The Holidays have always been a tough time for me. As someone who has always struggled with my body image and relationship with food, Thanksgiving and Christmas and New Year’s equaled self-sabotage and self-shame. I would spend weeks to months worrying about how much weight I would have to lose to feel good and enjoy myself during the holidays, and how much weight I would gain indulging my way through them. It was – and still can be – a vicious cycle. I would give myself pep talks about how I would not eat “badly” or I would stay away from all desserts or would not “over do it.” Inevitably, each year I found myself restricting until I let myself indulge just a little and… then the rest was history. I would spend most of Christmas day sneaking as much food into my mouth as possible. And not even enjoying it because I hated myself more for each bite I took. This was hard enough, but the aftermath left me feeling helpless. I would spend weeks or even months bingeing on foods that made me feel terrible.
As a nutritionist, I had an even harder time confronting my holiday binge episodes. Once I learned that I had some food sensitivities, another layer was added to my holiday woes. How would I get through Christmas without bingeing or self-shaming AND avoid the foods that were making me feel physically sick?? It took a few years of work – because this is not easy stuff to fix – but I have finally found a few things that help me through this tough season. These tips all revolve around one thing: loving myself and my body.
Here are my Holiday Body Love Tips!
1. Don’t Worry Be Happy — Guess what? Health isn’t always defined by our diet or the foods we choose to eat. Worry and anxiety over what we put in our mouth can create unwanted stress and inflammation in the body, the same things most of us want to avoid by not indulging! So, try to step out of that worry a bit. A gigantic piece in the puzzle of optimal health is happiness, self-care, and self-love. Take time this holiday season to be with friends, family, and yourself. Indulge in some sugar! And dare I say it: indulge in some gluten! Unless you have a food allergy or sensitivity that you know you need to avoid, go for it! Allowing space for indulgence may help you keep it to a minimum, while obsessing over it may increase the likelihood of binge-type eating. Enjoy your holiday, indulge a little, and keep it moving!
2. Make a Plan, with Love — If you’re like me and indulging can quickly lead to self-sabotage and a roller coaster of compulsive eating for weeks after the holidays, lovingly accept that about yourself. Know your limits and devise a plan of action! Find a way to satisfy your sweet tooth or enjoy your dinner with family that doesn’t kick you over the edge. For example, if you know gluten and sugar are gateway foods, just avoid these specific foods. Prepare some gluten-free bread, make a Paleo dessert, indulge in a way that still supports your relationship to food and nurtures your body. Trust me, it’s just as satisfying!
3. Lovingly Say No — The holidays can be tough if you follow a specific diet because you are forced to sit with friends and family who don’t follow that diet and may not even understand why someone would! Food pushers are all around you – Aunt Susie made a delicious cobbler, how could you not at least try it?? Easy: just politely say no thank you. If you’re worried about hurt feelings or incomprehension, pull the allergy card. That is harder to argue.
4. Body Love Not Body Talk — A powerful way to avoid feeling bad about your body or yourself during the holidays is not engage in any conversations about weight or body image. If someone starts to chat about a new diet, just delicately remove yourself from the conversation. Or, redirect and talk about other great things about that person, like her strengths and accomplishments! If you do find yourself talking about food and your own body, resist negativity and turn to positivity. Avoid talking about “good” and “bad” food all together, just focus on how good whatever you are eating tastes. Enjoy that second helping without the negative spin and you will feel nourished instead of shamed.
5. Be Loving to Yourself — Whether you decide to go for it and indulge with reckless abandon or stick to a plan that makes you feel in control of your body, remember to be loving to yourself. Being kind to yourself and resisting rigid expectations are the initial steps to self-love. The holiday season is a perfect time to give this a try. Buy yourself a present, spend quality time with family, relax and reflect, and eat foods that feel good and give you happiness
Happy Holidays!
Kris Smyth
Master Nutritionist Therapist and Certified Health Coach
Her Health Coach certification was received in 2011 through the Institute of Integrative Nutrition (IIN). This certification allows Kris to be a coach and a support system in helping clients reach their health goals. In 2013, Kris moved from NYC to Denver to earn her Nutrition Therapy Practitioner certification at the Nutrition Therapy Institute (NTI). Kris was educated by highly experienced naturopathic doctors and nutritionists in science-based nutrition and nutrition protocols to effectively help prevent dis-ease, support healing and optimize health. In 2016, she received her second certification through NTI to become a Master Nutrition Therapist. Kris has also worked alongside acupuncturists, naturopaths, and functional medicine practitioners to further enhance her knowledge and experience in holistic health and nutrition.
Kris currently lives in Brooklyn where she runs Kris Wellness and partners with some of the best wellness practitioners in Brooklyn. She is the premier Holistic Nutrition Consultant at The Meal Collective – a natural food chef service offering private and group chef services that provide its clients with convenient, healthy, and therapeutic meals. She also works at Element Healing Arts in Carroll Gardens, offering individualized nutrition consulting to its clients. Finally, Kris is a nutritionist at InviteHealth, a high quality supplement company with shops all over the greater New York City area.