Make Peace With Food Over The Holidays
Hey can we just start by agreeing that it is 2020, we are in middle of a pandemic, and the holidays look a LOT different this year? There is no handbook for how to do the pandemic ‘right.’ For this reason I want to invite you all to be gentle with yourself, with food, with your body, and with your normal routine during this time.
Now let’s get to it!
I’m not sure if you’ve been exposed to diet culture during the holidays but man oh man is it ever louder than it is right now? Probably not. There are weight gain warnings and promises everywhere you turn and so many confusing messages about food and body.
I want to share the top three mistakes people make with food during the holidays and how to not get stuck in this trap.
A case of the fuck its:
From 10/31/20 till 12/31/20 you say fuck it, I’ll start over again in January and you self sabotage with food for two months straight. Self sabotage with food is not dependent on what you’re eating (could be salad or could be sweets) but more so how you’re eating. You might tell yourself it’s fine, this doesn’t matter, I’ll start over again later, but in reality you do care and it does matter. Whatever happens with food after the fuck its, never feels good. Am I right?!
What to do about it:
Remind yourself that you are allowed to eat a variety of foods, even holiday foods, and it doesn’t have to be in a way that leaves you stuck in the dieting cycle where one day you are good and the next day you are bad. Feeling good while you’re eating can be done right now! You can eat candy or decadent desserts and it can feel pleasurable. When the holiday treats come around, pause, look at it for a few moments and if you really want it and feel pulled towards it, give yourself FULL permission to have it and check in with your body during your eating experience. How does it taste? How much do you need for it to hit the spot in a way that leaves you feeling satisfied. Honor your body when it says its had enough.
You try to eat healthy for weight loss or weight maintenance and you do, but you also end up binge eating or sneaking food:
It is nearly impossible to tune out the diet rhetoric that comes with the holidays. To top it all off we are still being fed the message that if we stay away from certain foods we will lose weight. That’s true but the part they don’t tell you about is what happens after. The reality is restriction causes binge eating. Our brains are not meant to be restricted around food for long periods of time. When we restrict, we put our brains in feast or famine mode and from that place comes an internal message where we tell ourselves ‘we will start over again tomorrow’ because we don’t know when we will get this food again. You’ve done this right?!
What to do about it:
Give your diet a pause. Give weight loss a pause. The holidays are not just about food, they are about tradition, connection, giving, love and family. Food is the bridge between you and all of those things. If you are busy denying yourself, you really can’t participate all the way because it takes up so much brain space to stay away from treats. Not only that, you run the risk of binge eating or sneaking food later on which feels so yucky anyways. Put your weight loss goals to the side and really taste the deliciousness of the season in every form.
You engage in diet talk conversation.
This might be the biggest mistake of all but somehow talk about how bad sugar is for you and how much weight we need to lose has become a normal thing to chat about right as we are eating delicious food. This conversation is so toxic. Think about how your body feels as you’re chewing on some pumpkin pie and all you hear is how bad it is for you. Picture instant slowness and stress in the digestion and metabolism department. No bueno.
What to do about it:
If you feel comfortable please let your coworkers, freinds and family know that this year you are working on making peace with food and your body and if they can refrain from speaking negatively about food, it would be so helpful for your healing. Who knows? This might inspire them to join you on the journey. If you dont feel comfortable, you can always excuse yourself from the conversation and go to the bathroom or step away from the table. Also, join our FB group because the women in there are on the same journey as you.
Love,
Soshy