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Mindful Eating for the Holidays
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 Mindfulness is purposeful awareness without judgment. It means paying attention to your thoughts and feelings in the present moment, without labeling them as right or wrong, good or bad. Applying these principles to eating (aka mindful eating) can be very helpful during the holiday season.
Start by reducing barriers to mindful eating. Extreme hunger will get in the way of mindfulness, so aim to be hungry, but not starving, for holiday meals. Minimize distractions as much as you can. You can’t be mindful if you are multitasking, so don’t eat while watching television, surfing the internet, talking on the phone, or reading. If you are at a noisy holiday event, try to consciously shift your attention to your eating experience.
Now you are ready to focus on the three main principles of mindful eating.
Increase awareness
Notice:
-The food. Take a few moments to survey all the choices. Select the foods you think you will enjoy most. Then, sit down, slow down, and savor every bite. Notice the aroma, appearance, texture, temperature, and taste of what you are eating.
-Your thoughts. Are rigid food rules or the voice of your food cop getting in the way of enjoying your meal? Remind yourself that you have permission to enjoy your favorite foods and the freedom to say no to the foods you don’t like.
-Your emotions. Check in with your feelings and notice how they may be affecting your appetite and food choices. For example, does anxiety kill your appetite? Does feeling exhausted make you reach for sweets?
-The physical sensations in your body. How does what you are eating make you feel? Energized? Sluggish? Does your body respond well to what and how much you are eating? Or does it protest with a stomach ache or headache? Check in with your hunger and fullness levels. Think about how you would like to feel after the meal – Satisfied? Comfortably full? With room left for dessert? Keep this goal in mind while eating your meal.
-The environment. Notice the environment and how it influences your eating. Are you mindlessly grazing whatever dish is in front of you? Are you matching the pace or the portion sizes of those around you? Is diet talk or fat talk around you affecting your enjoyment of the meal?
Stay in the present moment
-Focus on the food you are eating in the present moment, not on the next bite you will take or the next course you are waiting for.
-Notice how the flavor and enjoyment of your food changes as you eat. The first few bites are the most flavorful. You may notice that food is much less delicious by the time you get to the end of a large portion.
-Continue to check in with your fullness and satisfaction levels. Pausing for a few minutes in the middle of the meal can be especially helpful. Think about whether your food choices are meeting your expectations and try to gauge how much more your body needs.
-Don’t think about compensating for the meal later in the day or about a hypothetical health consequence in the distant future. If you have current health issues, try to honor your needs with compassion and flexibility.
Practice NO judgment
-Don’t label foods as good or bad. When you remove these judgments, you may discover a new favorite food or realize that old favorites just don’t do it for you anymore.
-Don’t judge yourself as virtuous or naughty because of your food choices. Opting for chocolate cake over fruit salad doesn’t make you a bad person. Removing guilt and shame is a key component of mindful eating.
-Don’t judge yourself based on what and how much the people around you are eating or their comments. Instead, honor and celebrate your own unique needs and preferences.
-Like any new skill, mindful eating takes practice. Don’t be hard on yourself for not doing it perfectly.
Wishing you a Happy, Healthy, & Mindful Holiday Season!
Need more holiday tips? You can find them here.
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 Reader Question
Q: Can you give some tips on how to avoid mindlessly grazing and eating when stressed, angry, or sad? AA
A: Your question mentions two distinct, yet often co-occurring, behaviors - mindless eating and emotional eating. Purposefully increasing awareness is the antidote to mindless eating. The above article discusses several ways to become a more mindful eater. In addition, try to identify and change any other habits you have that contribute to mindless eating such as:
-Eating out of food containers. Instead, serve yourself a portion and put the container away before eating.
-Grazing while cooking. Instead, determine if you are physically hungry. If you are, take a break to eat a mindful snack.
-Eating while standing up in the kitchen. Instead, sit down at a table to better focus on your eating experience.
Emotional eating is using food to deal with (or avoid dealing with) your feelings. To prevent emotional eating, first you have to recognize when it happens. Try keeping a food journal with your feelings and hunger levels to help you increase awareness and notice patterns.
Extreme hunger can exacerbate uncomfortable feelings or may even be the sole cause (ever notice how irritable you feel when you are really hungry?). Aim to eat well balanced meals and snacks throughout the day. If you know you aren’t physically hungry, it will be easier to identify emotional eating.
When you suspect that your need for food is emotional rather than physical, try these 3 steps:
1. Pause and ask yourself, what am I really feeling now (hurt, disappointed, angry, frustrated, etc.)?
2. Remind yourself that food will not fix the feeling. Eating when you are not hungry is only a momentary distraction that will ultimately leave you feeling worse.
3. Do a non-food activity that addresses your emotion. If you feel lonely, calling a friend may help. If you feel overwhelmed by all you have to do, writing out a to-do list may bring some relief. It’s ok if you can’t figure out exactly what you need. Just distracting yourself for 20-30 minutes can prevent emotional eating.
Here’s a short list of healthy coping activities you may find useful:
- Write in a journal
- Go for a walk
- Stretch
- Listen to music
- Take a nap
- Knit
- Do a puzzle
- Call a friend
- Give yourself a manicure
Part 1 of this question was answered in the February 2015 newsletter. Click here to read Part 1 and learn more about how to handle weight regain.
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Do you have a burning nutrition question? Email your question to: question@msnutrition.com and it may be answered in the next newsletter!
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