Intuitive Eating during the Holidays

When practicing Intuitive Eating (IE), sometimes it can be helpful to have examples for each of the 10 Principles of how to implement them in certain scenarios. So let's take Thanksgiving, for example, and work through the 10 Principles of Intuitive Eating one by one before the holiday arrives!

Principle 1: Reject Diet Culture

A way to practice this around the holidays is to set boundaries for no diet talk. Consider speaking with loved ones before the holiday to set this boundary, perhaps by saying "I am working on taking care of my body in a different way than dieting so I'd appreciate no diet talk at the table this year!". If loved ones show that they're having a hard time adhering to this boundary (AKA diet culture talks keep showing up around you despite setting the boundary), you can give yourself to set different boundaries such as leaving the event early.

Principle 2: Honor Your Hunger

Make sure to keep your body fed adequately and consistently (even on and around Thanksgiving). Although the discourse around Thanksgiving is often to "save up" for the "big holiday meal", this usually backfires by having us showing up to the Thanksgiving meal ravenous and more likely to eat past comfortable fullness. Using the hunger and fullness scale can be a helpful tool in checking in with this throughout the day. Honoring hunger and fullness can also be a practice in saying "no" (more on this below). 

Principle 3: Make Peace with Food

Making peace with food involves giving yourself unconditional permission to enjoy all foods, especially your favorite ones! Going into the holiday season this may look like eating your fave foods more frequently than just waiting for the Thanksgiving meal. For example, if pumpkin pie is your #1 dessert choice, it will likely help to have a more calm experience with the dessert if you include it more regularly throughout the year instead of just waiting till you're confronted with it once per year. More on this concept of habituation and making peace with holiday foods can be found in this recent blog post.

Principle 4: Discover the Satisfaction Factor

Focus on making the meal enjoyable - set the table nicely, eat foods you truly love, and engage in meaningful conversation if you can. Pay attention to the sensory details of the meal that you are enjoying; what are the colors on your plate, how does everything smell, are you enjoying the textures? This can help you feel emotionally and physically satisfied.

Principle 5: Feel Your Fullness

Fullness is a normal thing to feel after eating! Similar to Principle #2, honoring our hunger, honoring our fullness is normal too. As above, this can be a good practice is allowing ourselves to say no thanks to external noise around food. If you are feeling comfortably satiated after a meal and someone encourages you to eat more or eat dessert, it's entirely fair to verbalize something along the lines of "No thank you. I'm working to listen to my body and another helping wouldn't make my tummy feel too good!". At the same time, it’s also normal to eat past comfortable fullness at times and entirely OK to do so; it’s temporary and even though it can be uncomfortable for a bit, our body will know what to do with that kind of scenario.

Principle 6: Challenge the Food Police

Push back against internal or external judgments like, "Should you really eat that?" or "I shouldn't eat this much." Give yourself permission to enjoy the holiday meal and remember that it's only one meal out of so many meals that we eat in a year. Challenge the cognitive distortions, or unhelpful thoughts, that may arise and try to take some pressure off of the meal being "perfect".

Principle 7: Cope with Your Emotions with Kindness

If holiday stress or family dynamics are overwhelming, step away for a breather or engage in a non-food-related self-care activity like journaling or using an adult coloring book. If you do happen to cope with your emotions with food over the holiday season, just as the Principle suggests, approach this with kindness. Instead of blaming or shaming yourself, try to reflect on the experience with compassion and no judgment as much as possible.

Principle 8: Respect Your Body

Avoid comparing your body to others' at the table or those on social media. Wear something comfortable if you can, and affirm that your body is worthy and valuable as it is, no matter the season.

Principle 9: Movement—Feel the Difference

If it’s allowed by your treatment team and/or feels good to you, consider incorporating some joyful movement to your holiday. Perhaps that’s going for a walk with your favorite podcast for some solitude and stress relief before the big event or doing a group family walk after the meal for some more quality time. Movement might also look like having a dance party while you do the dishes after the meal or playing a dancing video game with your nieces and nephews. Movement is also not a moral obligation and if you choose not to include intentional movement on Thanksgiving day too, that's OK.

Principle 10: Honor Your Health—Gentle Nutrition

If ready to implement this Principle (which not everybody is, depending on where you're at in your IE journey/recovery process and that's OK), think about where gentle nutrition can come into your holiday planning. Perhaps this looks like bringing your favorite veggie side dish to the meal so you know there is a good source of fiber, which helps you go to the bathroom more comfortably or including some more whole grains with your meal for more sustained energy. Think about where, when and why you may want to focus on nutrition during the holidays and implement as feels comfortable for you.

Source: 10 Principles of Intuitive Eating - Intuitive Eating