Holli Thompson

Blue Monday / January’s side effect

Happy January, Sunshine!

Not feeling quite so sunny? You’re not alone.

It’s common this time of year to feel blue.

The Europeans have identified the third Monday in January as the day when people feel the saddest, and they named it Blue Monday. It’s a reaction to the dark days of winter, the lack of Vitamin D, the cold weather, and having failed at their New Year’s Resolutions.

Failure is a horrible word, and I’ve learned that failure, when it comes to your diet, your foods, and your nutrition, is often the result of trying too hard.

Sometimes pushing through, especially in the dark days of January, is counter-intuitive.

I met my new client, Rachel, this week in a one-on-one phone session. Rachel was gripping her diet with rules that were impossible. She was juicing, and she was freezing cold. Her fingers were numb when she called me, but she’d read that a juice cleanse was the best and fastest way to drop weight.

She scheduled a session with me to supervise her cleanse, but we discovered so much more. There were a few things going on.

Rachel was taking in way too much sugar from the juice, creating bloating in her mid section, and causing her body to hold onto the weight. She was also cold, unhappy, and hungry. Her body was threatened by her cleanse, and when your body is threatened, it fears for your survival.

If you’re body is fearing for your survival, you will not release weight.

I pulled Rachel off her long term juicing program, and we froze the balance of her juice (it’s not always ideal to freeze fresh juices, but better than wasting them). We came up with a plan that allowed Rachel to enjoy some of her juice, but we added in warming foods and soups.

We added warmth, pleasure, love for food, and nourishment back into Rachel’s day.

Rachel realized that muscling through a diet and trying to keep to a resolution was not working for her.

As soon as she relaxed, and allowed her body to direct her and point out what was wrong, she began to drop weight. Rachel lost 4 pounds in just a week, by eating and feeding her body what it needed and was asking for.

She also got out of the office and the house to have some fun.

Are you closing yourself in? Are you feeling deprived, like you’re pushing a boulder up a hill? Are you overwhelmed by diet rules, counting and fighting your extra pounds?

If you’re not able to lose weight, relax. Change it up. Give in, and ask yourself, what is your body asking for? It doesn’t mean you’ll never be able to enjoy a green juice each morning, it may just mean that right now, this month, you’re not supposed to.

Your body naturally wants to store fat this time of year, and rest; it’s century old programming. But don’t lie around and wait until April to take back your health.

Maybe a protein smoothie takes the place of a green smoothie for a while.

Instead of a salad at lunch, bring a warm broccoli soup that you made the night before.

Maybe this is the week that you throw some things in the slow cooker in the morning, and come home to a warming, delicious aroma.

Taking care of yourself, gifting your body with nourishing foods that it needs when it’s cold out will pay you back with a balanced body and a happier mind.

If you feel you need some support with these ideas, and you’d like to talk like Rachel did, I’m still offering one-on-one sessions this winter.

Warmly yours,
Holli