Empower yourself this holiday season!

Well my friends, the holiday season is upon us, and it brings out lots of emotions regarding food. Regardless of how you view the holidays, this is an emotionally charged time. Finding gifts, stressing over money, making food, seeing family, and attending parties can leave us feeling overwhelmed even on a “good” year. Factor in this pandemic this year and I think many of us can also relate to some feelings of loneliness, sadness, and isolation.

So many questions flood our heads: Did I eat too much? Too little? Am I hungry? How hungry? Can I get away with eating cookies without gaining weight? Should I go to that party? How many people will be there? What’s considered “safe” this year? Where’s the wine? Did I eat enough? Am I stuffed? Is this gluten free? Vegan? Why is this so freaking hard?

Here’s the thing… it’s really important to note the way you approach things. Learning to eat more intuitively means you have to stop approaching all food and food related activities like you are on a diet. Our perspective with the word “DIET” is generally negative. We feel restricted, guilty, deprived, and resentful the moment we hear it. Change starts first in the mind and requires a change in your perspective. Perspective is the way you view situations, ideas, and experiences. It is your mental and emotional outlook as it relates to your life. A change in perspective generally brings about a new way of dealing with situations. Allowing yourself to practice and make mistakes leads to new knowledge about how you can best cope with situations.

Empower yourself this holiday season. Determine what you want to do and be specific. Don’t get overwhelmed with too many questions and things you want to change at once. Pick one thing and be clear about it.

Here is a practical example: Attending your family party, which is a party with appetizers, dinner, drinks, and desserts.

Old perspective: Stress over all the food and alcohol that will be there. You generally skip lunch and go to the party really hungry. You also know that once you start drinking, you also start eating more.

New perspective: I know that alcohol makes me eat more so I choose not to drink at this party. I will drink some of Aunt Mary’s homemade alcohol free wassail. No more skipping meals. I will eat something healthy if I get hungry before I go.

The next step is to practice – put it in action. See how you do. Then afterwards, check in with yourself and ask what you can do better next time. Make any necessary adjustments and give yourself some extra grace and love as you continue to practice. This type of shift can take some time to figure out but it will be something that you can apply to many different functions throughout the years to come. You are absolutely worth it!