6 Key Questions to Self-Assess Your Passover/Easter Eating Habits

Whether you celebrated Passover or Easter, now that the holiday is behind you, it’s time to do a self-assessment on your cooking and eating habits and see where you can improve for next year.  For me, eating on Passover is different than the way I eat all year round.  For one, I eat matzoh instead of whole wheat bread for 8 days.  I was very careful not to overdo the matzoh which is very airy and so easy to just keep on eating.  I had my Passover the Healthy Way Cookbook right by my side when I cooked, so all my recipes were traditional fare with a healthy twist.  Would I do anything different next year?  Yep, I sure will.  I have a habit of cooking too much food for my company in fear they will go hungry!  Clearly, they never do, and I am promising myself to cut back on the amount of dishes I prepare.

So, how did you do this past Passover and Easter?  Here are some questions you can ask yourself to assess your cooking and eating this past holiday so you can make some improvements for next year.

1. Did you start your day(s) with a healthy breakfast?  As you have probably heard, breakfast is the most important meal of the day.  This is especially true when you are sitting down to a midday holiday meal.  If you skip breakfast, you will be over hungry, if not ravenous, by the time the meal starts.  At that point, studies show that you are less likely to make healthy choices and it’s very difficult to listen to your body’s internal signals to stop when you have had enough to eat.  The result?  You eat past the point of comfortable satiety and feel stuffed.

2. Did you think before you eat?  Or did you dive in?  When you arrived at the holiday table, did you take the approach “it’s a holiday, I’ll just eat and worry about it tomorrow “?  Or did you survey the food choices and consider what would be the best choices for you?

3. How satisfied were you with your food choices?  While it’s important to consider the best and healthiest choices (as noted above), it’s equally important to give thought to what you really want to eat so you are satisfied at the end of the meal.  If you are avoiding your favorite holiday food because you are trying to lose weight, and you opt for something “low calorie”, you will most likely not be satisfied at the end of the meal.  You then spend the rest of the night searching for some food to fill your desire and take in a whole lot more calories than if you had a reasonable portion of what you really wanted at the meal.

4. What cooking methods did you use?  Did you fry, stir-fry, broil or grill?  Did you trim the fat off the meat and take the skin off the poultry?  I know many people tell me that when they cook for a holiday, they don’t modify their recipes or cooking techniques for fear the food won’t taste as good.  I don’t agree.  There are some easy ingredient swaps you can do that don’t affect the final product.  For example, replace one whole egg with two egg whites, cut the sugar or oil in a recipe by 1/3, and opt for roasting, poaching or grilling your food instead of deep frying.

5. Did you turn to food when you felt overwhelmed and stressed?  Okay, I know when you are preparing a holiday meal(s), especially when you are having lots of company, things can get overwhelming.  But it’s important not to use food to deal with the stress.  If you do, then take a look at this free mini-webinar I recorded called 3 Simple Steps to Stop the Stress and Weight Gain.

6. Was exercise a part of your day?  Many people find any excuse they can not to exercise, and preparing for a holiday meal is one of those excuses I hear quite often.  Exercise is non-negotiable.  It’s important to fit daily exercise into your schedule just like you brush your teeth every morning.  So, consider what your exercise was like this past week.  Can you make any improvements?

If after you did this self-assessment, you found no areas for improvement, then bravo!  Keep up the good work in living a healthy lifestyle.  If you feel there are areas you can improve, then make a plan and set a new mini-goal for each week.  You will see these mini-goals will add up to big changes.  Success breeds success, so make those mini-goals realistic and achievable.

Your turn to take action:  How did you do on these self-assessment questions?  Please post your comment and let me know if you need some assistance!

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