How to Eat Around the Holidays

If the peaks of anxiety around eating could be classified in seasons, they’d probably be “Holiday Szn” and “Any Other Day”. So when you find yourself taking heavier breaths, wanting to look at the scale more often, and contemplating whether the homemade cookies made from Pheobe’s grandma’s recipe are “worth it”, there’s a high likelihood you’re in the holiday season. There’s one sure-fire, tried-and-true, guaranteed way that I’ve learned eating works best during that time of the year:

With your mouth.

If you’re looking for another way of eating, I’d add “with utensils” but you could argue that’s slightly more civilized, not necessarily better…

I’m well-aware that we’d all like a way of getting around any anxiety/questions/doubt/fear that comes with overeating or indulging but the truth is - there’s no perfect way. Like everything else in fitness, there’s no one way to solve this kind of problem. However, the truth of the matter, no matter the problem, is that there’s no reason to judge yourself or feel poorly about yourself for indulging - especially around the holidays - ESPECIALLY when it’s in an environment that’s meant to be celebratory of what you love, with who you love.

I’ve been on both sides of the spectrum; afraid of getting fat, and afraid of being too thin. I’ve tracked every ounce of food I consumed out of fear of missing something and ruining my body and myself. It sucks.

Whether trying to lose weight or slowly put on weight, both are forms of restriction and the best way of getting past that “ruining my body” kind of thought process is to accept the reason for what you’re eating, no matter the reason.

The beautiful parts of indulging during the holidays are A) we tend to do it in celebration of family, love, religion, history, and other meaningful reasons which hopefully makes accepting our choices easier and B) The food is BOMB.

Do yourself a favor before you get anywhere near food and step away from your image of your body, your weight, or what you think you’re supposed to look like. I know it might not be easy. I know it might unveil other conversations. Still, accepting the short-term reasons you’re eating a bit differently than your ideal version of “healthy” would be for the holidays, can subdue quite a bit of those negative feelings.

That’s what health is supposed to look and feel like - acceptance of what your body is, was, and can be. Enjoy your holidays no matter what food choices you make; you deserve to accept that for yourself.