The holiday season is a time for celebration. For many of us, that means indulging in our favorite festive treats. However, the aftermath of the holidays can leave us feeling sluggish, bloated, and unmotivated. It’s essential to keep our health in mind during this time and avoid overindulging, which can lead to significant weight fluctuations, blood sugar imbalances, gastrointestinal distress, and decreased energy levels.
How can you reboot after the holidays and get back on track with your health goals?
Rebuilding Your Relationship with Food.
Developing a Positive Relationship with Food.
Where to start.
Rebuilding Your Relationship with Food
To reboot your health after the holidays, it’s important to start with a clean slate. Begin by reflecting on your eating habits during the holiday season and identifying areas where you overindulged. But don’t dwell on the past. Instead, use this as an opportunity to learn and grow.
Remember that rebooting your health in the new year doesn’t have to involve drastic measures or restrictive diets. Traditional dieting relies solely on external cues such as rules and time to dictate when to eat, which can be counterproductive. This approach doesn’t take into account your internal cues like hunger and fullness, which are essential to developing a healthy relationship with food.
Therefore, it’s more beneficial to listen to your body, eat when you’re hungry, and stop when you’re full. Also, classifying certain foods as “bad” or “forbidden” due to past dieting experiences can lead to negative feelings of guilt and shame if consumed.
To break free from restrictive food rules and cultivate a peaceful relationship with food, consider practicing intuitive eating. This approach involves allowing yourself to choose what you eat while paying close attention to your body’s cues. By doing this, you can make healthier food choices and develop a better relationship with food while honoring your body and embracing your genetic makeup.
A healthy relationship with food is a difficult balancing act that requires self-compassion, patience, practice, and sometimes even professionals.
Robyn C. Del Negro, MD
Developing a Positive Relationship with Food.
When it comes to food, it’s important to maintain a balance between indulging in your favorite treats and consuming nutritious meals that fuel your body. Our brains don’t always make rational decisions, especially when our blood sugar levels drop and we become “hangry.” This is when self-control is at its lowest, and we’re more likely to reach for and indulge in unhealthy treats.
However, when we nourish our bodies with healthy food, our ghrelin levels or the hunger hormone stabilize our ghrelin levels or the hunger hormone stabilize, making us less likely to give in to unhealthy cravings. Therefore, maintaining a healthy diet can help us develop a positive relationship with food, allowing us to indulge in our favorite treats without feeling guilty while caring for our physical and emotional well-being.
While maintaining a balanced diet is crucial for our overall health, we should strive to find satisfaction in our eating. We can cultivate a healthier relationship with food by learning to listen to our bodies and understanding what feels good and what doesn’t.
TIPS:
- Eliminate distractions. Take time for your meals, remove distractions, and pay attention to the food on your plate. Ask yourself: how does the first bite taste? What about the middle? And the end? Start by doing this for one meal daily to better understand your body’s needs.
- Relax and enjoy. Sit down at a table and focus on what you’re eating. Pay attention to all your senses, but most importantly, savor the flavor.
- Slow down. Take small bites, chew well, and set your fork down throughout your meal.
- Listen to your body. The “clean plate club” does not actually give out awards. When you feel satisfied and comfortably full, stop eating.
- Celebrate, but within parameters. Completely eliminating things we love doesn’t usually end well. Moderation is key!
Finding balance in our diet is extremely important for our overall health. A great starting point is to make a realistic plan that balances eating for pleasure and hunger.
Robyn C. Del Negro, MD
Where to start.
There is no one-size-fits-all approach. However, building balanced eating, exercising, and sleep routines tailored to your needs and rhythms can greatly help restore balance between hunger signals and the brain’s appetite control center.
Stop dieting.
Restrictive diets can lead to deprivation and binge eating and even increase the risk of developing disordered eating patterns. This cycle of restriction and bingeing, known as weight cycling or the yo-yo effect, can negatively impact metabolism, making it harder to lose weight with each cycle.
Create a Plan
It is essential to create a realistic plan that strikes a balance between eating for pleasure and satisfying hunger. A way to achieve this is by setting a goal for the number of fruits and vegetables you want to consume each day and keeping track of your progress. Additionally, suppose you’re trying to reduce your intake of sugary beverages like soda, juice, or alcohol. In that case, you can challenge yourself to drink a glass of water between each drink. To spice things up, you can even visit a local farmer’s market and incorporate one new vegetable or herb into your meals each week.
Instead of avoiding indulgences, try to be more mindful of them. It’s not about restricting foods or tallying calories. It’s about being conscious when making food choices.
Journal
Journaling about your goals, challenges, and victories can be an effective way to keep track of your progress, stay motivated, and achieve your goals. By writing down your goals, you can clarify what you want to achieve and create a roadmap to get there. Recording the challenges you face along the way can be a helpful way to reflect on what went wrong and how you can improve in the future. Celebrating your victories, no matter how small, can boost confidence and help you stay focused on your journey.
Rebooting after the holidays is not about punishing yourself for indulging. It’s about finding a balance that allows you to enjoy your favorite treats while taking care of your body and mind. By developing a healthy relationship with food and cultivating mindful eating habits, you can reboot your health and start the year off right.
Note: This blog post is for informational purposes only and should not replace professional medical advice. If you suspect you have hunger hormone imbalances or any other health concerns, consult with a qualified healthcare practitioner.
