Holiday Eating can be challenging. It’s Halloween and coming up on Thanksgiving and the December load of Holidays. I have received lots of questions from clients and readers about how they might cope dietarily. Below, I have distilled my three principles.

#1 – Stick with your authentic story. If you know that you have the kind of metabolism that naturally stores really well—such as if you have a Fasting Insulin >10 uIU/mL or if your Triglyceride is >100 mg/dL—you need to honor who you are (Here is the ULTA lab panel that displays these #’s for you). A Koala Bear will never eat an insect but Chimpanzees will gladly eat them for hours…it’s who they are and how they evolved to eat. You too have evolved to make it long distances in a physically strenuous world with few carbohydrate meals. It’s not that you “can’t” or “shouldn’t” eat the pies and sweets, it’s that you don’t. You are adapted for a certain type of lower carbohydrate meal. Fortunately, this meal is equally represented at the holiday table.

#2 – Build your day around activity. Remember that world for which you are so well adapted? It’s physically challenging—there are no cars in this past reality that is encoded in you ancestral traits. So find your activity and schedule it. In fact, here at the office – we have our regular 30-minute Metabolic Fitness Recovery Class taking place this evening…I know, it’s Halloween! I personally take any holiday and use it as a reason to take on an outdoor physical activity like a hike, bike, or soccer game. I will also find 10 minutes at least for a strenuous circuit workout to start the day off right. If you want to really switch your metabolism on for the day – do two to three rounds of one of the circuits on the Metabolic Recovery Circuit Workout – the video is found here.

#3 – Enjoy and engage with the food options. In the U.S., no matter where you live, autumn has an amazing harvest of flavors and foods. Root veggies and greens are ripe and animals are coming off pasture. This is a perfect recipe for an ancestral low carb high fat meal. Let me share with you the recipes that I am looking forward to making, thanks to the cooking team at the New York Times.

1. Brussels sprouts with pancetta, but I’ll use ground almond meal instead of bread crumbs
2. I will also do the carrots with the tri color carrots from my farmer’s market
3. And this cauliflower recipe looks so cool cooked whole
4. I think the simplest turkey is the best – no brining and no complicated stuffing
5. I love a spicier sweet potato recipe – you can use less sugar or no sugar and it still works great

I also make a simple salad of lettuce greens, olive oil, salt and lemon.  Voila – Thanksgiving meal is complete. Oh yeah, for me, dessert is usually a simple espresso.

Rather than view holidays as a challenge to your type 2 fix and metabolic health, remember to enjoy—love your company—be active. Gratefulness is what embodies all holidays.

Gratefully yours,

-Richard Maurer, ND