Dietitian’s Tips for Holiday Eating
Holiday eating is a cause of anxiety and stress for many. Thoughts such as “how will I burn off the extra calories?” or “I’ll just try to limit myself to one plate this year” often run rampant in the minds of chronic dieters when the holidays roll around. But there is a better approach! Intuitive eating can be a great way to overcome these negative feelings and help you enjoy the season a lot more.
If you’re new here, hello and welcome! My name is Hannah and I am a non-diet dietitian here to help you improve your relationship with your body and finally find food freedom.
In this blog we will cover 5 tips to eat intuitively this holiday season.
Don’t skip meals
Give yourself permission to eat
Set boundaries
Maintain physical activity
Plan on not dieting after the holidays
Tips for success with intuitive eating during the holidays
Don’t skip meals prior to holiday meals
Start your day with breakfast and eat as you normally would. Skipping meals will not pay off. When you find yourself feeling overly hungry, it becomes very difficult to eat mindfully and increases the likelihood of eating far past a comfortable fullness level.
Give yourself permission to eat
Restriction (both physical and mental) will set you up to feel out of control around food. If you tell yourself that you “shouldn’t eat any mashed potatoes this year”, this will put those mashed potatoes on a pedestal and make it much more challenging to meet your goal of avoiding them. Because of this, you will likely feel guilty after inevitably eating them. And guilt should never be a part of the eating experience.
Instead of telling yourself that you “shouldn’t” eat certain holiday foods, instead ask yourself what you truly want to eat. And then eat it! By giving yourself this permission, you will be able to eat portions that satisfy you rather than eating past fullness and feeling guilty.
Set boundaries
Diet talk can be a frequent source of conversation amongst family and friends. For those working towards a more positive relationship with food, this can be very triggering.
It may feel uncomfortable to disagree with others, but setting boundaries around food talk will be important. It doesn’t need to be a big deal! If someone brings up a topic that you are uncomfortable with or find unhelpful, simply change the subject or say something like “I actually have a hard time discussing other people’s diets and wellness journeys because I am on a journey of healing my own relationship with food at this time”.
You can also choose to simply walk away and get some fresh air, take a bathroom break, or find someone to hang out with that feels safer to talk with.
Tune in to this podcast episode to hear more about discussing intuitive eating with skeptical friends and family members.
Maintain physical activity
Exercising as you normally would can help to make the holidays seem like just any other day and alleviate some stress. But big disclaimer here - don’t use exercise as a punishment for eating or to “earn” your meals! You never have to earn your food, even if you eat past fullness.
Plan on not dieting after the holidays
Anticipation of restriction can lead to binge-type eating before the diet even starts! Our bodies are super smart - if your body senses that a future restriction is going to happen, this may lead to preoccupation with food, overeating, guilt, and repetition of this cycle over and over.
Make a commitment to yourself to reject the diet mentality. Rather than punishing yourself for your holiday food choices, return to your typical food choices the next day. It’s important to lose the mindset of “I’ll get back on track after xyz”. Thinking this way is not doing you any favors.
Bottom line
The holidays are only a few days out of the year. Give yourself grace if your eating is a little out of routine during the times, especially if you are new to your intuitive eating journey.
If you are used to the holidays being book-ended by one diet after another, it may feel odd going into the holidays knowing you can make food choices beyond whatever diet rules you may have been used to following. You finally get to eat what you want to eat, and that can feel both exciting and overwhelming. Don’t worry - there will always be more holidays to practice at!
Looking for more support won your journey of making peace with food? We’d love to guide you inside The Nutrition Reboot Membership.