'll get the mashed potatoes, now I'll have the pasta, now I'll have the bread and the starches because if I start with those, it almost always leads to eating more overall, right? So this is one of my favorite strategies and I use this strategy year round. So this is one of the ways that I manage my eating

when I go out to eat. So instead of saying, I can't have a nice dinner with Katrina, you know, every single Friday night if I want to, I absolutely can do that. That this is just one of the ways that I manage the calories without feeling like I'm restricting or telling myself, I can't have the bread or I can't do this. It's like, sure, I can do that stuff. I'm just, if I just eat my foods in this order, what tends to naturally happen is, by the time I get to the French fries, by the time I get to the tortilla chips,

by the time I get to the dessert, I'm so full on the meat and veggies, that the carbs, the starches, the desserts, they just don't even sound that appealing. And even if they sounded so amazing before going to dinner, and I told myself, I can't wait to try that. I end up taking a bite or two and then that's it. Versus, I'm thinking about the cake

or I'm thinking about this dessert or those chips or those french fries and I'm doing it while I'm simultaneously eating my protein and veggies and then when's the property, I'm more and more over here on the starchy carbs and before you know it, I don't finish my protein and I over consume my calories because I had so many carbs. First is I just go, hey, I'm going to take this big serving of meat and veggies. I'm going to crush that, then I'll move over to this food.

And I love that because there's that psychological part of that. I'm not saying I can't or I won't eat that. I'm just saying, I'm going to make sure I get my protein and veggies, the things that my body needs. I'm going to take care of that first and then I'll indulge on whatever, however I feel afterwards. Yeah, I was super enlightening for me going through even just when I was doing carnivore diet and just focused on eating meat, how incredibly difficult it was to bring the level

of calories up that I needed to match. And that was just focused on eating meat. And so applying that same kind of starting strategy of seeking out meat know, and that was just focused on eating meat. And so, you know, applying that same kind of starting strategy of, you know, seeking out meat first and then going on to vegetables and then, you know, starchy carbohydrates. I think it's a brilliant strategy. It's it really sets you up for, you know, staying on that sort of lean table. Oh, it's, it's supersatialing. Like, my goal is to be satisfied after my meat and vegetables. That's the goal.

By the way, I use the word satisfied. I don't use the word full. There's a difference. For me, when I say full, it means I, oh my God, I can't breathe. I'm totally full. Satisfied is like, I'm cool. I feel good, right? That's the feeling that I'm aiming for.

So I aim to be satisfied with the proteins. Again, studies show that protein is very satiating. Also, typically your protein comes with some fat. So what you're getting are your essential macronutrients. The ones that your body needs to have carbohydrates, although they have value for performance and other things, they're not essential. So it just makes sense to prioritize the things that will reduce your appetite and also give you the essential macronutrients. Well, there's got to be somewhat of a muscle-sparing effect here also, right?

Because, or at least for me, I notice that when I'm off the diet and I'm not, you know, tracking your paying attention and I'm just eating whatever's inside, I tend to because of all the habits, gravitate towards the carbohydrates first before protein. And before long, and I've talked to you guys with this many times. Yeah, I could easily go four, five days in a row where proteins, 40 grams, 60 grams in a day, but I got plenty of calories, like 5,000 calories and just came from starches and sugars

and foods like that. That's what the bulk of it. And you got to think that that pair, so eating bad, overconsuming on the calories under consuming on the and you got to think that that pair, so eating bad, over-consuming on the calories, under-consuming on the protein has got to speed up the process of me pairing down muscle. Of course. Because my body's not getting what it needs to sustain that. No, it does. So studies will show that. Right, and so simply by also making myself make sure I at least hit my protein target,

and that's really kind of how that started. It started for me, again, back into the like, when I cared so much about every pound of muscle, I was keeping on my body. I was more focused on that when I saw as a side benefit was, oh, wow, when I was targeting that protein intake, I ended up not eating as much of the sugars and carbs and starchy carbs. So I think this is a wonderful strategy that everybody should consider on Thanksgiving and really consider this

when you eat out and throughout the year because I think this has helped me tremendously in my last decade or two of like following my nutrition like this. Totally. The next one, this one was one that came to me as an adult a little later and it really was super valuable for me and it was to remind myself to be present and be in the moment. And this is how it happened, right? I was eating a dish that was super palatable, like super tasty. And at this point, I would do the On the Wagon, Off the Wagon thing with diet.

