Tis the season to eat for no reason
By Tanya Pillay
If you are resolved to deal with your diet in the new year, you won’t need this article. But if you’d rather not carry the holidays around with you in the months to come, you may be interested in making your holiday eating more about presence of mind than presents for your mouth.
Why do you overeat at holiday parties? Are you open to some alternatives for those reasons? If so, let your awareness guide your holiday digestion.
|
Reason for eating |
Alternative thoughts and actions |
|
There is so much food |
Presumably there are people there too. Focus your attention on truly connecting with others. |
|
I love the variety of food |
Take smaller bites of the smallest servings and savour each texture and moment, trusting that if you’ve tasted it once, you can remember the experience rather than repeating it again and again. |
|
It’s just once a year |
A few events with coworkers, family, and friends soon becomes a month laden with extra treats. Again…focus on enjoying people and your body will thank you. |
|
It feels good to eat |
Herbal tea or hot water with lemon is very soothing with no negative repercussions. |
|
I deserve a reward |
Reward your soul instead of just your mouth by acknowledging your achievements this year (no matter how small) or by taking a fun class, listening to your favourite music, sleeping in, |
These are just a few suggestions, but it’s ultimately up to you to decide what feels right for you. If you truly want to eat to your heart’s content, you believe that your body doesn’t mind the effort, and you don’t mind the prospect of extra weight (or exercise), it’s equally important to fully enjoy rather than dwelling in guilt or regret. The more guilty you feel, the more likely you are to sneak seconds and thirds because the pleasure of the first was masked by self-judgment or remorse.
Those of us with food sensitivities have even more to contend with. I tend to do better by very consciously enjoying one or two bites of cheesecake and eating it very calmly with a sense of entitlement, noticing the beautiful colours and variety of textures and flavours, rather than gulping down a full serving as though it never happened.
Many of us were raised with or acquired the notion of food as pleasure/reward/comfort. If you don’t like where this trend has taken you, it is now your responsibility to redefine food as nutrition for fuel and start a new journey of exploration into the true meaning of pleasure, deeper rewards, and more effective comfort. As a former smoker once explained to me, he goes for the immediate 2nd cigarette because “the 1st one didn’t work”. So if you simply must eat it: enjoy!
