I used to have anxiety (literal, physical anxiety) during the holiday season, but it wasn’t because I was nervous to see family members or stressed about getting gifts. No, I was anxious about eating.
I’ve always been a healthy eater, but my good habits would go out the window around daylight savings time. I would shove my face full of every candy, carb, or cake I could get my hands on.
Then, after about two months of gluttony, I would fall into a shame spiral. I not only hated myself for letting go of my good habits, but I also hated myself for having no self-control. Though I told myself I would be better next year, the cycle always repeated.
After a few years of suffering from essentially an undiagnosed eating disorder, I decided to stop feeling bad about indulging. I stopped restricting myself during the other 10 months of the year so I wouldn’t feel the need to eat 10 chocolate chip cookies in one sitting on Christmas Eve (true story). By changing my relationship with food I allowed myself to experience freedom from food.
If you struggle with food guilt around the holidays, I’m here to help.
Stop the Restricting
As I said above, I used to restrict myself from the foods I loved for about 10 months out of the year. I wouldn’t even allow myself to eat sweets or indulge in fast food every once in a while. Though this “diet” worked for most of the year, it always went off the rails during the holidays.
Because holiday gatherings always revolve around eating and drinking, I considered it a “free pass” to do whatever I wanted. But, because I hadn’t allowed myself to eat anything fun the rest of the year, I always went overboard. Like, way overboard.
In order to prevent yourself from feeling guilty about eating a piece of cake or a bowl of mashed potatoes during the holidays, don’t put restrictions on yourself during the rest of the year.
Indulging ≠ Bingeing
It’s important to remember that indulging is different than bingeing. Indulging’s all about being mindful of the food you’re putting into your body.
For example, when I was in my bad place, I would go to a holiday party and shove cookies into my mouth. I didn’t think about how many I was eating, heck, I didn’t even enjoy the cookies because I was eating so fast. That’s bingeing.
Indulging, on the other hand, is allowing yourself to eat whatever you want but trusting yourself you’ll stop when you’re full. I know it might seem scary to let go of restrictions and trust yourself to stop eating, but I promise you’ll end up enjoying your food so much more.
Don’t Punish Yourself
It’s OK to have one day where all you eat is junk food. Heck, it’s OK to have more than one day where all you eat is junk food. But, no matter what, never punish yourself for your eating habits.
Don’t think it’s OK to skip a day of eating or force yourself to exercise because you feel guilty about what you ate the day before. We all have days where we don’t eat the absolute best, and that’s more than fine.
Allow yourself to eat what you want, trust yourself to stop when you feel full, and don’t be so hard on yourself this year. Move your body when you feel like moving it, eat veggies when you want to, and for crying out loud, eat the cake!
