Food Stress Over the Holidays Part 2: How To Cope With The Holidays Nutritionally

As a continuation to last week’s discussion, we know this time of year can be very stressful when it comes to food!

Last week we focused on mental-emotional, stress-reduction techniques to support your relationship with food. This week we’re chatting about how to set yourself up nutritionally to cope with the stress and anxiety of the holidays.

Here are a few simple nutritional tips to make this time of year a bit more manageable!

Establishing A Blood Sugar Friendly, Whole Foods Diet

Plan for 75% of your meals in a week (or 2 out of 3 in a day) to be made from fresh, whole ingredients. This can include meals while you’re out, but the goal here is to ensure that your baseline nutrition is being fulfilled. This will help reduce cravings and curb overindulgences that lead to chronic fatigue, digestive disturbances and generally feeling unwell.

Some foods to keep in mind are nutrient dense vegetables like broccoli, kale, carrots, zucchini, and collard greens. Fill up your meals with healthy fat from fish, 20g of protein per meal, and fermented foods like kimchi, sauerkraut, kefir and yogurt.

Eat at regular intervals! Set an alarm and make this happen every 4-5 hours. Blood sugar is the #1 reason for cravings and bingeing. Our body knows what it needs, and when we deprive it of satiating and sustaining foods, it wants energy fast! This draws our eyes to sweets and carbohydrates. If you have a hankering for something sweet in the afternoon, you are likely not getting enough sleep, relying on caffeine too much, or not filling your meals with enough protein, non-starchy vegetables and healthy fat.

Make sure your plates have non-starchy vegetables (50% of the plate), 25% starches or complex carbohydrates, and 25% protein. Additionally, a thumb sized amount of healthy fat will round out this meal! This is a blood sugar supportive plate, and it will prevent you from bingeing at your next meal, and less prone to (trying to) fill up on sweets and other junk foods in between meals.

The Gut-Brain Connection

Support your gut-bacteria. If you’ve taken them before and it’s easiest, take a probiotic supplement. Gut and brain health research continues to grow, supporting links between probiotic proliferation and improved mental health. Probiotic bacteria support the functioning of important neurotransmitters and encourage the production of the majority of our immune protecting antibodies!

Think about filling your plate with pre- and probiotic rich foods (fruits, vegetables, and fermented foods like kimchi, sauerkraut, yogurt and kefir). This supports the gut-brain connection, as well as immune strength.

Move your body and get in some light exercise everyday. Even if it’s just a short walk! Pairing probiotic supplementation with gentle daily movement helps support natural digestive processes and encourage regular elimination. Without this we become constipated, lethargic and can become progressively more inactive. This hurts our emotional well-being.

Improper elimination can impair our ability to feel good. We might feel tired, heavy, irritable, unhappy and we might gain weight! To improve bowel regularity, start with 1 Tbsp of fresh ground flaxseed or chia seeds paired with six 8 ounces of water everyday. You can mix these into your meals, into a smoothie, or make a quick chia pudding.

Fibre is a bulking agent, encouraging elimination and clearing our body of waste and toxins. However, fibre requires hydration to move its way through our system! Increasing fibre intake without adequate water can lead to constipation. Start slow and overtime you will feel lighter physically and emotionally!

Getting A Good Night’s Sleep

When it comes to staying calm in the face of holiday craziness, getting a good night’s sleep is vital! Our brain doesn’t function properly, our anxiety can increase, and our mood suffers. To enjoy yourself more, during this stressful time of year, take the time to unwind (away from screens) at night and get to sleep at a good time. Work towards getting 6-8 hours of restful sleep with evening meditation and herbal teas like chamomile, lemon balm or valerian root.

Savour Life’s Little Pleasures

Mentally, we all need a break. These are unprecedented times. It is important to maintain some routines and practises to encourage ongoing mental and physical well-being. But once those parameters are in place, it’s important to let go a little. Dance a little, really enjoy that holiday sweet, and take time away from stressors to connect with a good friend.

Set yourself up for health and happiness with a healthy diet (80% of the time), gentle daily movement, adequate rest, gut-supportive foods and moments to unwind. Striking this kind of balance is vital, and while I encourage my clients to change up their patterns and improve their health through food, I always emphasize moderation. Moderation of routines and rules, and moderate amounts of enjoyment! When you can live with this kind of balance, when “play” is prioritized as much as “work”, we are able to function with more ease and more enjoyment.

If you need help navigating the holidays, or want to explore your nutritional habits afterwards, I am always here for nutritional support!