So I was kind of young and I'd bowl, can cut, and do this crazy stuff. And I remember looking forward to this holiday meal and looking forward to this dish. And right when I got in front of it, I couldn't eat it fast enough. And I remember at one point realizing that even though there's a bite in my mouth, I'm not enjoying the bite in my mouth.

I'm only thinking about the one that's on the fork that's about to go on my mouth. And I realized I'm not enjoying this. What it is, it's like this dopamine hit. I'm only anticipating the next bite. And that's what I'm after. And that's what produced this kind of overeating, speed eating kind of effect. So what I started to do was I started to focus on the food that was in my mouth.

Not the food that was on the plate or on the fork. So I'd bite, put the fork down, and enjoy the food that was in my mouth. Enjoy the taste of the drink in my mouth. Enjoy the people around me. And what happened was, this is funny. I actually enjoyed the meal more. So I didn't eat until I couldn't breathe anymore and I was in pain. I was present with the people

around me. And the food itself was more enjoyable because I slowed down to enjoy every single bite rather than seeing how fast I could possibly eat this food. Yeah, it's interesting once you kind of get in that mindset because for me, I used to just chew the food and then I would wash it down as quick as possible, not realizing that that was like the way that I always ate. And it was, it was almost like it was a race, but I ended up, I would choke on my food.

I would eat like two bigger bites and then I'd try and slam it down with liquid. And once I really started to kind of slow down, you know, and be present and then just focus on just chewing it enough so I could actually swallow it without having to drink something with it. So does it sound silly? It's a big thing. It's a big deal.

It's huge man. It helped my digestion, everything else too. I didn't realize that was causing so much stress for me. Do you guys think this is a or Doug? I want to ask you, you're probably the most culturally diverse out of all of us. Like, is this like a American thing? Cause I feel like when you go to other countries, it's so much more of a social event

than it is just an eating frenzy, where I feel in America, where that's how a lot of people are. Is it just a show? And the portions are a lot different. Yeah, massive portions, and you're shoveling down. Do you find that in other cultures, it's not like that?

Do you think that's us or do you think that's a problem everywhere? I definitely feel like Americans really like to eat quickly and eat a lot. I mean, you often hear about Europeans eating for hours. Yeah, in fact, even when you go to restaurants, I was gonna say, you go to a restaurant. I remember the first time when I was in Paris

and when we were eating out, it tripped me restaurant. I'm gonna the first time when I was in Paris and over eating out, it tripped me out. And I actually thought they were being rude at first because they'd never brought the bill over. Or they would check on us every 20 minutes or what other that, but you look around and people go in and they die in for three hours. And it's like a whole event.

They don't bring you the bill unless you ask for it. Yeah. And there's a long time in between courses. Yeah, so frustrated as a waiter. Yeah. And there's a long time in between courses. Yeah. So frustrated as a waiter. Yeah. And it's like, you know, that's American culture is like that, right? You're all about speed.

Turn and turn. Turn those tables. Eat faster. You know, it's funny. So my grandfather, he eats super fast. But I didn't realize this until later. He did, he did this because when he was a kid, he's poor. And he was poor.

And he would travel at nine years old on his own and find jobs and then that whoever was, you know, paying him and the other workers would provide them with lunch and it was like a big pot of hot, really hot beans or whatever. And if he didn't eat it fast, he didn't get any food. So he learned this habit of eating fast. And I remember when he explained it to me, I'm like, oh, that makes perfect sense. Yeah. But no, it, you enjoy your food, enjoy whits in your mouth. Don't think about what you're about to put in your mouth. Don't drink any liquids. That slows you down.

And try this. Put your fork or your spoon down in between bites. And I swear to God, it number one, it allows the food to hit the stomach and allows the signal to go up to the brain to say you're full. By the way, when you eat fast, one of the reasons why you become uncomfortably full is because your brain didn't get the signal fast enough and you might have thrown in another 300

calories. Well, I also think that Thanksgiving is such a great time to practice this because if there was ever a time when you've got family and friends from all over the family, all sitting at one table and it is very conducive to take breaks between, the servings and to talk in between bites. This is the time to practice. Totally, no? And one of the strategies you can do is,

instead of loading your plate up with the whole food, all the food you're gonna eat, is actually give yourself, it's a tiny portion of everything. Finish a portion, enjoy talking for a little bit. finish another portion, enjoy talking for a little bit, and break it up with five, 10 minute breaks in between every little portion and enjoy the conversation. This will help keep those calories down. Again, without telling yourself, I can't have this or I can't do that. It's funny because I've had clients that I've talked and communicated this to, and they'll be like,

