This week we’re answering your questions and giving you our top tips for navigating festive feasts!
Top Tips for navigating Festive Feasts
1. Don’t overthink it. So you ate too much cheese. Acknowledge it then move on. 😊
2. Move when you can. A brisk walk with the fam is a wonderful way to pull yourself out of a pudding nap. 🚶🏽
3. Food envy? Have a little bit of everything. But just a little bit. Recruit a friend and remember sharing is caring 👫
4. Eat mindfully. Listen to your body. Stop when you’re satisfied. 🧠
5. Savour every mouthful. The festive season is delicious. Enjoy it with your loved ones! 🕯🎄💝
6. Refer to point 1. 🧀😉
FREE Mindful Eating Meditation
Overeating is completely normal. It is our thoughts, feelings, and reactions to overeating that can be damaging beyond the overeating moment
Overcompensating by restricting is not the solution...
Our bodies need a regular supply of food to stay alive and perform all of the various chemical reactions and daily bodily functions (like keeping our heart beating, allowing our diaphragm to expand and relax with each breath, our kidneys as they remove our waste, our growing nails, cell turnover in our gut...etc).
Restriction → deprivation → protection through overcompensating
When our bodies feel the threat of scarcity (i.e. starvation from a evolutionary perspective)- even if that is in the form of intentional restriction- our bodies will look to protect us through eating more to compensate. This is a natural biological reaction..
Our suggestion is to in fact NOT skip breakfast! Many people skip breakfast in anticipation of the big festive meal, but in many cases that just makes it more likely that you'll be ravenous at lunch or dinner time meaning you're less likely to actually enjoy the food (i.e. scoff it!)and more likely to eat to the point of discomfort.
Give yourself permission to eat how you would want a loved one to eat. Should they skip the xmas pudding? Should they feel bad about enjoying the xmas ham? And therefore should you?
Revisit your values and goals. Give yourself the time and space to allow your actions to align your behaviours with these values
Feel and respect your fullness - but I would add a big caveat to this one: it’s okay if you eat past the point of fullness.There’s a lot of delicious food and a lot of food that we don’t get a chance to eat very often and we want to enjoy it all with the people who put the thought and care into making it. Notice and check in with how your body is feeling but know that it’s okay if you eat past the point of comfortable fullness. Notice it. Be curious but do not be judgemental! You’re allowed to eat for more reasons than just pure hunger.
Honour your fullness. Give yourself permission to not eat also! Social pressure, “eating for others”
Some tips: