Tag Archive for: guilt free Thanksgiving

5 Ways to Ensure a Thanksgiving that Honors Your Body AND Tradition

It’s November which means soon enough it will be time for turkey and all the delicious side dishes you enjoy on Thanksgiving. Many people who are starting the Intuitive Eating journey, and even those who have been on it a while, struggle with this holiday. The whole day is centered around eating, leaving you uncomfortably full by the end of the evening. No wonder it’s a challenge for so many people!

I want you to know it doesn’t have to be this way. Thanksgiving does not have to be a source of anxiety at all. It can be a day full of love and gratitude for all the things in your life that you are thankful for.

Here are 5 Ways to ensure a Thanksgiving that honors your body and tradition

  1. Reframe Your Beliefs

If you go into Thanksgiving Day thinking you will “blow” it, then it will become a self-fulfilling prophecy. Your thoughts/beliefs inform your feelings, which inform your actions which inform your results.

Maybe in years past you went into the holiday dieting, and with the first bite of a food you deemed “bad”, you figured “I blew it, I’ll just start again after the holidays”. Well, now you are going into the holiday as an Intuitive Eater, or an Intuitive Eater in training. Therefore, changing your self talk can greatly impact your beliefs and ultimately your actions.

Try saying this to yourself: “I am capable of enjoying the Thanksgiving feast while honoring my inner signals of hunger, satiety and satisfaction.”

  1. Eat Breakfast and Lunch on Thanksgiving Day

It can be tempting to skip breakfast or lunch when you know that you have a holiday dinner ahead of you. However, this is forcing your body to ignore its hunger cues earlier in the day and when you finally sit down to dinner, you will be ravenous. Then what happens? You eat past the point of comfortable fullness!

Instead, enjoy a well-balanced breakfast and lunch and you’ll see how much more you enjoy dinner.

Hint: Skipping meals to save calories for a big dinner is part of the sneaky diet mentality. What other ways is the diet mentality sneaking back into your thoughts? Let me know in the comments below!

  1. Be Aware of Competition Eating

Family dinners with lots of people can be challenging! You might find that you take extra or larger helpings of food out of a fear that there won’t be anything left if you are still hungry. This is a form of “rebound eating”. Just the thought of being deprived leads you to “overeat”.

Here’s the thing! Even if you have a big family, there’s likely going to be enough food for second helpings should you still be hungry (who doesn’t have Thanksgiving leftovers!)

Try to resist the urge to overfill your plate. When you first sit down to dinner, assess your hunger level, and take the amount of food you think will fill your hunger. Keep in mind that if you are not quite satisfied when you finish eating, you can always take more. YOU are in charge!

  1. Create A Colorful Balanced Plate

 Some people think that nutrition is not considered in the Intuitive Eating philosophy. That is the farthest thing from the truth! Gentle Nutrition (Intuitive Eating Principle 10) takes into consideration taste and nutrition when making food choices.

When filling your plate at your Thanksgiving meal, consider whether most of the food groups are present. Protein, whole grains, veggies, and healthy fats all make for a balanced plate that will leave you feeling satisfied, energized and will keep your blood sugars stable.

  1. Check-in with Yourself

 Being around the family at holiday time can be a source of stress for many people. And this stress can be a disruptor to attuning to your hunger and fullness signals. Take the time before the big dinner to center yourself and focus on you. Then throughout the meal, take some time outs to check in with yourself to assess how you are feeling. If you are feeling overwhelmed, take a few breaths to refocus your attention on your meal and to check in with your fullness cues.

Thanksgiving is a time to think about all the goodness in our lives. While this year has been challenging for all, we can probably find something we are thankful for. Best wishes for a Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family!

By the way, if you want to try some new and delicious recipes for Thanksgiving, check out my cookbook, Enjoying Food Peace. Enjoying Food Peace Book

Recipes from the cookbook that I’ll be making include: Roasted Chestnut Soup, Pomegranate-Orange Glazed Turkey, Moist Stuffing, Crunchy Brussels Sprouts and Pumpkin Muffins!

Get your copy of Enjoying Food Peace in time for Thanksgiving on AMAZON!

 

4 Tips for a Happy and Mindful Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is hands down one of my favorite holidays.  I love having the whole family over and a table full of good food.  It is the perfect way to kick off the holiday season!

 

Despite my love for this holiday, I do know it can be easy to get lost in the chaos, especially for an intuitive eater in training. I can understand that the whole thought of sitting down to a Thanksgiving feast might be intimidating. Maybe you still have some food fear and haven’t fully allowed all foods into your life yet.

