Eating During the Holidays

For many the holidays often mean gathering around loved ones, celebrating traditions and faith, and eating certain meals. For individuals who struggle with eating, this can also be a challenging time with fixated thoughts, comparison to others, or anticipating family members or friend’s comments about weight, food, exercise, or diet trends. This can be triggering and I want to take some time to help you reflect on how you want to prepare to navigate a potentially challenging time.

• First, remind yourself gently that consuming one meal, no matter it’s size or nutritional value, will not significantly alter your body type in a long-lasting way
• Try to be mindful of incorporating some balance into your holiday routines. Creating a plan to incorporate some movement whether it be a walk with other family members or loved ones or by yourself, stretching or yoga, or a low-intensity workout can help you to feel energized. Movement can also provide some time to burn off any emotional steam if need be
• Helping to prepare a dish that you feel safe and comfortable eating, whether it be for allergy or dietary-preferences, or if you are worried about under- or over-eating. Having something you know you will enjoy and can look forward to being on the table can be helpful
• Practice slowing down and mindfully eating, savoring eat bite and waiting at least 5 minutes in between additional servings can help your body listen to fullness and hunger cues
• Avoid not eating in preparation for a larger meal, restriction can lead to binge episodes that are not nutrient dense. Instead try to eat on your usual eating schedule focusing on consuming multiple nutrient dense meals throughout the day to help with overeating or undereating patterns
• Challenge and replace negative or overthinking thoughts with a positive or neutral reframed thoughts as well as practicing “searching for the evidence” to stop or pause your negative thought spiral
• Wear clothes you feel comfortable and confident in, comparison to others body types is unfair to yourself as you do not know all of the details others may be struggling with in their own bodies and are only making assumptions which often are inaccurate
• If other people make unhelpful comments, you can either ignore them and in your head reframe their comment, pull them aside and let them know how you feel using “I” statements being mindful of your tone and delivery, or redirect the conversation to another topic
• Limit alcohol and caffeine, if you’re already feeling some worry or anxiety about the holidays, substances can increase irritability, feeling anxious or jittery, and reduce thoughtful behaviors
• Most importantly, reminding yourself that this is only temporary, everything is impermeant and I believe in you to get through this

-Chima