Intuitive Eating

Curious about Intuitive Eating during the holidays? The holidays are just around the corner and with them comes plenty of food and time spent with loved ones!

But for many people, the holiday season can also bring feelings of overwhelm and guilt over what foods to be eating and how much. In a diet-centric society, there are a lot of conflicting messages out there about how to handle food during the holidays.

Do you need to burn off the calories you ate? Do you have to say yes to every food offered to you? What about the pumpkin pie?

These are all questions I’ve heard before from my nutrition clients when this time of the year rolls around. As a non-diet and food freedom dietitian, I walk my clients through how to use intuitive eating and food freedom principles around the holiday time.

This led me to create this blog post today because I knew that there were more of you with these exact questions! Keep reading to learn my best tips for releasing stress and food guilt around holiday meals.

If you haven’t already, make sure to check out my latest blog post on why diets don’t work and what you can do instead!

Letting Go of Stress Around Food and Finding Food Freedom

I encourage you all to take a moment to remember what the holidays are really about. Your mind probably reflects on spending time with your family and friends, doing activities that you love, slowing down, and celebrating however feels best for you.

This should be your priority as you enter the holiday season! Seeking out fulfillment and enjoyment, without any unnecessary added stress. Now take this idea and apply it to the food you eat as well.

An important principle of Intuitive Eating during the holidays is to release the idea of “good” and “bad” foods. All foods are just food. That’s it!

How are you supposed to enjoy the holidays if you’re constantly stressed about what you are going to eat?

Don’t let food rules and a diet mentality ruin your holiday season. This is a time of the year that is supposed to be about celebration and family traditions. You don’t need to “healthify” your favorite cultural foods or pick out the “sugar-free” cheesecake.

So if you want to eat that pumpkin pie for breakfast, then do it! If you want to have potatoes and pasta, go for it. The holidays only happen once a year and you don’t want to miss out because you were too stressed about food choices.

Letting go of this stress around food will allow you to be more present and in the moment. It gives you permission to eat what and how much you want, without any food guilt.

Tune In to Your Hunger and Fullness Cues

If you are familiar with Intuitive Eating, then you know the importance of honoring your hunger and fullness cues. This means tuning into your body and recognizing when you start to feel hungry and when you feel full.

Just because it is the holiday season doesn’t mean you have to stop honoring what your body is telling you! Learning and respecting your internal cues can help you navigate the holidays are an Intuitive Eater.

Here are a few ways to honor your hunger and fullness cues:

• It’s okay to say no to food if you are too full or do not want it. Even if someone else made it!
• If you are at a family or friend’s house and can’t finish your plate, ask if you can take some of the food home with you. You can also do this with dessert and second servings.
• Honor your cravings! Give yourself full permission to have any type of food if you want it.
• Eat a second serving if you are still hungry. It’s okay to go back in for more if you don’t feel full yet.

Let Go of the Numbers

While I highly encourage you to let go of the numbers all year round, this is especially true during the holiday season.

The holidays are not a time when you need to be counting calories or weighing out every ingredient on a food scale. Worrying about the numbers will only add extra stress and restriction that aren’t necessary.

Additionally, as I mentioned briefly above, you don’t need to change every recipe to include lower-calorie or “healthier” ingredients. You can use full-fat butter and regular cane sugar!

This is especially true for cultural foods and traditional meals. Many families have recipes and meals that they make that are important to them. You don’t need to change the recipe or not eat the food just because you view it as having “too many calories” or being “too fattening”.

Well if I do eat a large meal, I need to burn it off with exercise the next day… right?

Actually, wrong! You never need to exercise to make up for any calories you ate. You don’t have to wake up early on Black Friday and run four miles because you had an extra slice of pumpkin pie.

Seriously, despite what the Kardashians tell you, this isn’t how your body or food works. You can eat a second helping of food and you don’t need to work out any harder the next day. Or at all!

Now if you want to exercise in a mindful way that feels good to you, that’s perfectly okay. But make sure your intentions are in the right place.

Take Time to Appreciate the Food

At the end of the day, it is important to remember that an abundance of delicious food is a privilege. Not everyone gets the opportunity to indulge in different food choices during the holidays.

Take the time to appreciate and show gratitude for the food you get to eat. Tell yourself, “I get to eat these foods” instead of “I have to eat these foods”.

One way you can show appreciation for your food is to slow down and savor it. Instead of diving right in and filling yourself up, take it slow and appreciate all of the amazing flavors and aromas of the food.

If it would feel supportive to you, you can take a moment before or after your holiday meals to express gratitude for the food on your plate. A simple idea is to go around the table and have everyone share which dish was their favorite!

Intuitive Eater’s Holiday Bill of Rights

When it comes to Intuitive Eating during the holidays, here are 7 rights you have to follow for the holiday season. These ideas will help you embrace a healthy relationship with food, your mindset, and your body.

