Food Stress Over the Holidays Part 1: Supporting a Healthy Relationship with Food

There is something about the holidays and holiday eating that holds a certain “stress” associated with it.

Why is it that there is so much stress around holiday eating? Is it because there are more options? Maybe the food tastes better? Maybe it is that there is a fear around letting yourself enjoy food? Maybe there is a fear that you won’t have control?

There are so many different reasons why we might feel stressed about food. Part of it can come from our own insecurities and fears while some of it is projected onto us from our society as a collective. Whatever the reason, the stress around food can take away from enjoying the meal and spending time with friends and family.

One of the most important things to remember this holiday season is that holiday eating is not synonymous with being out of control or doing something wrong.

The thing that we often forget is that we are ALLOWED to enjoy food. We are ALLOWED to be relaxed around food. We are ALLOWED to choose what we want to eat and what we don’t want to eat.

Just because your cousin brought a dessert you don’t have to have it if you don’t want to, but also you can have it if you DO want it.

Some Simple Strategies To Mitigate Food Stress

If you find that you are feeling out of control with food, anxious around food, or if you are experiencing obsessions or compulsions around food, it does not have to be this way. Here are some simple things that you can try this holiday season to feel empowered around food, no matter what your actual food choices are.

remember to breathe

Taking a deep breath has the power to shift your nervous system out of the flight or fight response, also known as our stress response. When we are in fight or flight response our body can start to feel physical symptoms including food cravings, stomach pains and changes in hunger cues. This can have impacts on how we are able to digest and how we mentally feel around food. When we can get out of the fight or flight state it can make it easier for our body to digest and for us to choose what we want to eat without feeling off mentally or physically afterwards. Try and take 5 deep breathes before starting to eat or before a meal. Remember this meal is a good thing and it is not meant to make you feel bad.

don’t restrict before a holiday meal

This is one of the biggest mistakes when it comes to fear around holiday eating. Sometimes when we are nervous about a big meal coming later in the day the tendency is to not eat earlier in the day to “leave room” for the food later. This strategy actually has the exact OPPOSITE impact that we want it to have. When we don’t eat enough food during the day it has physiological impacts such as causing our blood sugar to drop or our stress hormones to increase, both of which cause us to eat more later in the day. When our blood sugar drops our body wants to bring it up as quickly as possible. This means that it can actually make us crave food and make it harder to tell when we are full. Drops in blood sugar can also do things like decrease mood and increase anxiety which can exacerbate any stress you are feeling about a meal. Eating normally throughout the day can prevent overeating later in the day and helps keep our blood sugar balanced so that our mood and anxiety feel better as well.

be gentle with yourself

REMEMBER what you eat or how much you eat does not change who you are as a person. Your worth is not related to the food that you eat. Judging yourself for the food that you eat is not going to make you a better or worse person. If you are finding that you feel better or worse about yourself depending on the food that you eat, it might be that there is something more going on underneath the surface that might be worth looking into with the help of a health professional. Judging yourself can have its own implications such as increasing stress and making us feel unwell both physically and mentally.

A Final Word

The holidays come once a year. This is one meal out of 1000’s of meals that we eat each day to keep ourselves functioning and feeling well. It does not have the power to change our lives and change who we are, even though it sometimes feels like it does.

At the end of the day food is the fuel to keep our bodies alive. Whether it is the most nutrient dense food or not, it is still nourishing our body in some capacity.

If you need help navigating the holidays, or want to explore this more afterwards, I am always here to provide Naturopathic support.

Stay tuned for Part 2!