you know, it's funny. When I'm at Thanksgiving dinner, it's about the food and then I'll eat real fast and then we're just like, okay, what do we do now? Just drink it around. And they're like, you know what's funny when we slow down, we're like now enjoying this meal altogether for a couple hours or three hours and really having a lot of fun. That brings us to this next one. And this one I started doing again later on because I would find that I would eat so fast

and I'd go back for seconds so quickly that I would reach this uncomfortable point. So what I started to do is I started to tell myself, if I wanna get seconds, that's okay. I gotta wait 15 minutes. Let the food hit first. And what went end up happening is half the time, I didn't get seconds because that first plate

hit my stomach, brain got the signal, I'm actually full., because that first plate hit my stomach, brain got the signal, I'm actually full. Rather than, oh, I'm done, let me get up real quick and grab another plate. So it's an easy rule to follow. You just say to yourself, like, I'll get a plate, and then if I finish this plate, I'll give myself 15 minutes before I go,

and not that you're not gonna get seconds, oh, you have to use weight 15 minutes. That's, I mean, that's obviously similar to this tragedy. I was just mentioning right now. And you know what, I've never done, and we're sitting here having this conversation, and I'm like, you know what, maybe I 15 minutes. That's, I mean, that's obviously similar to this tragedy. I was just mentioning right now. Exactly. And you know what I've never done. And we're sitting here having this conversation. And I'm like, you know what? Maybe I'll try this this year.

Like, you know, there's so many dishes right on the table. And kind of like, you're always, I don't know what you guys family. We hit, you know, everyone's kind of either passing their plates around, you know, everyone's scooping the stuffing. Okay, then the turkey, everyone pass around. Then we, everyone sits and they're done. It's like, you know what? Maybe what I'll do this year is actually just put the turkey on my plate.

And then I'll eat the turkey. Wait a little bit. Yeah. Finish it. Wait a little bit. Talk to that. And then I'll go get something else. And maybe I'll try to turn into like a six course meal or something.

Well, yeah, exactly. Turn it into like one of those six, and that's what gave me the ideas. I just did that for my dinner. I went to one of those Michelin star restaurants. And it was an eight course meal. But I mean, the courses are, they're like this. I never got full. I felt satisfied at the end.

Yeah, but how's your experience? Right, but it was amazing. Oh, it's great. Three hours of conversation and a great experience. And so, maybe I'll try to emulate that where I just put a couple ounces, one to two ounces on my plate, eat it, have conversation, then go back and keep it.

You know what's funny is I eat like that? Not because, now I realize the benefit of it, but the reason why I eat that way, it's because when I was a kid, I don't like my food to touch. I don't want food to like mix, so I would always have a plate of one thing and then I get another plate of it.

And Jessica makes fun of it at the same time. She's like, she knows, like, oh, here's your meat and like the divided countries. Yeah, so like, Pee's over here, you know, potatoes over here, I was kind of the same way. It's hilarious. All right, here's another one. And I love this one because again, holidays,

we got to, first of all, we got to remember the value of holidays is to see the, to be around the people you're related to, your friends, people that you love. Maybe you don't like them all the time, but on your deathbed off it's gotta love them. But on your deathbed you'll think about a lot of these people, right? So it's a once a

year or twice a year thing. So you're around them and you want to really enjoy this kind of moment. I don't have any see my aunt in a while and my cousins in a while. Let's hang out, let's talk about, let's talk a little bit. Here's a piece of that. And this is one more kind of hack is invite your family and friends after this long meal, we had great, you know, conversation and you took your time and you did all those other things. And you say, Hey, you know what, everybody, let's all go on a nice walk outside. And I swear most people are totally game. You would think people like, no, everybody gets excited to do it. We all put our jackets on and we all go walk outside. I mean, I did

this last year and my grandfather, you know, I mean, I did this last year, my grandfather, or not last year, the year before, my grandfather came along for the walk. It's such a beautiful time to do this. I mean, falls one of my favorite times of the year. I mean, the trees are all different colors. And it's a, you know, it's a kind of warm days, cool mornings and cold nights.

Like, and you digest your food so much better. Yeah, you know, this was something that I did get her family to do and it is. It's become a tradition where, you know, no, this was something that I did get her family to do. And it is, it's become a tradition where, you know, after we eat this meal that everybody kind of goes on this little while, there's a park that's about a quarter or two, a half a mile away from the house. And everybody walks down to the park and enjoys conversation that comes back. And you just feel a million times better after doing that.

