Joyful Eating During the Holidays

I had a session with a client earlier today who was talking about her memories of Christmas and how she would either restrain herself from eating all of her favorite holiday foods in fear of gaining weight, or splurge on these foods throughout the season to the point of feeling so full and sick that she couldn’t really enjoy the holidays the way she wanted to.  She has made a lot progress over these past months in our nutritional healing sessions together, and has truly learned how to enjoy foods she never thought she could by honoring her physical hunger rather than feeding her emotional feelings with food. This year she wants food to be put in its proper place during the holidays so that she can feel the true meaning of what Christmas means to her and also not have food be the main focus of the season. 

     I asked her to come up with 3 feelings that she’d like to embrace this holiday season in order to create new joyful memories, and also how she’d like her body to reflect her eating.  She replied, “connection, coziness, and comfort.”  She also wants to feel fulfilled and not filled, satisfied and not stuffed, and energized and not depleted. I suggested that she go to a store this week, find herself a beautiful Christmas card and write herself a letter explaining her desires and intentions.  Her face lit up as she envisioned writing the card and putting it on her fireplace mantel as a reminder to herself of how she really wants to feel this Christmas.

     We get to rewrite our stories and reclaim our joy whenever we say so.  How will you choose to eat and live joyfully this holiday season?