1. You have the right to savor your meal, without cajoling or judgment, and without discussion of calories eaten or the amount of exercise needed to burn off said calories.
2. You have the right to enjoy a second serving without apology.
3. You have the right to honor your fullness, even if that means saying “no thank you” to dessert or a second helping of food.
4. It is not your responsibility to make someone happy by overeating, even if it took hours to prepare a specialty holiday dish.
5. You have the right to say, “No thank you,” without explanation when offered more food.
6. You have the right to stick to your original answer of “no”, even if you are asked multiple times. Just calmly and politely repeat “No, thank you, really.”
7. You have the right to eat pumpkin pie for breakfast.

I also wanted to share this amazing quote from Evelyn Tribole herself,

“Remember, no one, except for you, knows how you feel, both emotionally and physically. Only you can be the expert of your body, which requires inner attunement, rather than the external, well-meaning, suggestions from family.”

Intuitive Eating During the Holidays: The Takeaway

Don’t let food guilt and stress keep you from enjoying this holiday season. Now is the time to put your intuitive eating skills to use and ditch the dieting mentality for good.

I hope you are able to slow down, sit back, and enjoy these next few months surrounded by good people and good food. I know I will be!

Are you looking for a way to connect with like-minded people about intuitive eating? Check out my Intuitive Eating Support Group! You can find out more information at this link.

No, we’re not trying to sell you on a new workout plan. Come on, you know us better than that…. But we are going to be discussing movement and intuitive eating.

If you find yourself dreading your workout, maybe it’s time to try something else? First of all, we prefer to use the term “movement”. This makes SO many more things accessible to us than only considering “workouts”.

Reframing Your Relationship With Exercise as an Intuitive Eater

Instead of forcing yourself to try to change your mindset (and then possibly feeling shame), find movement that you actually enjoy:

Walking, dancing, jump roping, yoga (yes, even yin or restorative), cycling, rock climbing, kayaking, strength or body weight training, roller blading, gardening, swimming, hiking, playing a sport, jumping on a trampoline and so much more! It all counts! And even more so if you add a smile 🙂

Movement and Intuitive Eating: The Takeaway

More about inclusive and supportive fitness on the Motivation Made Easy podcast with @psychology.of.wellness. Check out this blog post for the link and while you’re there, browse all the podcast interviews we’ve had the joy of being a guest on.

If you’re looking to schedule a free discovery call to learn more about working with an intuitive eating dietitian and finally finding the food freedom you deserve, click here.

Obsessive dieting and eating disorders…. let’s talk about it. Are you curious about what you can do to fight back against diet culture?

According to a study by the National Eating Disorder Association, 35% of dieting becomes obsessive and 20-25% of dieters develop eating disorders. 🤯🤯

In an effort to break the stigma against eating disorders and end diet talk, Tap Into Nutrition and Therapyology joined forces this week to bring you some reminders and helpful tools to fight against diet culture.💪🏻

“Children are 242 times more likely to develop an eating disorder than type 2 diabetes” – Alisa Ramsey, author of Unapologetic Eating: Make Peace with Food and Transform Your Life

5 Things You Can Do to Fight Against Diet Culture

Tip #1 – Embrace body diversity and remember that it naturally exists

We can all eat the same and exercise the same and we still all would look differently.

How can you honor your hear and now body?

Try: Finding clothes that fit your body, instead of trying to fit into clothes you have outgrown.

Tip #2 – Set boundaries with friends and family

Limit conversations around diet talk.

Instead, how could you have empowering conversations that lead to self-love and appreciation for our bodies and all that they do for us?

Try: Changing the subject or removing yourself from the situation altogether to avoid diet talk.

Tip #3 – Know that there are no such things as “good” or “bad” foods

Food has no moral value.

How can you honor your bodies wants and needs through balanced nutrition?

Try: Next time you see food at the store that you want to buy but “shouldn’t” (for reasons other than being allergic, dietary sensitivity, or not liking them) buy it and genuinely enjoy.

Curious about Intuitive Eating and what resources may be helpful? Learn more about my favorite Intuitive Eating resources here!

Tip #4 – Stop complimenting weight loss and on people’s bodies altogether

Remember that when we compliment someone for being in a smaller body, we’re indirectly implying that there was something wrong with their body before.

How can we shift our compliments to be focused on someone’s personality, character, talents, etc. instead?

Try: Saying something like “Wow (friends name), hanging out with you is really good for my mental health because you are like the human version of sunshine.”

Tip #5 – Unfollow people who don’t make you feel good about yourself

Remember, you are in control of whose content you consume on social media.

How can you filter your feed to bring you peace and happiness?

Try: Going through whom you follow and unfollow anyone (family, friends, old classmates, influencers, companies, brands) who do not serve you. No explanation to them needed.

Seek support from Therapyology

Their practice is made of licensed clinical social workers. They see many adolescents and help individuals work through many self-esteem and body image related issues.

Instagram: @therapyologymi

TikTok: @therapyology

Seek support from Tap Into Nutrition

Working with a registered dietitian and intuitive eating counselor, like Sam, is a way to support your journey to finding a healthy relationship with food and your body.

Click here to schedule your free discovery call to learn more.

Instagram: @TapIntoNutrition

Tell us what you learned in the comments and something you will try the next time you encounter #diettalk. Feel free to share this blog post with someone you think could benefit from these messages! 💓