The holiday season can be a fairly complex and challenging time of year for many people, with attitudes and expectations around food and drink only adding to that stress. So with that in mind, here are my top 5 tips for enjoying a healthy and happy holiday season. 5) Pay attention to your body’s hunger and fullness signals. One of the simplest things we can do to stay feeling well, and satisfied and avoid uncomfortable bloating is to pay attention to our hunger and fullness signals. Think of a scale from 1-10, where 1 is the hungriest you can ever imagine feeling, and 10 is the kind of uncomfortably full, ate too much feeling when you’ve probably had to undo the top button of your trousers. Take a moment to think about what each point on the scale between 1-10 feels like in your body. Remember we’re all different so we are likely to experience hunger and fullness differently. Aim to start eating when you feel your hunger is around a 3 on the scale, and stop when you’re satisfied at around a number 7. It takes practice to notice how the sensations of hunger and fullness feel in your body, especially if you’ve suppressed those feelings through dieting, so be patient with yourself as you figure it out. 4 ) Eat regularly throughout the day Often when we know we’re going out in the evening, we have a tendency to restrict our food intake during the day to ‘save room’ for dinner. However, that can really backfire! By not eating enough when we’re hungry earlier in the day our levels of hunger hormones increase dramatically. That means that when we get to dinner we feel almost out of control around certain foods, eat way more than we need to and end up feeling uncomfortable, bloated, and as though we can’t trust ourselves around festive or party foods. Whilst eating a little more than you need to isn’t really an issue, the feelings of loss of control and subsequent lack of trust in ourselves can often lead to us feeling as though we need to further restrict ourselves which only serves to exacerbate to loss of control the next time you find yourself over hungry and faced with certain foods. Once we have established that pattern of restriction, out-of-control feelings, and guilt it can be really hard to break out of it again, and here’s the real kicker, the lack of trust in ourselves ends up applying to all kinds of scenarios, not just food. If you’re heading into your first sober holiday season, eating regularly throughout the day and taking control of this cycle can only help you maintain your confidence and self-belief.
3) Balance your meals and snacks It’s important to eat regularly throughout the day, but it’s also important to think about what you’re eating to make sure it’s going to be satisfying and nourishing. When putting your snacks and meals together, think about including the following groups: Carbohydrate (ideally wholegrain); bread, crackers, Ryvita, potato, rice, pasta, quinoa, etc. A source of protein; Lentils, beans, tofu, eggs, meat, yogurt, and cottage cheese, are all good options. A source of fats; Avocado, nuts and seeds, olives, and cheese all count as sources of fat. And of course a good helping of vegetables and/or fruit. For the fats, a good guide for portion size is 2 x the length and width of your thumb. For carbs and proteins rather than thinking in terms of portion sizes, which will depend on how hungry you are, try thinking about the proportions of the different foods on your plate. Mealtimes could be 1 portion of fats, with the rest of the plate made up of half vegetables/fruit, quarter your protein source, and the other quarter your carbohydrates. For snacks, you only need to choose 3 out of the 4 groups. If you’re having a fat portion, the other 2 choices can be half and half of the plate. If there is no fat source, aim for 1/3rd of the plate for each food group. 2) No foods are off-limits . By telling ourselves we’re not allowed certain foods, or we can’t trust ourselves around certain foods, we tend to make it a self-fulfilling prophecy that when we are faced with them we will eat them to excess, feel guilty about it, ban them again and so the cycle repeats. Not only are we then left with feelings of guilt and lack of control, but chances are you probably didn’t even enjoy it that much! Research shows that by allowing ourselves to eat and enjoy all foods we are actually satisfied with a lot less. So go ahead and eat whatever foods you enjoy, eat them mindfully, and really enjoy every bite! Research shows that by allowing ourselves to eat and enjoy all foods we are actually satisfied with a lot less. So go ahead and eat whatever foods you enjoy, eat them mindfully, and really enjoy every bite!
1) Feel free to ignore tips 2-5 Food is, and always has been, so much more than just a blob of physiologically necessary nutrients, and never is that more true than during the holidays. The social and convivial significance of sharing a meal with others goes back to the very beginnings of human civilizations and is shared between all cultures. I read an article the other day suggesting we ‘focus on what you’re eating, rather than getting distracted by chatting to people. Do the authors of that article really want me to ignore the fun of a holiday meal surrounded by friends and family to concentrate fully and totally on a squishy Brussels Sprout? Sod that. Especially in covid times when we might not have seen friends and family for years! Have fun, enjoy yourself, talk to the people around you. If one of those notoriously mischievous cocktail sausages happens to leap into your mouth when you’re not paying attention, don’t panic! If eating the mince pie even though you’re already full will make your mother-in-law’s day, for goodness sake, eat the thing! Health is a product of the little habits that we do regularly over time. If your nutrition isn’t perfect for a few days over the holidays it really won’t make any difference to your physical health in the long term, but the stress of missing out and fear of not eating perfectly certainly can have a detrimental effect on mental health. It’s been a tough couple of years. Take the pressure off yourself to be perfect, and enjoy the celebrations! Happy Thanksgiving to all our American readers and to all entering into party-season elsewhere in the world, stay well and healthy.
Lots of love Sophie xxx
HOLA SOBER | MADRID
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