Let me start by saying, food is so much more than just food! Food brings celebration, togetherness, nurishment, tradition, happiness, memories, and much more. This is why it is so important to make peace with food, especially going into the holidays. Diet culture has turned holiday events into something we feel anxious about or even obsessive with when it comes to the food we eat on holiday occasions.
Let’s break down the diet culture real quick. The largest part of diet culture are all of the fad-diets. A fad-diet is just another name for a vicious cycle that causes lots of guilt and shame. In this cycle we start on a fad-diet which forces us to restrict (amount of calories per day, specific foods groups, etc.). At some point, we break down and “cheat” which ends in binging on the foods we restricted. Now, we feel like a failure for binging which leads to guilt and shame.
Finally, the feeling of guilt and shame leads back to the beginning of the cycle, getting back on a fad-diet.
Being on a fad-diet is not sustainable. There are so many external forces that cause us to come off of a diet which in turn makes us feel guilt and shame. Here are a couple of things that would cause you to come off the diet or stop restricting:
- Work
- Social
- Travel
- Unexpected life events
- Holidays
There are so many things that affect our ability to make decisions around food. There is no such thing as a perfect diet and there will always be things in life that will throw us off a fad-diet plan. Diet culture not only includes fad-diets but also focuses heavily on how calories you eat per day.
During the holidays, especially thanksgiving and christmas day- we think about how many calories we will consume in one meal. Have you ever “saved up” calories throughout the day to use on one meal? Almost everyone has done this before and most likely has done it for years. We also often say we will “be good” when the holiday event takes place. But, what really happens is we feel out of control, we feel extreme hunger, we eat everything we see, and we then feel guilt and shame.
Now that we’ve talked about diet culture and how it affects us during the holidays, let’s talk about how to NOT let it affect us. The first step we can take to keep us from obsessing over holiday meals is to normalize hunger. Take a look at this wonderful picture created by @foodandfearless
The yellow pathway starts with having to use the restroom. If you continue to hold in your pee until you literally can’t, you will pee your pants. If we feel like we have to pee, we go and use the restroom- simple as that. If you look at the green pathway, it starts with feeling hunger. If we continue to push that feeling of hunger away, eventually you will binge a.ka. “Pee your pants”. Unfortunately, we are often told “drink water if you’re hungry” or “have willpower”, “push through the feeling”, etc. No one in their right mind would hold the feeling of having to pee so much that we pee ourselves- so why would we do the same with hunger? We often go down the green pathway when it comes to holiday events because we’re restricting all day, and binge on that final holiday meal of the day.
Inconsistent food intake throughout the day, like that green pathway, will not only cause us to binge but also throws our blood sugar out of whack. If we keep our blood sugar stable, we stay satisfied, keep our cravings neutral, and keep us fueled. We can keep our blood sugars at normal levels by eating consistently and eating certain types of foods together so we don’t have blood sugar spikes and falls. Regardless if you have diabetes or not, keeping your blood sugar at normal levels is important and will make you feel physically happy. Simple things we can do to regulate blood sugar is:
- Drink adequate water throughout the day.
- Eat every 3-4 hours
- Eat protein, carbs, and fat at every meal.
Finally, to enjoy holiday meals without food obsession we must be present in the eating experience. If you restricted all day, your only thought is “I’ve been waiting all day, I’m going to eat so much food”. If we practice honoring our hunger throughout the day, when we sit for the holiday meal, we can fully enjoy the wonderful food that was made and the people you’re surrounded by. Here are some tips when creating your holiday plate:
- Have a source of protein
- Multiple sources of fun/play foods (typically carb dense like mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, man n’ cheese. etc.) 1-2 bite sized portions of each.
- Something nutrient dense (fruit or veggie)
Looking at your plate ask yourself, does this satisfy me? Do I enjoy this food? What do I want more of? This is when we can be truly present and fully enjoy the foods you really like and can give ourselves permission to go back for a full helping of the fun food you really enjoy.
So many fun things and events happen during the holiday season! No one should feel anxious, guilt, or shame during the holidays. The more that we can really make peace with food, the more we can be present, enjoy our food, and still feel physically present and continue to remove the guilt and shame around food. If you enjoyed this blog, I know you will also LOVE my blog titled: How to Navigate Diet Talk During The Holidays!
