Why are the holidays especially triggering for midlife women?

The holidays are triggering for midlife women because the season layers emotional labor, disrupted routines, nostalgia, family expectations, and social pressure on top of a nervous system that’s already managing stress, hormone shifts, and decision fatigue.

How do I handle holiday food pushers without feeling rude?

Use warm, clear scripts such as: 'Everything looks wonderful—I’m all set for now,' or 'I’m pacing myself tonight so I can feel good tomorrow.' Kindness plus clarity preserves your boundaries and the relationship.

What causes me to lose my healthy habits during the holidays?

Stress, irregular schedules, poor sleep, travel, alcohol, emotional labor, and the belief that 'it's the holidays, I’ll fix it in January' all make habits harder to maintain. It’s not a discipline issue—it’s the environment.

How can I enjoy holiday food without going overboard?

Use the Worth It? tool: enjoy the foods you truly love and skip the filler items. This is discernment, not restriction. Combine that with bare minimum habits—water, sleep, protein, movement—to stay grounded.

What’s the first step to staying grounded during holiday stress?

Decide how you want to feel tomorrow. When you set an intention for the morning-after, you make more aligned decisions in the moment—without dieting or restricting.

How do I recover after a holiday binge without dieting?

Hydrate, move gently, eat a normal balanced meal, and return to your bare minimum habits. Avoid overcorrecting or punishing yourself. Your body benefits more from rhythm than restriction.

What are simple habits I can keep during chaotic holiday weeks?

Choose three: drink water before coffee, eat a vegetable daily, take a 10-minute walk, have a protein-rich breakfast, or go to bed 30 minutes earlier. These small habits regulate energy and stress.

How do I stop using food to cope with holiday emotions?

Pause, name the emotion, and meet the underlying need—rest, connection, quiet, or space. Food is a coping mechanism, not a character flaw. When you attend to the real need, the urge softens.

How do I set boundaries with family around food or alcohol?

Use kind, concise scripts such as: 'That looks wonderful—I’m all set,' or 'I’m being intentional with alcohol this year.' Practice them ahead of time to reduce social pressure in the moment.

How do I stay consistent when traveling or hosting?

Anchor to your bare minimums: water, sleep, simple movement, and one grounding moment of choice. Perfection is unnecessary; rhythm is what keeps you steady.

New Year's Resolutions • Total Health by Elizabeth

I am typically not a person who makes New Year's
Resolutions. I definitely make goals, but I guess that I've never put much
stock in New Year’s Resolutions because I am continually evaluating my life,
where it is and where I want it to be, that I don’t wait for the beginning of
the new year to set my goals and start working towards them.

I think that the New Year is a good time for reflection;
looking back on what has happened over the past year, observing which aspects
of my life are better, which have stayed the same, and which are worse off.
I’ll often try to imagine myself at the end of this year. What do I want to be
different?

Just imagining what my life is going to be like in a year,
five years or ten sets the foundation for my life; because if I can’t picture
myself in that ‘place’, then how can it actually happen? I have a direction to
head towards – not just a bunch of wishes.

So what are my goals right now? I have several which span
many areas of my life; fitness, personal, business and nutritional. Some of
them were set well before the New Year, some I made up just recently in my
reflection of the past year.

I am
training for and plan on running in the Cap 10K as well as a ½ Marathon (not sure which one yet).
Nutritionally,
although I eat a very clean diet (what would you expect from a
nutritionist?) I still struggle with the same issues as everyone else:
boredom eating; enlarged portions sizes; eating when I’m not hungry “just
because”.
As far
as my business goes, I entered the life of personal training and nutrition
as a beginning to my life as a Wellness Coach. I need to define what
exactly that means; How does my day look? How do I interact with my
clients? What sort of things do we do together?

Again, I’m constantly making goals & re-working them – I’m
not sure that any of these are “resolutions”. I’m not resolving to DO anything,
but at least I know where I’m headed.

Oh yeah, I forgot. I DO have one resolution: to blog at least once a
week.

Elizabeth Sherman

Elizabeth is a Master Certified Life and Health Coach with over 18 years of experience, dedicated to helping women in midlife thrive through holistic health and wellness. Her personal journey began with a desire to reduce her own breast cancer risk, which evolved into a mission to guide women through the complexities of midlife health, from hormonal changes to mental clarity and emotional resilience.

Elizabeth holds certifications from prestigious institutions such as The Life Coach School, Precision Nutrition, and the American Council on Exercise, as well as specialized training in Feminist Coaching and Women’s Hormonal Health. Her approach is deeply empathetic, blending her extensive knowledge with real-life experience to empower women in their 50s and 60s to build sustainable health habits that last a lifetime.

Recognized as a top voice in women’s health, Elizabeth speaks regularly on stages, podcasts, and webinars, inspiring women to embrace midlife with energy, confidence, and joy. Her passion is helping women regain control of their health, so they can fully engage in the things that matter most to them—whether that’s pursuing new passions, maintaining strong relationships, or simply feeling great in their own skin.