Christmas Tips

Happy Aloha Friday!

It’s Christmas Eve already! Can you believe it? For those of you who celebrate Christmas, I hope you have all of your presents wrapped and ready to go under the tree!

In today's newsletter, I want to focus on being present on Christmas and having smooth sailing through that sometimes dreaded holiday meal.

1. Keep your routine as much as you can. If the holiday meal is happening at 3pm, make sure you eat breakfast and a big snack prior to it. Restricting will only increase your anxiety leading up to the meal.

2. Don’t compensate. It may be tempting to sneak in a quick workout the morning of or after the meal because you fear you’ll eat more than you usually do, but this is what we call compensatory behaviors. This behavior only fuels your eating disorder. Instead, try doing a meditation, light yoga practice or take your dog on a walk.

3. Take a full plate of food and remember you don’t have to finish your plate if there is something on it that you don’t like. . . you can always go back for seconds for the things that you did like.

4. Feeling full? Check in with yourself. Anxiety can sometimes give us the sensation of fullness. Ask yourself, would my dietitian approve of this amount of food? If not, give yourself more.

5. Are you a member of the clean plate club? If so, check in with yourself midway through the meal. Stand up and stretch if you aren’t sure if you are still feeling hungry. And remember, you can always go back for seconds later if you realize you are still hungry!

6. Eat the dessert! This one I feel strongly about! Try a piece of dessert. You can have it with your meal, or you can have it a couple hours later, whatever you prefer! Are there multiple desserts that look good? Then try them! See if a family member will share pieces so you don’t end up feeling overly full!

Most importantly, remember that this time of year is about connecting with family, giving back to the community and reflecting on your year and how far you have come. The person you were a year ago would be proud of how far you have come.