Intuitive eating is a popular topic on this blog for a reason. As an intuitive eating ‘graduate’ myself, I’m very passionate about it. It’s a proven process to help people to improve their relationship with food and actually be able to enjoy food without any stress or anxiety. This article is the first of two, briefly exploring the first five intuitive eating principles in relation to Christmas.
1. Reject the diet mentality
A common occurrence at Christmas is that people give themselves ‘time off’ from their diets, vowing to start again in January. Even though most aren’t specifically ‘on a diet’ at Christmas, still being stuck in the diet mindset knowing that the next diet is around the corner, can have a big effect.
The ‘last supper effect’ is something which tends to happen when you tell yourself that you’re going on a diet soon. With this information comes a need to go and eat everything you wouldn’t let yourself eat on a diet, before the diet starts. This can cause a binge, known as the last supper. From personal experience, I used to go through this at Christmas. I told myself that from January I would be back on a diet, therefore I felt the need to eat all the available food at Christmas until I felt uncomfortable and stuffed, as I saw it as my only chance to eat that food.
If you know that dieting doesn’t work and that you don’t need to go on a diet in January, you can enjoy Christmas just eating the foods you really fancy at the time, knowing that these foods will also be available to you in January too. There will be no need to feel the last supper mentality.
2. Honour your hunger
Eat when hungry – it sounds so simple. However, when faced with so many social situations and events based around food over the Christmas period and being out of normal routine, it can feel harder to stay in tune with hunger. For example, it’s often common to skip breakfast and ‘save your appetite’ if you know you’ve got a big meal occasion coming up. This can backfire as you could arrive ravenous for the meal and eat food quickly, without being able to really enjoy it.
Your body still needs fuel, even if you’re planning to eat a lot later on in the day. If you’re feeling peckish, tide yourself over with a light meal or snack, which means that you can arrive at your big meal with a good level of hunger, but a level where you’re able to relax and enjoy the food.
3. Make Peace with food
Making peace with food can be a complex learning process which happens over time. It would be unrealistic of me to say this would be possible to achieve so close to Christmas if you’re new to these concepts. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t help yourself. Making peace with food means allowing yourself true unconditional permission to eat anything, in any amount, at any time. By knowing that you will give yourself permission to eat any food beyond Christmas, the need for the ‘last supper effect’ as previously mentioned can be taken away. There is no need for you to eat past comfortable fullness at Christmas when you know that all food is allowed, any time.
4. Challenge the food police
The food police can be a prominent feature at Christmas, if you’re eating lots of food which you wouldn’t normally allow yourself to eat. The feeling of guilt is common and normally warded off by the promise of the January diet to ‘make up for it.’ The thing is though, there is nothing to make up for. Food is food and we need food to survive. You don’t need to feel guilty for eating and enjoying any type of food. These feelings are usually picked up from diet culture as we grow up, however they do not serve you. How much more enjoyable would food be without a side dose of guilt and shame?
In the short term for this Christmas, it may be useful to remind yourself that there is no need to feel guilty for eating and tell that voice to ‘f**k off!’ It will take some practice, especially if that voice has been there for most of your life. In the long term, it may help to try and trace back and gain an understanding of where your food guilt originally came from, then work through letting it go. After all, we weren’t born with food guilt – it’s time to unwind and go back to that state.
5. Discover the satisfaction factor
This is such an important principle, which is especially relevant over the Christmas period! You can read about food satisfaction in more depth here. It’s considered normal to ‘go for it’ at Christmas and eat lots of food, however if you’re eating to the point of feeling uncomfortable, how much of the food was actually satisfying and enjoyable?
Satisfaction is necessary for you to feel content and happy with your food choices. This Christmas, if you’d like to make sure that you maximise your enjoyment of all the food, try to make a habit of slowing down and savouring the flavours of each bite. Slowing down means you can really take time to focus on the satisfaction which you gain from eating. There also tends to be a lot of easy snacking opportunities at Christmas. There is nothing wrong with enjoying snacks, just make sure you ask yourself what you really fancy eating in that moment. Be wary of mindlessly snacking in front of distractions such as the television, when you might not even be aware of what you’re eating and how much.
To be continued…
There you have it, the first five principles of intuitive eating in relation to Christmas! The intuitive eating process can seem very overwhelming at first, but once you get into it, the principles are all relevant to each other and slowly you’ll find yourself in a better place with food. Are you feeling up to the challenge? Look out for part two next week!
If you would like to explore your relationship with food deeper, book your free 20-minute discovery call with Hattie now!