Again, this is it. We're saying this for Thanksgiving. These are great habits. A lot of these things are great habits to do year round, but maybe if you've never tried applying this, you try applying it for the holiday, see how it works, and it's something that maybe you carry over into your normal lifestyle, because this is something that I've tried to implement on the daily. It's just getting in the habit of not eating and then doing what most people do, which is

plop down on a couch and watch TV or drink drinks while you're just sitting there and just consuming calories. Yeah, what I like to do is, when the cleaning up starts, right, we'll play music, everybody's hanging out, kind of cleaning up, and then I'll say, hey, after we're done, let's all go for a walk, let's all go for a family walk.

And everybody, in the first time I said it, I thought people were like, I don't wanna, everybody was like, yeah, let's do this. And it's not, you're not walking super fast, I've got my aunts and my uncles and I thought people, I don't wanna. Everybody was like, yeah, let's do this. And it's not, you're not walking super fast. I got my aunts and my uncles and, you know, but we're walking slow, we're walking outside, we're again, having great conversation. The little kids come with us, you digest your food better,

and you're more active, you're moving more. And you know what else you're not doing? Sitting on the couch with a bunch of other foods sitting around you and saying, all right, I guess I'll grab another, you know, egg nog and more chips instead you're outside and you're connecting, you know, with the people around you. All right, here's the last one. And this is a game changer.

Adam, you kind of alluded a little bit to this early in the episode where you said, you know, it's not that one meal that gets people to gain weight. It's all the snacking and eating that happens in, I don't know about you guys, but Thanksgiving for me or Christmas for me can last a week or longer because of all the leftovers. Like I go to eat, there's this one dish that we make for Christmas and it's called pasta al forno. Okay, so it's the little circle pasta's

and it's with sauce and cheese and meat and artichoke hearts and it's just this, it's a calorie-heavy, delicious, Sicilian dish, but they'll make so much of it and we'll take so much home. I don't just have it for Christmas, I end up having it for the whole week afterwards. So one thing I started doing is I started saying, I'm gonna eat the meal and then leftovers, no thanks.

I don't wanna, I'm not gonna take any leftovers, it ends here and I go back to normal and it makes a tremendous difference on my total. No, that's a must for me, especially since I have a sweet tooth, Katrina's family loves to make the pies and desserts. And that's what the most leftover. I don't mind, I tell Katrina, you have grass from Turkey, if we grab some extra turkey, that's a good point.

I'll take Turkey. Yeah, we can use some turkey later on. That's not a problem, but it's the mashed potatoes and gravy. It's the pumpkin pie, the apple pie for me. Yeah, pecan pie, all the alamote stuff going on. Like all the desserts, cupcakes, like that stuff, and it's funny too, whoever host, I always feel like they try and get rid of that shit.

It's all because they know. Yeah, 100%. Yeah, you don't want it to your last time. I'm always making somebody mad when I don't take leftovers, but yeah, I started doing that for the last few years. And again, to your point, I tried to at least be reasonable and grab some of the stuff that's not quite as sugar-ridden and the main starchy carb stuff.

I'll take some of the vegetables and the meat, but I have to not have that in my house. Yeah, no, you'll see me in here. Like, I'll come to work and I'll have like Turkey, you know, from, from thing, but I don't get, I don't get the pies because that'll, I'll crush that. Yeah.

I'm not taking the snacks. Give it to your neighbors. I'm not taking the cookies. I might take some of the vegetables, you know, stuff that I'll eat normally, but otherwise I stay away from all that other stuff and that's okay if they get upset, you know, I don't know about you guys,

but I have a good excuse I could always be like, oh my good health is not so good. Sorry, I can't take this part. And then my aunt leaves me alone or whatever, but it makes a big difference. And also, it also makes the holiday in my opinion special because it's that meal, it's that holiday. And then the rest of the time, you know, you're back to normal or whatever or maybe you do your post Thanksgiving workout like I do. And again, we need to remember the real value of holidays. It's not the, oh, it's a holiday. I'm going to eat until I'm uncomfortable.

I'm going to eat until I'm, I'm, you know, unhappy with myself or I hate myself. I'm going to eat until I feel sick. That's not enjoyable. And, but we know what leads to that, right? We know it's that, that you, you're not mindful. That's not enjoyable. But we know what leads to that, right? We know it's that you're not mindful, you're not aware, you feel like you're either on your diet or off your diet. You get this green card to punish and damage yourself. That is not the spirit of the holidays.

