That’s how much weight the average Australian gains over the December-January festive season. It might not sound like a lot, but when you think about how much effort it takes to SHED that extra weight, compared to how little effort is required to gain it in the first place, the old saying ‘an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure’ starts to take on real meaning!
But how do you stay on track when the whole society is pushing you to eat high-kilojoule, low-nutrient festive food, drink more alcohol, stay up late partying instead of getting up early to exercise, and generally do the opposite of what it takes to feel vibrantly healthy and achieve or maintain your ideal weight?
One of the crucial steps is to understand the way that social pressure influences your health-related behaviour, and develop skills to combat that pressure so you can stay true to yourself. As I am going to be discussing in this month’s Deep Dive webinar for EmpowerEd members, ‘Handling Social Pressure‘, people apply social pressure to you for 2 main reasons:
1) Your behaviour threatens their belief system, so they feel an intense urge to make you conform in order to reassure them that their beliefs are ‘true’.
Examples of this include that perennial pain-in-the a*** question that omnivores ask vegans, “Where do you get your protein?” (underlying belief: it’s impossible to get sufficient protein from eating plants); and “Christmas just isn’t Christmas without roast turkey, ham and plum pudding with custard!” (underlying belief: no one would enjoy themselves and the whole festive experience would be ruined without these foods).
2) Your behaviour makes them feel guilty because they secretly think they should be doing what you’re doing, but haven’t been able to bring themselves to do it, so they feel an intense urge to make you conform in order to prove to themselves that no one can really do this incredibly difficult thing that you appear to be doing!
Examples of this include “Go on, just one won’t hurt you!” when you’re declining the oil-soaked canapés at the office Christmas party (translation: “I know I shouldn’t be eating this crap either, but you’re making me feel bad about not being able to control myself, with your goody-two-shoes attitude,”) and “I made these [sugary/fatty/salty/all of the above treats] just for you” (translation: “I’m damned if I’m going to be the only one around here who gains weight over Christmas”).
These 2 forms of social pressure require very different responses in order for you to be able to maintain comfortable relations with friends, family, colleagues and other contacts, while still taking steps to improve your health and vitality instead of gaining weight and feeling sluggish and lethargic over the festive season.
And that’s exactly what we’re covering in the ‘Handling Social Pressure‘ webinar on 20 December 2016: how to get along with the people in your life, without betraying your own best interests!
The Handling Social Pressure worksheet that I’ll run through during the webinar takes you step-by-step through the process of figuring out who’s making it difficult for you to stay on track, why they’re doing it, and how to handle them with grace so you can maintain harmonious relationships with others and still get to feel good about yourself – outside and in.
This webinar is a must for everyone who’s ever felt that sickening feeling of being torn between doing what you know is best for your health and your weight, vs fitting in with friends, family or colleagues. Fear of social rejection is powerful, and it can completely derail you if you’re not prepared for it.
The ‘Handling Social Pressure’ webinar is for EmpowerEd members. Go ahead and give yourself the best Christmas present ever – EmpowerEd membership is free for the first month! As soon as you join, you’ll gain access to recordings of all past events – so don’t worry if you can’t attend the webinar ‘live’ – you’ll be able to watch the recording in your own time.
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