Food Overwhelm (and 3 Strategies to Deal with It)

It’s holiday week. Whether you celebrated Easter this past weekend, or you are still celebrating Passover this week, holiday eating can sometimes pose a problem for those working on giving up dieting to embrace intuitive eating.

The goal is to have a more peaceful relationship with food, and to learn to trust that your body knows just what it needs and wants.

Yet, with the abundance of foods over the holidays, peace with food might be far from what you are experiencing.

Let’s look at 3 obstacles that might come up for you. And, of course, strategies to overcome!

1) Food Overwhelm: There is no lack for food, no matter the holiday. But with Passover celebrated for 8 days, I hear from many of my clients that they don’t leave the kitchen. They are forever cooking and serving, and it seems like the family is more hungry than usual during this holiday. The meals have 5 courses to them, and there is no “white space” on the table.

Strategy: Review your menus and decide if you really need 5 courses. Most likely you don’t. Most people are satisfied after the second course but continue to eat because more food is served.

I did just this this last holiday weekend, and by the end of the meal, my family felt comfortable, satiated and happy. They were able to experience pleasure in the meal because they didn’t walk away from the table overfull.

2) Once a Year Favorites: When a certain holiday only comes around once per year, it can pose an inner conflict for you when it comes to foods. With the annual holiday, comes special foods that you usually only eat during this time. The thought of “I can only eat this now, and then I have to wait a full year to eat it again” can instill a mindset of “I better get it all in now.” The future deprivation causes overeating.

Strategy: Consider whether these special holiday foods that only come around once per year really have to only be eaten once per year, on this holiday. For example, one of my kids favorite foods during Passover is Cottage Cheese Pancakes. They look forward to it every year and they make sure that it’ll be on my Passover menu at some point throughout the 8 days. I realized one day, “why do I only make these cottage cheese pancakes on Passover? I can surely make them all year round.” And that’s what I did. Don’t get me wrong, they are still something my kids look forward to on Passover, but they don’t have to go overboard on them since they know they can eat them any time of the year.

However, I do realize that there are traditional holiday foods that only show up once a year. In this case, the best thing to do is to acknowledge the fact that you will only get to eat this now, but also realize that if you eat slowly and savor every bite, you will no doubt have more pleasure in this special food than if you eat it quickly without really tasting it (which is what happens when you try to get it all in now!)

3) Pushy Family Members: We all have them! Those family members that push you to eat more food even after you’ve said you’re full. Or, family members who give you looks when you take more food on your plate (you know, those judge-y people) . This can be very challenging, especially if mixed messages are flying around such as “eat more”, and “the diet starts tomorrow”.

Strategy: Do not feel obligated to eat after you’ve decided you are comfortably full. Tell your host that you enjoyed the meal but just cannot eat another bite. For those that appear to judge you when you take food, stand up for yourself and ask them to keep their eyes in their own plate (you can say this more diplomatically if you’d like, but I’ve said it just like this and man, did it shut them up!).

As for the endless diet talk, excuse yourself to go to the restroom and remind yourself that you have given up dieting. Have compassion for those folks who are still swimming in diet culture and give yourself a hug that you are staying true to yourself. Then go back to the table and change the topic (“what movie have you seen lately”, works great!).

As you continue on your intuitive eating journey, you will see that these obstacles aren’t obstacles any longer. These are opportunities for learning and growth. You’ve got this!

Need help on your intuitive eating journey? Just head on over to www.TalkWithBonnie.com and schedule a chat with me.