Tomorrow is Thanksgiving in America and it’s pretty typical to end up having many social events from now until the end of the year where food is involved and I know that can stir up a lot of stressful feelings for people. So while I don’t have anything groundbreaking to share, I’m hoping this will be some encouragement and some tough love for anyone who either has anxiety about food leading up to these events or for anyone who deals with guilt and shame surrounding food after any of the events.
Sometimes just having a reminder, or having things said in a new way can be all that you need to keep things in perspective. I touched on this topic a little bit on Halloween with a Facebook live video that I did and some of what I said about Halloween candy is going to totally applicable to all of the year-end holiday social gatherings.
The first big important thing that I want to emphasize right away is that I’m all for you thoroughly enjoying yourself with or without as much food or dessert as you want. You have every right to indulge as much as you want to and even though I’m a nutrition coach, I’m not out to change anyone who doesn’t want to change for themselves.
But above that, as I always mention in the introduction, I’m a behavior change specialist and part of what that entails is behavior change around food and workout habits and so much of that about having a healthy mindset. Not a restrictive mindset. Not no-dessert-ever mindset. But knowing what’s reasonable, what’s healthy, and how to question yourself and your thoughts around food and exercise.
There are so many things that people say or do that actually represent an UNhealthy relationship with food, but they’re things that are so widely accepted. So part of what I’m talking about today is pointing those things out because sometimes they’re right in front of our face and we don’t even realize they’re there, or that they’re doing harm. They can be so normalized that you don’t realize it.
Some highlights in this episode:
• the trouble with the term “guilty pleasure”
• taking responsibility for your choices
• determining your personal limit before you start to feel bad about your choices
• dealing with guilt, shame or regret about food or over-indulging
• why the mindset of “I’ll burn it off with some cardio” is an unhealthy way of thinking
• things you say about food and how it can harm others
• how to deal with food pushers
• tips to prevent over-eating
Questions, thoughts or comments?
You can contact me about this episode in two ways. Messages might be played or read on the show but will be kept anonymous.
Subscribe on your favorite podcast app!
Please leave a rating or review and share the podcast with a friend.
The information shared is for educational and informational purposes only. It should not be interpreted as an intent to diagnose, treat, cure, heal or prescribe.