The spirit of holidays is family, friends, present, and it's okay to enjoy food for its taste, but actually enjoy the food. Don't just shovel it in your face and eat as fast as you possibly can. We didn't, we actually did, on our, our list was, and didn't include alcohol, but I'm just curious to like, how you guys manage alcohol consumption on Thanksgiving. Is it something that you don't do at all?

Because you don't really care for it that much. Is it something you for sure like, but then you have little boundaries and rules. How do you guys deal with alcohol consumption on Thanksgiving? Depends on which family I'm doing Thanksgiving. Which one's more stressful? That one's more stressful.

Not just which one. We got corny shall we? I like which one's off for this one. Right. Coming up to make sure and account for all these extra calories. Yeah. Yeah, so I definitely have to be conscious of that with certain family groups and whatnot because it is, it's a great social lubricant. And so I don't, honestly, I enjoy it, but just try to make sure that it's not something

that gets away from me and it's something that I enjoy like after dinner. Yeah. And it's not so I enjoy like after dinner. Yeah. And it's not so I'm like not constantly just having a glass in my hand. Yeah. Because that's easy to do because sometimes it's a little awkward, you know, maybe like some people are talking about subjects you want to talk about. Like I'll end up just going outside now, get us a fresh air, playing with the kids. Like there's other strategies there.

But yeah, just like try to enjoy one, two and and just, you know, do, I've moved on to something like, like a whiskey on a rocks or something where I can sip it really slowly. And that, again, it's this whole slow concept for me really works, you know, in all facets. Yeah, it's, it's those uncomfortable holiday holiday conversations. They're going to be hot this year. There's so many things that talk about how much COVID is like. Politics is doing it.

We're doing it for everybody, right? Say what? I'd say the last two years it has to be like the two of the most stressful things giving me some history, right? And probably with COVID and all the politics and stuff like that, I think that I would imagine last year and this year is probably two of the hardest.

I started the rule, like just nobody can talk about it. I started changing the conversation and everybody knows it and I annoy people on purpose. So those, did you see that study on the vaccine or oh, look at those mandates or what about this and then I'll say something completely off and everybody knows like, oh, Sal's trying to get us to stop talking about this kind of stuff.

But yeah, we're not big alcohol drinkers. So we might have like a little bit of, I think it's called frenette. It's like a post-meal digestive alcohol or whatever. But I mean, truth be told, if I'm gonna have anything that's gonna be a social lubricant, it's gonna be cannabis, no calories. So I'm gonna have a little bit of cannabis

and then I'm enjoying myself and I'm not drinking alcohol You know, I'm saying you know go do that, but that's just me You know what though you guys broke just brought up something that again This wasn't added in our list of of hacks, but it does probably make a lot of sense that You know when you're talking about stressful conversations that people tend to probably over-indulge both alcohol and food And so to try and avoid conversations like that and stick to positive stuff, gratitude,

things that are going well in our life, try and steer the conversation as much as you can. That way, because I imagine you guys aren't alone in this where people go to a family and they have very different political views than other family members. The conversation starts going that way. Your way of not talking is by shoving food in your mouth

or by drinking something. So probably in your best interest to probably keep it. Here's a little sales technique. Okay, whoever asks the questions, directs the conversation. So if you ever wanna change a conversation, you ask a question. So your uncle comes up and he's like,

oh, Trump's the greatest thing since sliced bread or Biden's amazing or whatever. And you're like, oh, here we go. Be like, hey, what happened? How was the football game that you saw yesterday? Or, hey, how's your son doing? I haven't seen him in a while. You ask a question, you change the direction of the conversation,

make it something positive. This is an old sales technique. It's quite effective. Not always foolproof. So you might have to just walk away sometimes. Go outside, go for a walk or whatever. Look, if you like our information, head over to MindPumpFree.com and check out all of our guides. We have guides that can help you with all of your fitness goals. You can also find all of us on Instagram. So Justin is at MindPump Justin.

I'm at MindPump Salon, Adam. Is that MindPump Adam? Thank you for listening to MindPump. If your goal is to build and shape your body, dramatically improve your health and energy, and maximize your overall performance, check out our discounted RGB Superbundle at Mind Pump Media.com. The RGB Superbundle includes maps and a ballad, maps for performance, and maps aesthetic. Nine months of phased, expert exercise programming, designed by Sal, and Justin to systematically

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