|
 Which
best describes your thoughts as holidays approach?
- I look forward to being with family and friends, enjoying
the fun and food of the season.
- I dread all the food I'm going to have to face.
It's just overwhelming, and I have a hard time saying
‘no.'
If you're leaning towards the second scenario, read
on for more information about mindfulness during holidays.
Mindful Eating & Living Strategies
for the Holidays
- Decide what's important to you. Holidays
are a time of stress for many folks, and food is a great
way to manage stress…temporarily. Ultimately, it creates
stress if we emotionally eat too often and end up feeling
ill, or gaining weight, as a result. How can you relax in
the midst of such a busy time? Often it's about simplifying
our lives…making more of what we value most such as
spending time with family and friends, and less of the frantic
rush to do everything ‘just right.'
- Take care of yourself first. Time off
from work can mean less structure in your days. But keep
your self-care routine going. Take the time to feed yourself
regular and balanced meals, starting with breakfast. Pay
attention to your hunger cues; we generally get hungry every
three to five hours.
- Be proactive and plan for potential schedule conflicts
by pre-cooking, keeping healthy snack foods in the house,
and considering using more pre-made items from the grocery
store during this time of the year.
- Start your day with physical activity. Research shows
we may be more successful fitting exercise into our
busy days if we do it in the morning.
- Move the focus of gatherings away from food.
Try setting up games and puzzles on the coffee table instead
of chips and dips. How about making holiday decorations
instead of cookies? Put out photo albums that will move
attention away from the hors d'oeuvres, at least for
part of the time. Food usually needs to be available at
gatherings, but we can create many more fond memories of
the holidays when we branch out beyond food as the focus
of this time of year.
As a final note, we encourage you to not let your food choices
be influenced by external cues such as comments from other
people. Sometimes it's hard to know exactly what we
want or need when it comes to food, so it's good to
remember that another person couldn't possibly tell
us how hungry we are or what we are in the mood for. Try to
tune out comments made by others regarding your food choices
and focus on your internal cues. If needed, talk to a close
friend or relative about helping you redirect conversation
towards other topics when food choices become the center of
the conversation.
For more on mindfulness during holidays, read our FitBriefings
on holiday eating
Party Hearty without Putting on Pounds and Holiday
Eating without Overeating: Eating the Best and Leaving the
Rest. You might also find Coping
with People at Home a useful read.
Written by Robyn Priebe, RD, CD, Director
of Nutrition, Assistant Program Director, Green Mountain at
Fox Run
|