 

Well, I’m here to help you because I don’t want you to let yourself feel out of “control” this year. It’s time to start your holiday season off on the right foot! Make this the year that you conquer your dieting habits and turn to intuitive and mindful eating for a body you love.

 

Mindful Eating 

 

Engaging in mindful eating can be the perfect way to help you enjoy Thanksgiving this year.  Here are four tips to help you stay mindful.

 

1. Stay fully conscious. It’s easy to lose yourself in all the food, conversation and football.  If you maintain an awareness of your food choices, amount of food you are serving yourself and eating, you can avoid overindulging.  This can be difficult in a social situation, but if you set your intentions out in the morning, you can do it!

2. Serve small portions. With a holiday that only comes once a year, you can easily serve yourself large portions of your favorite dishes.  You may even fall prey to “my eyes are bigger than my stomach”.  Start with small portions to avoid overeating yet still satisfies your craving.  If you are still hungry you could always have more.

3. Listen to your body. Do you belong to the “clean your plate club”?  This year commit to staying present and listening to your body’s signals as you are getting satiated.  Stop eating when you feel comfortable, you can always wrap up the rest of your food and take it home.  If you do this, you will be able to enjoy your favorites when you get hungry again.

4. Pace Yourself. During the meal, pacing yourself is key. Put your fork down and spend time talking to relatives in-between bites. This allows your brain to register the food that is entering your stomach. Your body will be able to signal when you are satisfied and have eaten enough.

 

The holidays can be a difficult time for someone who has just started on the intuitive eating journey.  Resisting the urge to overeat can be hard to overcome.  But you can do it!  

 

Still looking for more ways to have a mindful Thanksgiving?  Start your day off with a long morning walk to kick-start your body.  Also, don’t forget to eat breakfast!  This will keep you satisfied and help you avoid heading into dinner starving.

 

Remember, the most important person is YOU. Have confidence in yourself and in your food choices that you are making to honor and respect your body. You are in the drivers seat now, you are no longer a passenger on the diet train.

 

If you’d like my support at any point on your journey, just reach out to me HERE.

 

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

 

3 Tips to Shut Down Diet and Food Talk at Your Thanksgiving Table

It’s Thanksgiving and I couldn’t be more excited. I just love this holiday where we stop and say thanks and show gratitude for all we have in our lives.

 

I also love cooking all the traditional Thanksgiving dishes. Since I’m off from work on Thanksgiving, I take my time cooking, with my daughters by my side helping. No pressure, no rushing, just some music, laughter, great conversation and recipe making.

 

We then sit down to an intimate meal with my immediate family and bond. I love it.

 

But for the intuitive eater in training (that might be you if you are in the midst of your journey), the whole thought of sitting down to a Thanksgiving feast might be intimidating. Maybe you still have some food fear and haven’t fully allowed all foods into your life yet. Or, maybe you have made peace with food and feel super comfortable approaching this holiday meal, but the issue you are worrying about is what others might say or think when they see you eating stuffing, sweet potatoes and pecan pie.

 

Let me back up and explain.

 

The Struggle for an Intuitive Eater in Training

 

You have been on your intuitive eating journey for some time. You have made peace with food and your body, and you are ready to approach your very first Thanksgiving as an intuitive eater. You have no qualms about eating what you love. But, what about all those family members who have seen you dieting for most of your adult life?

 

You know the ones. Your sister-in-law, mother, or cousin who have dieted with you in years past and who have joined in with you at the holiday meal saying things like “I shouldn’t eat this but …..”, or “this has SO many calories, and is SO bad for me, but I’m going to eat it anyway”.

 

They are probably still dieting, but you aren’t (lucky you)! But when they see you eating and NOT commenting with them about how guilty you feel or how stuffed you are, you may feel they are judging you.

 

Or, there may be family members who just know you as the ‘dieter’ and have never seen you eat in public. They don’t realize that when you’ve restricted in the past, you’d just go home and eat whatever you can find. So for them, they may say outright to you: “YOU eat that now? I’ve never seen you eat this.”

 

3 tips to shut down the diet and food talk at your Thanksgiving table:

 

  1. Say with confidence: “Yes, I eat all foods. Food is just food”. And, leave it at that.

 

  1. Say with boldness: “Please do not comment on what I am eating. Let’s focus on the beauty of the holiday, not my food.”

 

  1. Say with firmness: “This house is a diet-free talk zone. We don’t discuss diets or shame people for eating. Thank you for respecting this house rule”.

 

The most important person is YOU. Have confidence in yourself and in your food choices that you are making to honor and respect your body. You are in the drivers seat now, you are no longer a passenger on the diet train.

 

If you’d like my support at any point on your journey, just reach out to me HERE.

 

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!